CHURCH PLANTING
ARTICLE
Church plants popping up everywhere direly need grounding in sound, biblically balanced doctrine that will enable the truly born again believer to learn and live the scriptural, Spirit-filled Christian life. The mission field in America is quite different from that commonly encountered by foreign missionaries. It is not a call to the heathen field where the gospel has never been heard, but to the religious field where the gospel has been misrepresented and perverted. This religiously gray mission field is where error is being preached and the character of God is misrepresented. This is where salvation is watered down, sanctification ignored, the holiness of God is foreign…even mocked, and the love of God is presented as sin permissive toleration.
With the ever growing plethora of ungrounded and unsound church plants popping up everywhere, churches which are whole hearted about understanding and obeying God’s Word, by faith through the Spirit, are a welcome breath of fresh air! These churches have been planted because they
hunger for truth in a famished land. These believers value sound and balanced doctrine and crave the genuine Spirit-filled victorious
Christian life. Thank God for new church plants which seek more than a superficial establishment. Thank God for pastors concerned with soundly grounding their members, especially any future church planters, before they send them out to plant (or pop up) another “popcorn” church.
These churches will usually be small, like-minded fellowships. Church settings and cultures may differ, but the message remains the same. The hearts and minds of true believers are alike regarding the holiness of God and the essential tenets of the faith, especially those pertaining to true scriptural salvation and sanctification.
Most popcorn churches have some newly acquired outreach and discipleship program. Most follow a marketing strategy that advocates casting a wide net, followed by shallow, contentless “grounding.” These discipleship programs spawn mile wide/inch deep leadership programs with superficial leaders equipped to embark on more rapid fire, new popcorn church plants with “wide net” outreach.
What is the moral here? Seek safe and sound discipleship, mature leadership and healthy church plants with scripturally balanced grounding.