AEC2001
Plenary Session 3:
The Ten Most Important Things
I’ve Learned
about Church Planting
Part 9
Stuart Murray
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9. Plant network churches as well as neighbourhood
churches
The neighbourhood church is the Christendom model and the
one with which most believers churches also operate to some extent. An
alternative model is the network church, where geographical factors play
only a secondary role. More important are networks of relationships and common
cultural components. Those who belong to and are reached by network churches
have other things in common than the place where they live. They may be members
of a particular ethnic group or youth culture. They may live in the same senior
citizens’ home, study in the same institution, or work for the same employer.
Obviously there must be some degree of locality for them to meet together at
all, but the determining factor is not the neighbourhood in which they live, but
the network to which they belong.
Contemporary British examples are ethnic churches
and youth churches, which have proliferated in recent years. In a
mobile society, it is possible to travel several miles to worship and learn
together with others who belong to the same family or share a common culture.
For young people, such journeys may be preferable to isolation within churches
that are not sensitive to youth culture. For members of ethnic communities,
ethnic churches may be regarded as crucial for the survival of their cultural
identity, for evangelism within their community, and for discipleship.
Ethnic and youth churches often draw people from a wider
area than most local churches, although it is not this that constitutes them as
network churches. City centre churches, churches with famous preachers, and
churches with particular doctrinal emphases have over many years drawn members
from miles around. But these members are generally not connected to each other
in any other way than through their church involvement. Members of network
churches have other things in common than their church membership. Even where
they operate very locally, ethnic and youth churches may not constitute
neighbourhood churches.
Although such homogeneous churches raise important
theological questions about inclusivity and the breaking down of social, racial,
and generational barriers in the church, they are likely to be the most
effective means of reaching a plural culture. At the same time, we will need to
have good models of multicultural churches in the mix. The questions must not be
dodged, but the traditional answers and structures (many of which are
homogeneous by default rather than design) may not be the only ones.
