I don’t know Jason Coker (except through blogosphere), but I love reading Jason Coker. And what he has done in a recent series of posts is simply amazing. In these posts (here, here, here, here, and here), Jason reflects on the sorrows of closing down a church that he and his wife Jenell worked so hard to plant in San Diego. Jason is a good writer. Yet Jason does more than that, he is brutally honest. He gives us a window into the world of church planting. I think everyone who seeks to plant a church should read these posts.
After I read Jason’s posts I couldn’t get them out of my mind. I often find myself worrying about church planters who do the kind of church planting that Jason and Jenell were doing. Jason’s posts fed that angst. Jamie Arpin-ricci’s recent post poured more gas on the flames of that anxiety. So I started to write this post. This post is not meant to tell Jason or anyone else what they did wrong. I do not dare to suggest I know Jason or San Diego or anything else enough to be able to do such a thing. I admire Jason, Jenell and Jamie and a whole bunch more church planters of their ilk. I’m just reflecting on their experience out of my own experience. If it helps everybody, so be it.
Planting missional communities is a different animal from the prototype church planting that is so familiar in denominations and places like Acts 29 and Redeemer City to City. The attractional dynamics that often typifies these kinds of church planting depend largely on existing Christianized populations. The emphasis is on meeting the dynamic of the population group so as to present the gospel in a cultural savvy way. I have no doubt that the success of many of the New Reformed Missional churches in the cities is the result of the influx of twenty-something populations into the cities in the past fifteen-twenty years with little or no place to go to church. Of course this is worthy work, and it has its own costs – let me tell you. And just so every body hears me – even in missional communities – there is the coalescence of already existing Christians of some sort for the task of listening to God and living in mission in a neighborhood. But the task of missionary church planting is different. Can I say that one more time? MISSIONARY CHURCH PLANTING IS DIFFERENT and the demands require a “mental training” of a sort.
So I have just a few observations to offer from reading Jason’s posts. After all I need the therapy! And thinking through Jason’s posts are like good therapy for every church planter I know. Again, just to reiterate, I don’t know Jason and I have only visited San Diego so these comments aren’t really about him. I applaud the hard work and the journey. Church planters like Jason and Jenell are golden. I hesitate to comment because perhaps people will think I’m saying they did something wrong. NOT! I think they are extraordinary for their work. I offer up these reflections as fodder for the much needed conversation on the nature of church planting for our time. Feel free to go at me on these comments.
4 Observations of Jason Coker’s post-mortem reflections on the closing of a church plant.
1.)Church Planting in Post Christendom is hard. I really can’t tell if Jason/Jenell were intentionally engaging post Christendom contexts, but their emphasis on justice, culture, and various approaches to ministry articulated here suggest that that they were doing just that. They were avoiding the competition and negative orbits associated with attractional ministry. Going against this grain is hard.
Nurturing community with an external focus and vibrant missional life often goes against the cultural assumptions of denominations and support networks. Denominations/American business want to see (immediate) results. They think like business people. Jason never said the Vineyard people placed these expectations on them. But the pressure is there regardless. It’s an American church cultural thing. Yet has anyone ever doing missionary work in India ever been expected to produce a self-sustaining church in three years? Overcoming these cultural pressures is hard.
Missional community also goes against the grain of already existing Christians who simply see the church as a place to sustain their own lifestyles/families in the Christian ethos. Leading people into a new imagination for the way God works in our lives and mission is painstaking. It is asking Christians to take discipleship to a new level. This – IMO – takes several years of cultivation. As such, many church plants have neither the patience, internal security or plain finances to be able to work that long on this kind of cultivation. Many get way-layed, pulverized by the turnover and the plain stubborn headedness of American Christians. All this makes church planting in Post-Christendom hard. Jason, Jenell should be commended for their true hearted commitment to work as missionaries … BECAUSE THIS KIND OF CHURCH PLANTING IS WHAT IS NEED IN A COUNRTY WHOSE ACTIVE CHRISTIAN POPULATIONS ARE SHRINKING.
