There are close to 4.5 million people in the state of South Carolina, which seems to be a lot until I tell you that we have more deer in the state of SC than we have people. Out of the 4.5 million people in SC, about 35% of those people attend church and only 25% are followers of Christ. I don’t know how that makes you feel, but it overwhelms me. As I think about it I feel like my chest has someone sitting on it.
Church planters say that in order to reach the remaining 75% of the people in SC, we would need just over 3,000 churches and would need to spend nearly $74 billion. Yes that is what a “B”. The former number is doable and should be a goal for us. But the latter number of $74 billion needed to plant the churches is all but impossible.
Besides making my chest pound and hurt, what does this mean for us? And what does it mean for the church?
It means that we must take a hard look at what the biblical church really is. Church is not necessarily a multi-million dollar building, or a pastor with a 6 figure income, it does not mean Easter and Christmas musicals, or youth group ski trips, senior adult ministries, or anything else that the church has gotten caught up with in the past 60 years.
The church should go back to the biblical roots of the early church and should return to scripture as its authority. This means it might forsake the building, get rid of the seminary trained pastor, meet in someone’s house, and be under 20 people in attendance. But although the church would look radically different from the outside, at its core it should be very similar. Jesus would be its core.
In essence we need more churches, but don’t have the $74 billion that it would take. We must press forward to plant more, we must put the leadership into the hands of people who are faithful, whether they are qualified or not, then move on and restart the process.
What do you think about this?
Church planters say that in order to reach the remaining 75% of the people in SC, we would need just over 3,000 churches and would need to spend nearly $74 billion. Yes that is what a “B”. The former number is doable and should be a goal for us. But the latter number of $74 billion needed to plant the churches is all but impossible.
Besides making my chest pound and hurt, what does this mean for us? And what does it mean for the church?
It means that we must take a hard look at what the biblical church really is. Church is not necessarily a multi-million dollar building, or a pastor with a 6 figure income, it does not mean Easter and Christmas musicals, or youth group ski trips, senior adult ministries, or anything else that the church has gotten caught up with in the past 60 years.
The church should go back to the biblical roots of the early church and should return to scripture as its authority. This means it might forsake the building, get rid of the seminary trained pastor, meet in someone’s house, and be under 20 people in attendance. But although the church would look radically different from the outside, at its core it should be very similar. Jesus would be its core.
In essence we need more churches, but don’t have the $74 billion that it would take. We must press forward to plant more, we must put the leadership into the hands of people who are faithful, whether they are qualified or not, then move on and restart the process.
What do you think about this?
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