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"As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, 'Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.' Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away."
(Acts 13:2-3)
There is nothing like seeing new life. Our second granddaughter, Riley Kate Samplaski, was born on November 28, and if you follow me on Facebook then you have seen quite a few pictures of her. We love her dearly and are so happy for our growing family. Only God could create life and bring into existence another living soul. That is how I feel about another living organism created by God: the church. Jesus promised that He would build His church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). Every time a new church is birthed, Jesus fulfills His promise to build His church.
A great need in America today is more churches. We could plant thousands of new churches today in the USA and still not keep up with the population growth and church closure rates. Church planting was the primary growth method of the early church in the Book of Acts. God set apart His best soldiers and sent them out from the church at Antioch. Paul and Barnabus and then later Paul and Silas went on missionary journeys, led scores of people to Christ, and planted numerous churches. The same should be happening in our churches today.
I have had the great privilege of planting multiple churches, and it is both a thrill and a very labor-intensive endeavor. Whether planting churches in New Hampshire, Virginia, Texas, or anywhere else, it is always hard work which demands our very best efforts. I love seeing this renewed emphasis to plant churches. We are gearing up to plant again, and this time, it may be more of a new campus than a whole new church, but the result will be the same: reaching people that have not been reached for Christ!
There is also much work to be done in the area of re-planting churches, also known as church revitalization. This involves assisting churches that are in decline or on life-support. There are different ways to go about breathing life back into struggling churches. Some merge with other healthier congregations. Some church members leave the comfort and blessing of their healthy and growing church to go and help brothers and sisters in Christ who are in danger of closing the doors of their local church.
Jesus loves the church. The church is God's big idea and creation. Mankind did not invent the church; rather, God created her and loves her dearly. I think it is vitally necessary and incumbent upon every follower of Jesus to be involved in a local church where he or she uses their spiritual gifts for the building up of the body of Christ. Many of the books in the New Testament were written to local churches. God has not changed His mind. The local church is still the hope of the world. Is the church perfect? No. Is she struggling mightily in the USA? For the most part, yes. Somewhere around 85% of all churches in the USA are plateaued or in decline. Is that not startling? What are you doing to help your church not become another one of these statistics? One of the best things you can do, besides faithfully attending, tithing, and serving, is being sent out by your church to go plant another one. These are challenging days, but they are also full of possibilities and potential!
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