2.) Finances are really important and often out of our control This is why I encourage those who plant a missionary church to have a minimum of a 5 year financial plan. You can raise these funds, but often, for many reasons, the work of this kind of fund raising CAN (ALTHOUGH NOT ALWAYS!) work against the very missional impulses your working to go with. I urge beginning church planters to get a job, especially if they’re in the twenties. Gaining a skill and experience in the workplace is monumental for your own personal development. It offers years of flexibility and freedom. I suggest church planters get a job where you can learn a skill and commit to getting good at. I urge church planters to only think about working 15 hours a week in their missional community pastoring. I urge every missional church plant to have three core leaders/couples who similarly have jobs who together can give 15 hours a week to the cultivating of this community. This is enough time for pastoring/cultivating (it’s actually the equivalent of one full time pastor). Since the community is very small (maybe only a few people to as many as thirty) you’re going to be ordering your life together in mission in the community. You aren’t going to be spending 50 hours producing an attractional service to compete and draw Christians from other places. 15 hours a week by three people is sufficient to lead and nurture the beginnings of such a community.
The job that these pastors get then provides the means to take all the pressure off and spend 5 years cultivating. It will also help each pastor gain a sense of identity and reality. This changes everything. It changes the way we look at ministry. Changes the dynamics of why we get paid and the pressures. And it provides the seeding ground so necessary in a missionary plant. It puts you out and about and alongside the community.
Jason had difficulty finding work. he got caught in the 2008 financial collapse vortex. It took a toll on him big time. For me, this issue of a job is perhaps the key part of navigating one’s entry into missional church planting. It’s a hurdle so many M Div’s can’t get past. Many M Div’s place their entire identity into getting a pastorate (this was definitely NOT THE CASE WITH JASON). They struggle to see tent-making as an identity marker that marks you as a revolutionary. Jason already was past this hurdle but couldn’t get that job for a long while. I suggest an alternative might be to raise funds with the plan for those funds to provide the time necessary to find a job.
Finances are probably the single number one debilitating factor in planting churches. I think it’s more psychical than it is material. For these reasons, as we plan a missional church plant, we must take the time to get firmly planted within a sustainable life financially that is also a walk of faith.
3) Finding at least two other strong mature leaders/couples that can join in with you and lead this communal imagination is essential. It is the APEPT principle – it takes an Apostle, Prophet (preacher), Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher (organizer) to nurture a community into existence and flourishing (Eph 4). Until then you struggle. Jason certainly struggled to find the right partners. He struggled courageously. At the Vine, it took us four years to get our leadership together. We struggled awfully until God led us into the right partnership with the right leaders. I feel like I nearly died psychically several times as a single leader with others who did not understand the mission with me. But when God provided the right partners, life changed, it made sense, and things started to take on a life of its own, the life of the Spirit.
In Christendom, one guy(or woman), with some charisma, can rustle up a crowd of Christians using Facebook and attract them with some preach-tainment long enough to establish a base from which he/she then builds systems. Not in missionary situations. One charismatic person cannot carry the load, and if she/he does, it will primary be an internally focused mega-church servicing Christians of some variety. Nothing wrong with that (necessarily). But it won’t be a missional community like Jason and Jenell were seeking to cultivate.
4) 5 Years. I simply don’t believe cultivating such a community will even begin to take on sustainable way of life that breeds life in the Spirit for a minimum of 5 years. Many disagree but I just don’t see it. The cultivation work is too important. It takes long patience and sustaining of oneself financially. Jason and Jenell had to close the church after 2 to 3 years. Yet I don’t think they should see this as a failure. Certain contingencies worked (all of which I have no knowledge of) to prevent from continuing. But 2 years is too short to consider this community a failure. I don’t believe in missionary work you can expect to see vibrant transformational growth until the end of year five (this may even be too short). I realize there are exceptions – this is just my historical perspective. For some reason, many many times, the Holy Spirit requires cultivated ground, open minds, prayer that opens the minds and hearts of the world to His working. TO ME MISSIONAL CULTIVATORS MUST EXPECT TO CULTIVATE MANY YEARS before they see the kinds of numbers, conversions etc. that Christendom has gotten us so used to.
