CMRs Church Plant Survivability Report (Part 2)

I received a call from yet another planter just today saying that he will be leaving his church plant, in part, due to the disparity between his expectations and the reality of church planting.

I wish just once over the many years and many sermons and testimonies I have heard, both growing up in a pioneer church planting church (we were church planting before church planting was cool) and in the chapels, and church planting/church growth courses at two seminaries, that I had heard one church planter say, "You know what, it has been really hard much of the time. It has been really frustrating much of the time. It has been really hard on my family in the sacrifices they have made. It is really discouraging to make contact with hundreds and even thousands of individuals before one will visit the church or be open to the gospel. It is really distressing to fill out reports every month, knowing that support will end soon and I'm still running 35 on Sundays. It is hard to leave your house every Sunday morning at 6 am to spend hours moving equipment and supplies and setting up for worship services, just to tear it all back down and get home for lunch at 3 or 4 pm. And sometimes it is glorious. Sometimes, you get to see God's grace poured out on someone who had never heard the gospel before you showed up on their door. And you will always be pushed to deeper and deeper reliance on God."

Instead, it seems the only testimonies or sermons you ever heard from church planters was the guy who had plenty of financial support and had a first service launch service with 350 in attendance. The reality, as the CMR study reveals is that average attendance is approximately 80 after 4 years. I would argue that even this number is on the high end of what I have observed. The key finding regarding improving church plant survivability was identified as having "realistic expectations." In fact, it was found to improve the chances of survival by 400%! If church planters do not have a realistic view of what they are getting into, they will not be prepared when they encounter reality. If they are not prepared, they are more likely not to survive. I have seen many drop out of planting; some to go to established churches in the South; some to drop out of ministry all together. Typically, if the church planter does not survive, the church plant does not survive either.

The solution is clear. Seminaries should invite church planters whose experiences are more the rule than the exception. If all you ever see paraded before you is the exceptional, then the average seems, well, less than average, if not downright abysmal. Church planting courses and assessments need to present a realistic expectation of the call to church planting. The truth may discourage some from attempting church planting, but then is that really a bad thing?