It would be reasonable to estimate that multiple hundreds of thousands of people have become followers of Jesus Christ as a result of the modern church-planting movement. One characteristic of the literature of this movement has been an almost singular focus on the individual who is sent out to lead the new congregation, rather than on the vital role of the sending or sponsoring church. Practically all the books are written with one target in mind: this individual leader, the pioneer pastor, usually referred to as the "church planter." The Mother Church is not written for pioneer pastors; it is written for the leaders of potential mother churches. It is designed to help leaders assess whether and when the birthing of a new church is a good idea for their congregation and to provide them with tools to birth and nurture healthy, thriving, life-giving new churches. "Church leaders who desire to see their mission efforts survive and thrive need to give special attention to the hardwon insights of John Bangs' The Mother Church. Bangs is not only a mission planter and pastor, but he brings the broader view of a church-planting leader ..." -Charles J. Scalise, Ph.D., Professor of Church History, Fuller Theological Seminary "The Mother Church will revolutionize the way we view and do birthing of mission churches." -Kent J. Ingle, D.Min., Dean, College of Ministry, Northwest University

The Mother Church

A Church Leader's Guide to Birthing and Nurturing Thriving New CongregationsBy John C. Bangs

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2010 John C. Bangs
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4502-2100-9

Contents

Acknowledgments.........................................................................ixIntroduction............................................................................xiiiPart One: Why...........................................................................1Chapter 1 Church Parenting: A Better Metaphor...........................................3Chapter 2 Taking Stock: A Look Back.....................................................26Chapter 3 Thriving Churches: No Other Goal..............................................44Chapter 4 New Congregations for Emerging Generations....................................66Chapter 5 Leaving a Legacy: Bringing Meaning to Life....................................87Part Two: How...........................................................................103Chapter 6 Key Characteristics and Practices of Parenting................................105Part Three: When........................................................................123Chapter 7 What Does It Take? A Look in the Mirror.......................................125Chapter 8 Becoming a Parent: A Twinkle in Mommy's Eye...................................144Appendix A Pregnancy Test: A Congregational Self-Assessment Tool........................149Appendix B Project One-Five.............................................................158Appendix C Additional Mother Church Stories.............................................160Appendix D Seattle District Church Parenting Timeline and Checklist.....................168Bibliography............................................................................169

Chapter One

Church Parenting: A Better Metaphor

We do not think good metaphors are anything very important, but I think a good metaphor is something even the police should keep an eye on. -Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

What if every married couple in North America chose to forego having children in order to give themselves more fully to the accomplishment of personal and career goals? What if going childless were the rule instead of the exception? Several obvious results would seem positive.

Businesses would be more productive. Consider what could be done with twice the workforce, the ability to work almost interminable hours, undistracted devotion to business objectives, evenings spent networking at parties and dinners, and more time for education. The population would likely be healthier. Imagine the energy and fitness we could achieve with excess time to spend with physical trainers, masseuses, spiritual directors, and psychologists. Individuals would be wealthier. Tax money that now goes to public schools and to clothing children could be converted to disposable income. Having plenty of time for exotic vacations and lots of money to pamper themselves, child-free couples would be more rested. If all went childless, North America would have an exceptionally productive, healthy, wealthy, and rested present-but no future.

Something very similar to this is happening in North America's churches: Foregoing parenting, our churches are exchanging the birthing of healthy new baby churches for their own prosperity at the present moment. My purpose in making this strong statement is not to condemn the efforts and priorities of our churches. Without question, our churches make a powerful and positive difference in individual lives and in communities. My hope, instead, is to start a conversation, a reevaluation of those priorities. I can hear the questions: How can our programs be productive if we send our most effective and compelling leaders away to pastor new churches? How can we breathe health and vitality into our ministries if we release perfectly good volunteers to serve baby congregations? Where do we find the wealth to finance our facilities if we give "the gift that keeps on giving," financial contributions of tithing congregants, to rent space for daughter churches? We are exhausted enough already just trying to minister to our own congregations; how can we minister effectively if we add the task of birthing new ones?

Questions like these demonstrate the enormity of the task at hand. Let us take a moment to address these questions by reflecting on some numbers that demonstrate where the North American church stands in the task of reaching our population with the gospel.

The Numbers

At a 2005 convention in Chicago two speakers were featured: Ted Haggard, the since-discredited then-president of the National Association of Evangelicals, and Ron Luce, the fiery director of Teen Mania, the organization that presents the popular "Acquire the Fire" stadium events. Haggard's message was affirming and comforting. Using George Barna's statistics to paint a picture of an expanding and successful evangelistic effort in the United States, his message could have been entitled, "Don't Worry; Be Happy." Luce's presentation, on the other hand, was intentionally disturbing. Fully intending to mobilize the two thousand or so pastors present in a strategic battle to win the hearts and minds of America's youth, Luce, quoting a since-challenged statistic, declared that only 4 percent of the "rising generation" are born-again Christians.

So who is right? Is Evangelical Christianity prospering, growing, and succeeding at making disciples of all nations, including this one? Or are we in a dire situation requiring urgent, focused action to keep the Christian faith from going the way of Zeus and Odin?

Answers to questions about the success or failure-growth or decline-of the Christian faith are exceptionally difficult to pin down conclusively: How is the genuineness of Christian faith determined? Who makes the call? Should we count first-time faith confessions, born-again experiences, church membership roles, average weekly attendance figures, or attendance at peak times of the year? Should only Evangelical churches be counted, or should the mainline Protestant denominations be included? What about Catholics? Orthodox? Seventh Day Adventists? Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses? Do we ask the churches or do we go directly to individuals and ask them? Different studies use different criteria to answer these key questions.

The Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance contend that Christianity has fallen into decline in the United States:

Large numbers of American adults are disaffiliating themselves from Christianity.... Identification with Christianity has suffered a loss of 9.7 percentage points in 11 years-about 0.9 percentage points per year. This decline is identical to that observed in Canada between 1981 and 2001. If this trend continues, then by about the year 2042, non-Christians will outnumber the Christians in the U.S.

The American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) concludes that Americans are moving away from organized expressions of Christianity:

Often lost amidst the mesmerizing tapestry of faith groups ... is also a vast and growing population of those without faith ... The present survey has detected a wide and possibly growing swath of secularism among Americans.

The Ontario Consultants and the authors...