Missional Communities Aren’t Worth It!
Some may look above and read of the struggles of Jason, Jenel and Jamie and others and say “missional communities then are not worth it.” Uh, I think Jason, Jenell and Jamie would disagree (although maybe not today). It does however require a different imagination, a different set of expectations, seeing ministry as a way of life, dare I say a sense of identity as a revolutionary, a Jesus radical. The kind of pastor I tried to describe HERE. To me Jason, Jenell and Jamie ( to what degree I know them which is only through blog world) provide us some examples as to what such “radicals” might look like as we go forward as missionaries in N America. Way to go!! Jason, Jamie today and yesterday I have been praying for you guys. I don’t know you, but you inspire me and others. I pray for you as God leads you into the future of His Mission!!
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Great advice and wisdom. In conjunction with recent tent-making posts on Scot McKnight's blog (Jesus Creed), there is plenty to think and pray about here.
Jason, Jenell and Jamie (and others), be encouraged. Keep moving forward in the task of reaching people for Christ. You didn't fail God
David, excellent post, thank you for taking the time/energy to share your thoughts on such an important and necessary topic. We must have these conversations for the sake of the American church in days to come.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Alan Cross, TransFORM and David Fitch. David Fitch said: @Jason_A_Coker , @missional, thanks for writing! This post is for you. Hope this is encouraging. If not, let me know! http://bit.ly/erzhJD [...]
Your post from 1/31/2010 on Steps to Seeding a Missional Community IMHO would be good for people to read in tandem with this post. It's here: http://www.reclaimingthemission.com/not-a-%E2%80%… … keep this stuff coming … it's very encouraging. Greetings from the Cleve.land that I love.
Thanks for putting my soul at ease (for the time being
)
After reading Jason and posting this: http://www.pomotheo.com/2010/missional/missional-…
I was thrilled to read your thoughts. Great encouragement to keep plodding along knowing the wise stories of those who've trekked this journey before.
Not sure there is a more important perspective on church-planting to be shared at this point in history of the church in Western culture. There are serious implications of this trajectory of thought for Christendom-shaped churches who are "going missional" as well as Christian schools, not just seminaries, but colleges as well.
Jason is a friend and we actually were together the other night. I have a huge amount of respect for the way he approached church-planting and the way he is attempting to deal with, not the failure of that project, but the realities of it.
[...] Fitch wrote an excellent post today on his thoughts regarding missionary churches in the Western world through the lens of Jason and [...]
For many I have come across – generally younger sort – the 5 year time line seems the most difficult to grasp. Working my way through Claiborne/Perkins text – love the advice given early on by Perkins (80 something civil rights pioneer) to Claiborne – look at a line of 10 to 12 years to see tangible results.
Bill, I think you are right. The challenge for us is this: while our church plant is just over 2 years old, we've been living & ministering in the neighbourhood for 10 years. The 5 years is not a patience challenge for me, but rather a sustainability concern. However, for our younger members/leaders, the 5 years is certainly a patience issue.
Fitch, thanks for this, I consider it a real gift – and if you know my thinking at all you know that's about the highest praise I can offer : )
You're spot on with this assessment. Basically, the experience boils down to this:
1. I thought it would take 3 months to transition into a secular career. It took 2 years.
2. I thought it would take 1 year to build strong enough relationships to recruit leadership partners. It's been 2 and half years now, and while we have friends, we still don't have deep enough ties with anyone to enter into a true partnership.
3. In spite of #2, I tried to rush the development of a structure. I didn't think I was rushing it – indeed, it felt agonizingly slow – but in retrospect, we didn't have anywhere near the depth or relationships we needed for that.
