Page 31

what is church planting and why does it matter?

Within the analogy of seeds and plants, perhaps these factors are a list of

the basic genetic factors that must be in the seed that is planted, for then

they will become expressed naturally in the body that results. The list

includes communal identity, supported by local leadership and relationship

with the wider Church, as well as practical structures of ongoing care. The

list ought now also to include reference to Christ, worship and discipleship,

in order to be more fully rounded and specifically Christian. The final

characteristic can act as a helpful reminder that this young church, which

was planted, is intended to remain apostolic and missionary, even when it

has survived its birth and infancy. Mission should never go off the agenda,

because it is part of the basic genetic material and impetus for the life of

the Church.

the use of the word `planting'

Words tend to acquire a history and among some people `planting' has

acquired a mixed reputation. When the process is unthinking cloning, or

when it is aggressive, or when it involves transplanting large groups without

attention to the mission context or other existing churches, then it will

deservedly gather a bad name.

But the word `planting' is still useful. Other phrases have developed in an

attempt to describe the variety of different types or styles of church that are

arising. Phrases such as `new forms of church', `new ways of church', `new

expressions of church' all have some value, but they tend only to refer to

`church' and ignore the process and mission energy through which these

new ventures come into existence.

4

These phrases also fail to distinguish

between changes to an existing church (such as a church that decides that

it wishes to become cell based) and the processes that mark the creation

of a new church.

This report hopes the wider Church may come to recognize what planting 

is. For example, mergers of struggling churches, or acquiring new buildings,

are not church plants. Invasions by church congregations that do not

engage with, or become changed by, their new context are probably not

planted churches   they are church takeovers.

the difference between process and consequence

Church planting is best thought of as a verb. Until the mid 1990s what

resulted from church planting were called `church plants', and were treated

as nouns. Today there is some uncertainty about whether this use of

31