The Paradigm Shift Series - Church Planting

Church Planting. There are actually two considerations here. The first is this – we do not plant churches, we plant Villages. Paul went from city to city and house to house gathering people into community and putting them on mission for their neighborhood. He did not order a demographic study of the town, find an abandoned Wal-Mart building, put up banners, pass out flyers, and go on TV and radio announcing the new church. He stayed in homes, ate meals together, lived in community with them and preached and lived the Gospel.


We do the same. Our focus is on one person or family at a time –one block at a time. Your mission field is your neighborhood (more on that later.) It starts by planting a Village of people who live out our identities (God, Family, Mission) together. And from those people, a group being “sent” out to plant another Village. If we follow this, eventually, we have Villages all over the city. Villages full of people and people = Kingdom.

The second part is that we never stop planting. During our core group sessions before the launch, the question was asked, “When do we stop being a church plant and become a true church?” What a great question. It’s one of those planning questions we all are thinking, but not everyone asks. It was a watershed moment for us as a small group. It was the moment when we got to say this – we never stop planting.

Too many churches today get “planted” and then the team moves on to the next town to “plant” another church. We mark our scorecards and pat ourselves on the back and take pride in the advancement of the Kingdom we have caused. It’s similar to the many mission trips around the world where a team comes back with a number of people they have “saved” for the Kingdom. The fact is if you add up all the counts from all the teams, we have saved the world over a few times already.

The biggest mistake a church can make is to make itself so planned and programmed that it no longer needs Jesus! Look around. It’s happening all the time!

To be part of City Church means you are part of a plant – not just today or for the first year, but for all time. (Or at least until His return.)