4. When our partner backed out suddenly I had to come to grips with #3. Unfortunately, I'd already poisoned the well. I had articulated a big vision, a tangible strategy, and rapidly approaching milestones. And now it was all on me and Jenell. We had to hit the reset button or be bogged down in months or even years of chasing vision instead of relationships.
5. I would be lying if I didn't admit that my attempt to accelerate the process was influenced by mounting financial pressure ("maybe I could at least turn this into a part time job") and a general perception that church plants should reach certain benchmarks within 3 years. Nobody in the Vineyard ever exerted that pressure. It was the result of my own tendency to compare myself to others.
We're not done, we're just on the shelf.
At the risk of being perceived as overdramatic, I had to choke back the tears reading these comments. Blessed to be among you all.
And Jason … thanks again … and next time I'm in LA … let's share a beverage … but don't expect JR Woodward or Rozko to pick up the tab … they're broke like the rest of us … they just look better fed.
peace bro … DF
It's a date. Thanks again Dave.
It's a date : )
I wanted to reflect on your points a bit longer. Here are some brief thoughts:
1.) Church Planting in Post Christendom is hard: Indeed it is. What surprised me was that, while in Canada more people are affirming of what it takes to be the church post-Christendom- that is, there are many VERY supportive people & communities- that doesn't always translate into people making commitments. It is hard. Very hard.
2.) Finances are really important and often out of our control: The strength we had going into this church plant was that we have been bi-vocational support-based missionaries for 10 years. Money is still tight and our church itself has zero (I'm not paid as pastor with no plans to change that), but this hasn't held us back. That said, I have wondered if we had money to hire someone, would that make the difference? I am skeptical, but the thought is there. As an aside (as we've discussed before, David), our inner city context makes the 15 hours a bit slim, which is a challenge both practically & financially.
3) Finding at least two other strong mature leaders/couples: This is kicker for us. We NEED those partners. We had planned on waiting for them before starting, but circumstances seemed to suggest that waiting would do more harm than good. Now I am not so sure. However, going back isn't an option, so now the prayerful searching (and pleading) begins.
4) 5 Years: As I mentioned above, this one is odd for us. We've been in the neighbourhood as missionaries for 10 years, but the church is only 2 years old. We made a minimum 10 year commitment to our community (which is not much for pioneering in an inner city context). I am completely convinced that you are right about the 5 years. My only concern is making it that long. God will provide!
Thanks again, David. This post is a real gift. I look forward to meeting you in November (if not sooner).
Peace,
Jamie
I don't have anything to add, but just wanted to say that I REALLY appreciate this post and all the comments. Thanks. And thanks for doin' what all of you are doin'.
I also read through Jason's posts yesterday and was also touched by his honesty and candor. I'm looking in on this as someone who is seeking to transition an existing, traditional mainline congregation toward a missional future. Instead of starting a new church six years ago, I entered the confines of a community that was born in the cradle of post WWII Christendom, and has been running out of steam ever since its membership peaked in 1960.
I vacillate between the thought that we're actually innovating something new and that we're just dressing up old ways of doing church in new language and forms. The irony of trying to transition an existing congregation is that the barriers to a missional church plant you and Jason highlight are often the strengths of an effort to transition. We have money. We have buildings. We're able to hire like-minded partners in mission as opposed to relying on "volunteers". But, of course, these are the very structures that make it hard to transition. But they do give us time, even as the sources of income and stability are atrophying.
I'm mostly humbled by the commitment and faith that leads people like Jason to put themselves out there. And he is my prayers also. The one observation I'd like to offer is that maybe the most important piece of planting a new missional community is being embedded in a community. Jason mentions this as one of the key pieces of the puzzle that didn't quite come together and it's the thing that most jumped out to me. The five years are important maybe most of all because it's only after five years that one can be embedded and part of a community. And it's on this point that I think transitioning an existing congregation has a leg up on starting from scratch.
