Church Planting
Ever since the new missions thrust of the 1970’s called “The Church Growth Movement” (See the editorial on The World’s Great Missiologist), with its emphasis on reaching “unreached people groups”, building congregations of similar people “the homogeneous & unit principle”, and the starting of new congregations “church planting”, tens of thousands of new churches have commenced.
I once met a keen advocate of church planting from Africa, who, the first week he was converted, started a congregation of believers. Then a second, a third, and at the time of our discussions, had established over 2000 new churches over which he presided as archbishop. Over 400,000 people were members of those new churches.
In Australia the Pentecostal churches decided that the 1980’s were to be the era of church planting, and new churches were established by the hundreds in factories, schools, public buildings of every sort and today thousands of new believers have come to faith through these church plantings. Like sowing a line of carrots, there has to be some thinning out and some do not survive. But others have grown to thousands of people attending. Each of these churches is strong in planting daughter churches and in supporting new churches in overseas countries.
At Wesley Mission, I was responsible with my colleagues for planting fifteen new congregations and adding about forty additional services of worship each week. The church Beverley and I attend now is only five years old and has already planted two new churches nearby and supports missionaries in China, Russia, and Africa. Conventional churches are also getting into church planting, and the Sydney Anglicans this month, moved Rev Al Stewart from being Bishop of Wollongong to a new role as head of church planting for the Anglican Church in Sydney.
But my friend of thirty years, Dr Mark Tronson, (a Baptist minister for 32 years and the Chaplain of the Australian Cricket team, as well as the Chairman of Well-Being Australia which provides respite facilities for elite athletes) tells me of Joshua Avia, who is planting a new church every month throughout this year. As Mark wrote for Christian Today Australia: “The Hosanna Church Brisbane was launched by Joshua Avia in January 2009, and by March the congregation had moved to a Sports and Recreation centre which they are now purchasing, moreover, it has seven tennis courts. Over seventy percent of their congregation is involved in their sports ministry.
“Joshua, who is originally from Samoa and his New Zealand-born Samoan wife Helen founded the Hosanna World Outreach Centre in Taita Wellington in 1994 and in January 2009, they launched the new Hosanna Church in Brisbane. Joshua Avia has a vision to plant churches all over Australia. He started the first Hosanna Church in Melbourne, then in 2001 in Sydney and 2006 in Brisbane. Today, they have seven churches in Australia and are planning to plant many more. This year he will start one church a month – 12 new Hosanna churches to commence during 2009.”
“The congregations of these Hosanna Churches are multi-cultural with their base being from the wide network of Pacific Islanders around the world. However, Joshua assures us in his Brisbane Hosanna church there are some ‘white’ people, Italians, Indians, Chinese, and many other cultures. After training as an Assembly of God Pastor, he initiated a Hosanna Baptist Movement. With the Baptist Union of New Zealand and Australia’s blessing and support, Joshua and Helen commenced their life’s mission in service to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Hosanna Movement keeps expanding.”
I know of many such developments among ethnic congregations, but also among specific groups such as motorcycle riders, surfers and business groups. The church today, even in a secular community like Australia, is seeing great growth and development because of this church planting.
Three decades ago I was warning that the excitement of starting a new congregation without the restrictions of elders and long term members in a factory unit or a school hall, would detract young ministers from servicing older congregations, established and rural churches. I personally committed myself to ministering in one of the oldest churches in the nation and growing new congregations and church both within it, and from it.
For long established members in older congregations, it is difficult attracting progressive young ministers fresh from training. The lure of planting new churches is very real. Older churches have to offer young ministers the freedom to develop congregations as they desire and be willing to adapt to new ways, new music, and new forms of “doing church”.
For my wife and me, moving into a new church plant, with hundreds of children and young people and with most of the members only new to the Christian faith, it is an exhilarating time even though we often look back with nostalgia to great pipe organ recitals, glorious choral music with gowned choirs and the great hymns of the faith. I am still not used to ministers preaching just in jeans with shirt hanging out, lots of drums, guitars, keyboards and up-beat songs of faith. The congregation is entirely casual though last week we had a man come to church in a suit – but he was a visitor!
We now belong to the minority – we are grandparents, who have been in the church for decades, who know what the Bible teaches. Now our fellow church members need us to care, to teach, to advise, to baby-sit, to open our homes to provide hospitality, to pray and to encourage. Church planting requires us all to find a new way of being a faithful congregation.
Rev The Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes, A.C., M.L.C.
http://au.christiantoday.com/article/joshua-avia-nurturing-one-hosanna-church-a-month/6586.htm
http://www.bushorchestra.com