Church splitters?

I have been thinking a lot of the modern church-planting movement. In the Upstate of South Carolina, we have a wealth of great churches with worship styles ranging from ultra traditional to off-the-charts “rock style” of worship. There are literally churches on every corner, and you usually do not have to drive more than five to 10 miles to find a church with a worship style of your choice.

There seems to be a trend of staff members becoming disgruntled with the present leadership of their church, so they will start a new church three miles from the church in which they are on staff. This, of course, causes a division – and half go with the “new and exciting” church, and the other half stay loyal to the church in which they currently attend. To me this is not church planting; it is church dividing. I also believe it requires little faith, because you know you are going to start with a base of people whom you normally wouldn’t have in a church start. If former staff have a burden to be church planters, it should be done out of the immediate driving distance of the church they just left. And the big problem I see is that our convention supports these new church plants financially, while often times the church they just left is left hemorrhaging because of the mass exodus.

If the church you are currently attending is not meeting your spiritual needs and you feel you can’t adequately serve God there, then find a church in which you can give Christ maximum glory. And, as I said before, I know the Upstate has a plethora of healthy churches of every conceivable style. If we were talking about a rural area in North Dakota, I could understand better someone starting a church down the road from the current church that may have a different worship style or philosophy. North Dakota is not inundated with churches of various worship styles. Real church planting is done where there are no churches.

 

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