Our 90 year old congregation is embedded in a neighborhood and community. There is a history and a geography of place that is a gold mine of inquiry into the work of the Spirit. Through the years, the connection to the neighborhood was lost in many ways, and so the work is not just innovating a new way of being church, but also reconnecting with and redeeming the historical role of the congregation as an anchor of identity and connection.
Is it possible that transitioning existing congregations into missional communities is a more viable option than starting from scratch?
Thanks for this post Fitch. My wife and I both read it today and emailed it to each other because it speaks directly into our current situation. I'll throw in my 2 cents (if they're even worth that much):
1. Church planting is hard. We've been finding the urge to evaluate things based on "normal" American standards and have had to fight against it. When we look at what we've been doing and not necessarily seeing the multitudes or people coming out of the woodwork, it gets challenging to stay the course. The escape hatch of moving on has to be constantly sealed back up. Getting people to see God moving in different, surprising ways is indeed ridiculously difficult.
2. The job market here in the Syracuse, NY area is difficult for someone with a Masters in Theological Studies. I've been working in a local school district with Special Ed kids as a Teaching Assistant. It helps pay the bills, but most of the districts here, including mine, are laying off people in droves. What's next for a seminary grad outside of explicit ministry settings? That's a good question. As with #1, it makes things difficult and I know for us, we're at a crossroads in figuring out the next steps.
3. This is spot-on for us too. Most Christians here in central NY are either staunch Roman Catholics or your run of the mill evangelicals attending one of the handful of larger churches in the area. People are congratulatory about moving towards planting, but that's where it stops. Finding commitment, especially without a "thriving kids' ministry" or "great music", is very difficult. Everyone's a fan, not too many are participants.
4. Thinking long-term is a difficult thing to learn, especially with the creeping tendency to want it now. Having worked with 2 other church plants, the 2-3 year mark is the norm. The most recent plant is now forced to merge with another church in the area because of denominational pressure and lack of resources. 5 years definitely seems more realistic.
Thanks again for this post. It came at the right moment for a couple trying to be faithful to God's movement. See you in Chevy Chase (hopefully).
Thanks David,
This is an important topic, as someone else on the ground trying to do this (and internet friends with Jason and Jamie) I think you've nailed a lot of the tensions that have to be navigated.
I'd comment mostly on the patience issue. Even with those who seem to get that it takes a long time, it's tough getting most of the folks involved to stick with it long enough to let it build into something. Running into that now.
And the APEST thing is huge. I'm 27 and still adjusting to what my role in ministry is, but I've found that it's easiest to get other leaders who are strong in the ST category. It's led to me exploring my gifting in the other parts to balance out our team. But it seems tough to find the avenues from where to draw in folks who function as A,P, and E.
Anyways, thanks for the words on this. I just forwarded it on to the other members on our leadership team.
David, nothing more to add other than to say thanks for writing things that very few people will say out loud (or just aren't seeing) and taking the heat with your prophetic voice. At the very least you're forcing people to evaluate how they are approaching community life, discipleship and mission in their own church communities. Thanks.
jt, my tribe is the C&MA. We get alot of support from our district (by that I don't mean money but other things – and at LOV we have been blessed with the gift of a building). There are other districts within C&MA committed to supporting these ways (although not all districts by any means). I'm now a seminary prof (I once worked in the financial industry)… and have connections with several schools … we've been able to draw alot of leader types to our place … I think other churches can birth communities and support them … I think it's easier with a larger base providing leaders and candidates for this kind of church planting. It can be done going it alone … but will probably always take a lot longer …
Thanks for the encouraging words ..
Blessings DF
[...] Theology: Death of a Church Plant – Some Reflections and … Death of a Church Plant – Some Reflections and Hope for the Future of Missional Church Planting: [...]
Thank you, Dave! This post is very calrifying for me. I am a church planter in the Episcopal church. My bishop has given me full financial support for the past five years and will continue into the future. It takes care of worries about money, but it does not give us enough strength for being a missional community. The hardest part in our work is finding the APEPT leadership team. those who first came to us were Episcopalians escited about a new Episcopal Church. Those who have stayed for these past years are just now beginning to see the point about a leadership team that carries vision together.
