The 2000 Anabaptist Church Planting Survey

Survey Results

Angela Zizak

This study on Anabaptist church plants was initiated by the New Life Ministries Management Team in 2000. It was decided that a survey would be designed inquiring about the church planting process. This survey would then be sent to all churches in the New Life Ministries partnering denominations whose doors opened between 1990 and 2000. Christian Community was given the task of creating, implementing, and analyzing the results of this study. We thank the New Life Ministries Management Team for reviewing the survey draft and making recommendations. We sent out surveys with introductory letters from the denominations and reminder letters later, and phone calls were made to encourage churches that had not responded to send them in. We subsequently called a few churches to conduct a more in-depth inquiry into the nature of their experiences. We thank all the participating churches for their time and input in this study.

We would like to first present some basic demographics about the churches in general and what they recorded for the significant survey items, including structural issues, leadership, and their own planting processes, as well as the issues and advice in their own words for future church planting efforts. Steve Clapp, president of Christian Community and a member of New Life Ministries board of directors, will then give further insight about what we discovered and address the question of what may be done differently in the future.

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The structure of the church is comprised of the facilities, finances, programs, and membership, as well as outreach and growth. The majority of the churches have adequate size and space to meet and worship, although 32% stated their facilities were too small for their needs. In most cases, the first facility was bought, rented, or built before the first worship service. (We don’t know the comparison among buying, building, and renting.) 

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Outreach is clearly integral in the ministry of a church plant. Outreach efforts have actually increased overall from the time churches opened their doors to the present. Figure 2 titled "Methods of Outreach" reveals the differences in activities performed when the church plants were new versus now.

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The church planting process involves identifying the church’s mission, answering the call, planting strategies, initial training, denominational guidance and affiliation, and evaluation. Each survey respondent was asked to share the church’s vision or mission statement. There are many common themes that these churches share. . . .

As shown in Figure 4 titled "Reasons for Church Start," over half of the ministers initiated the process to plant a new church because they felt a call from God. Others were started by members or ministers from an existing church. Twenty-six percent were initiated by the denomination or district/regional executives. Other reasons for starting the church include outreach to new people, identifying a geographical area or cultural group without a church, and experiencing a split in a church.

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No particular planting approach or method was predominant among the church plants that responded. Figure 6 titled "Church Planting Approaches" lists the approaches used. The most popular method is having the pastor gather people to form a cell group (37%). Other methods include the pastor being sent by the denomination (22%), result of a split from another church (18%), a "hiving off" approach of a core from an existing church (27%), and an intentional multi-ethnic congregation (10%).

For churches which utilized the core or cell group method, these groups were likely formed by people attending home Bible studies (43%) or with members of an existing congregation (39%). Prayer groups, door-to-door invitations, direct mailings, and phone calls were other ways of building a core planting group. . . .

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Finally, we would like to address some of the struggles and problems that new churches face as well as some of the positive experiences, success, and advice they give for future church planters and denominational leaders. The biggest problems that churches faced at one point or another, as shown in Figure 9, "Main Problems of Church Plants," were attracting (59%) and retaining (35%) new members for their church. Having an adequate facility (39%), financial resources (31%), and training (25%) were also major dilemmas they faced.

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All of the responding churches believe it is biblically important to plant churches, especially to win more people to Jesus Christ. They feel that all other reasons, including that it is efficient or leads to denominational growth and survival, are not as important. When it comes to fulfilling the Great Commission, these church planters are totally committed and incredibly excited. Reading their comments and talking to them about what they are doing shows evidence of their commitment to fulfilling the vision God provided for their church. They hope that church planting will continue to be improved and encouraged by everyone involved, especially by denominational leaders and existing churches.

 2000-2008 New Life Ministries (www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org). All Rights Reserved.
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