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The UK context and its implications for planting Churches
The UK, along with much of the world, is in a period of rapid and continued change. This is both the most obvious and relevant observation about the the UK and church planting. The church as a whole needs to take the context of change seriously if it is to avoid becoming completely irrelevant. Rapid change causes people to feel unsettled. For many they feel like their security blanket has been taken away, causing them to look for new sources of security, an opportunity for the gospel. However unless the new churches planted take into account the changes that are taking place we are not making the most of the opportunity that church planting presents.
So what are the changes and how do you ensure your church plant is relevant in the context of these changes?
The end of Christendom
For centuries Christianity has been the overriding culture which influenced our national life. This is no longer the case. This has many implications including:
• Christians are no longer the majority in our nation
• We are now one culture amongst many, often not feeling at home
• We cannot assume that people will come to us, we have to go to them
This means that any church plant has to be intentionally missional. As a leader it is not enough for you to care for the sheep that gather to you, you have to reach out to new sheep as well as motivate, train and encourage the sheep you do gather to reach out to other lost sheep. We also have to seek to influence and impact the overriding culture which is not automatically sympathetic to us.
It also means that older models of church which were based on the Christendom model are struggling, yet for many this is the only type of church they have known. It means that some people, including church-going Christians will be very suspicious of us, believing that you can only be church if you have a building, an ordained church leader etc.
Modernity is failing
Many are now recognising that the promised certainty of science doesn’t answer every question. They have reacted against this to conclude that:
• Truth is relative
• There is no big story
• Institutions are to be avoided
• There is no final authority
• Beliefs can be “pick n mixed”
Not everyone thinks like this, you can’t even make assumptions on someone’s worldview based on their age. However those with a post modern worldview are much more comfortable speaking about spiritual things, it has become socially acceptable. Yet the church is often seen as a barrier – hypocritical and out of touch with reality. This belief in lack of the authenticity of Christians can be re-enforced by what is seen as inconsistent behaviour in the work place. A new church plant full of vibrant, keen authentic Christians making sacrifices for their faith is a powerful witness.
This willingness to talk about spiritual issues alongside the assumption that a new church plant is not “institutional” like established churches gives us a great opening. It results in some new church plants finding they are very effective in gathering a crowd. However those gathered then find themselves challenged by the uniqueness of gospel truth and its ultimate authority, as well as the claims of Biblical “big story”. It is therefore important for the plant to not just have ways of engaging with post-modern people but also ways of discipling them once they are gathered. A failure to do this will mean that there is a very large turnover of people on the fringe of the plant.
Church attendance is declining
This is a result of less people attending church but also those who do attend coming less frequently.
The situation is regularly changing but roughly looks something like this.
• 10% attend church monthly
• 10% attend occasionally
• 20% used to attend regularly but left for negative reasons
• 20% left through drifting away
• 40% have never been to church
This decline in attendance has a number of implications for us as we plant churches.
It means that other churches and particularly other church leaders will be threatened. They see their congregation declining, their livelihood under threat and now you come along to start your new church which may take away some of the few people they have left. It should not be a surprise to us that not everyone is excited that we are planting on their door step.
We also need to recognise that even committed Christians will not attend every week. This is an important factor to take into account when thinking through the structure of the new church. 40% of people have had a previous experience of church but are no longer actively involved, some for negative reasons. It is worth recognising that these people can be reached by a church plant, however unless the reasons they previous left are addressed they will eventually leave again.
The percentage of people who have never been to church is growing every year. The majority of these people are under 40. Unless we find a way of reaching these people overall church attendance will continue to decline. A new church plant is in a better position to reach these people than most existing churches. However the size of the task should be recognised. The lack of background knowledge is such that we have to commit to people for the long haul. All the research says that it can take a number of years for such people to be grounded in the gospel.
Society itself is changing rapidly
We are a consumer society which means people are used to shopping around for what best meets their needs. This can extend to churches. Christians will join you because they feel their needs will be better met with you than in their existing church. However, unless something changes they will as quickly leave you in the belief that somewhere else will meet their needs better.
We are a mobile society. People are used to commuting to work and leisure activities. They are also therefore willing to commute to church! This has implications for what you consider to be your catchment area. Relationships on the whole are becoming less based on geography. People generally form friendships with work colleagues and those with common leisure or sport activities. This too needs to be taken into account when establishing who you are reaching out to. Patterns of people’s lives are also changing. Shops and workplaces are open extended hours resulting in people’s rhythms of life changing. We can no longer assume that everyone will be available at the same time every week.
We are also in the middle of a communications revolution. Mobile phone and computer technology is changing so rapidly that any books on how to take advantage of them for the gospel become out of date before they are published. The early Christians used Roman roads for the benefit of the gospel; we need to take advantage of the new communication roads that are open to us.
We live in a multi-cultural country, with many of those new to our nation more open to the gospel than those who have their roots here. This is not true for all parts of the UK, but in many contexts we have to work through the multi-cultural issue as we prepare to plant churches. In particular churches that are able to reach Africans can see rapid growth. However building a church which accommodates different cultures requires understanding and the development of relevant skills. This is not the place to go into details. However as a local church we have collected together a number of relevant talks on the subject. These are available from our website, address below.
http://www.hopechurch.co.uk/library.php
Conclusion
We live in exciting and changing times. There can be no better time to plant a church; however we need to spend time thinking through the issues to ensure that we make the most of the opportunity. My hope is that this and the other articles on this website will help you not just plant a church but plant one that plays its role in changing our nation.
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