[...] Reclaiming the Mission » Death of a Church Plant – Some Reflections and Hope for the Future of Mi… [...]
Collin,,
I've given my reasons, empirical and other ones,for this statment on this blog over the years. I'll summarize these in a blog post in next few days, that way we can have a broader conversation on it. I'll do it Tuesday. Thanks for asking the question
DF
David,
Very, very good thoughts with this post, and our experience backs up your points to a T. I would agree with Jamie and Bill…10 years might be a more accurate number. We are approaching 10 years here in South Florida this year, and this is the first that we've felt significant momentum.
In some ways, I wonder if this is just another instance of church planters catching up with good missiologists. Why should we expect planting a missional church to take any less time than 5-10 years? It took us that long just to get comfortable and understand our surroundings…
Also…much peace to you, Jason. I'm a former Vineyard guy, we probably have a lot in common. If you ever find yourself in South Florida / West Palm Beach…let's have a beer.
Thanks Mike, I'll take you up on that beer someday : )
Such a gut-gripping conversation (Jason's posts, this one, the comments)! On pt. 3), we still tend to think too often in terms of "church planter (singular)." Even when we talk about a church planter "gathering a team," I think we still tend to think about it in the context of the CEO model (who often alone has "the call" and "the vision"), who then goes looking for CFO's and other executives to be on his or her "team" for his or her vision. ____I asked this question in the series at Jesus Creed that was mentioned above: "What was wrong with the 12, the 70, and even Paul and Barnabas, that they had to be called/sent to do missions in partnerships, since we apparently only need solo-calls today?" It's a real tragedy that such 'partnership' calls are practically unheard of today. Despite our own wisdom literature, our overwhelming NT examples, and Dave's important first point, our DEFAULT is solo calls for ministry and missionary work. ____Anyway, I hope we can go farther developing all these thoughts. Jason, thanks so much for helping us all.
Great thoughts. Get's me wondering if should write something along similar lines for lay Christians seeking to live missionally. I've seen many go under unfortunately.
[...] the top and go back the past few entries). I also read David Fitch’s wonderfully instructive post, where he reflects on Jason’s analysis and makes what I think are five spot-on observations [...]
[...] Death of a Church Plant – Some Reflections and Hope for the Future of Missional Church Planting: “ [...]
[...] i loved reading all of their contributions. some of the recent ones can be found here, here, here, and here. many of the discussions i came across seemed to reinforce the modern-western concept [...]
[...] a recent post on this blog I made the [...]
I'm reminded of a nugget from that amazing pioneer Gordon Cosby – "vision is the destroyer of essence." It was difficult to make sense of that in the old world – in post-Christendom it rings true. The pain of the birth pangs we are seeing now is still nothing. The denominations have yet to really hit the wall and the shock will be tremendous.
[...] Fitch wrote an excellent post today on his thoughts regarding missionary churches in the Western world through the lens of Jason and [...]
[...] Attractional Basis of Neo-Reformed Church Plants YES OR NO … In a recent post on this blog I made the [...]
Wow! As a church planter just outside Chicago , my first impression to Jason’s blogs and posts as well as to D. Fitch’s response was that our church plant isn’t doing as bad as I thought. However, it didn’t take long for reality to set in for me. This is our 5th year…we have a good team, we have two very engaging congregations (Spanish and English), we have a strong presence in one of the few communities that hovers under the legal poverty level in Illinois…and yet, we are so far from where we envisioned we would be at this point, struggle with engaging leaders committed to missional thinking and financially we are struggling immensely. I’m confronted with these same realities but as most church planters do, I do so in silence. D.Fitch….your response article is making too much sense to me and my heart is genuinely processing these truths. I’ll be sharing it with those who carry the burden of ministry with me. We obviously have much to learn. Thanks for the candor.