On the Eve of Easter, the faithful convene in darkness, and a fire is kindled. From this newly kindled fire, a large, Paschal Candle is lighted, symbolizing Christ, and the congregation follows the flame into the sanctuary. This single flame then illuminates a sea of candles, dispelling the darkness, as the people sing: “Rejoice and sing now, all the round earth, bright with a glorious splendor, for darkness has been vanquished by our eternal King” (BCP 2019). In this way, the Church ritualizes the “rebirth” of our once-dead Lord, who is the light of the world (John 8:12), the true light, which gives light to everyone (John 1:9).
Nothing in all creation is hidden from this light. It touches everything, transfigures everything, which means the applications are endless. But for the purposes of this essay, I believe this “Service of Light” makes an especially compelling case for church planting. What happens in the sanctuary on the Eve of Easter is what happens on a global scale when the Church multiplies. Want to dispel the darkness? Light more candles. That is, plant more churches. Church planting is the process by which the sanctuary we call “Earth” is filled with the light and glorious splendor of our eternal King.
Of course, church planting is not without its critics and potential pitfalls. Any church planting endeavor must account for the very real possibility of division, squandered resources, perpetual transfer growth, cultural insensitivity, and competition where there ought to be collaboration. In addition, church revitalization (bringing new life to dying churches) is a worthwhile undertaking, and may be the best option in many cases. But either way, the goal is to light more candles, which has always been our purpose as the people of God.
In fact, God was Himself the world’s first “church planter.”
Expanding the Garden-Sanctuary
In the beginning, God planted a Garden in the land of Eden, in the east, and placed Adam there “to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). Both Adam and Eve were together granted dominion over all the earth (minus one tree) and given a great commission: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion [over everything]” (Genesis 1:28). God originally intended for humanity to join in the expansion of Eden, to cultivate and glorify the entire earth into a well-watered Garden. Instead, humanity was cut off from Eden, cut off from the presence and dwelling place of the Lord.
Stated differently, Adam was called by God to be a priest in the Sanctuary. The two words “work” (abad) and “keep” (samar) are translated elsewhere as “serve/minister” and “keep/guard” most often in association with Temple priests (e.g. Numbers 3:7-8, 1 Chronicles 23:32, Ezekiel 44:14), suggesting that Adam’s sin may also be considered a priestly failure to guard the Sanctuary from uncleanness and defilement. Like the Garden in Eden, the Tabernacle and Temple were both eastward-facing, and the lush imagery of the Garden featured prominently therein. Thus, when the children of Israel drew near for worship, they were reentering the presence and dwelling place of the Lord. Levitical worship was God’s way of welcoming the sons of Adam back into the Garden.
These interpenetrating themes of Garden and Sanctuary, when taken together, reveal the telos of creation. Humanity’s original commission was more than just a call to transform the uncultivated earth into a well-watered Garden; it was simultaneously a call to transform the unconsecrated earth into a Sanctuary. The command to “fill the earth” was given to a priest, not just to a gardener. God had planted a Garden-Sanctuary, and Adam and Eve were called to multiply that Garden-Sanctuary to the ends of the earth.
This project — multiplying the Garden-Sanctuary of God — was the very project that human sin and rebellion derailed. But God is no quitter. The rest of the Old Testament tells the story of God repeatedly reaffirming His original purpose for creation and taking the necessary steps to restore His people to their original vocation. And when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son as “the last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45). The last Adam succeeded where the first had failed, received from the Father all authority in heaven and on earth, and took His seat in the heavenly Garden-Sanctuary as our Great High Gardener-Priest.
But for what purpose? Has Christ ushered the sons of Adam into a great age of thumb-twiddling as we await His return? Is the Garden-Sanctuary of this world destined for defilement and decay? Or could it be that we have finally been restored to our original purpose and commission before God? Could it be that we have a real job to do and a real war to win on this side of the Second Coming?
Indeed, Jesus has restored the people of God to their original vocation. He has placed the Garden-Sanctuary project back on the rails. When Jesus commissions His followers to “disciple the nations” (Matthew 28:18-20), He does so as the last Adam who claims “all authority in heaven and on earth.” The Great Commission is thus a call to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.” Far from thumb-twiddling, the Church is on offense — organizing and strategizing and resourcing a global effort to cultivate the wilderness into a Garden and to consecrate the earth into a Sanctuary.
This is precisely what we see in the book of Acts: Garden-growing and Sanctuary-expanding. We are told that “The word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly” (Acts 6:7) and “The word of God increased and multiplied” (Acts 12:24). This Greek word for “increase” (auxano) has organic connotations (c.f. Matthew 6:28, 13:32, Mark 4:8, Luke 13:19, 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, Colossians 1:6, 10) and could just as easily be translated as “be fruitful.” Indeed, it’s the Greek word for “be fruitful” in Genesis 1:28 LXX. As the word of God is fruitful, as disciples multiply, the command to “be fruitful and multiply” is fulfilled in and through the early church. The Word finds good soil, and the Garden grows.
In addition, the fruitfulness and multiplication of the early church is presented as the ongoing expansion of a new Temple. The Great Commission given by Jesus in Matthew 28 clearly resembles the Temple-building commission of Cyrus in 2 Chronicles 36, and this does not appear to have been lost on the Apostles. With all authority in heaven and on earth, Jesus commissions every Ezra and Nehemiah throughout the ages to build up the Temple and holy city. According to Jesus, the Temple of His day was a withered fig tree doomed for destruction (Mark 11:12-26, 13:1-2). In addition, He claimed to be the Cornerstone of a new Temple, and the chief priests and scribes (the Temple authorities) were present and fully aware of His meaning (Mark 12:1-12). Thus, when Peter and John were brought before the Sanhedrin, they were eager to remind the Temple authorities of Jesus’ claim (Acts 4:11). The Kingdom was being taken away from the Sanhedrin and given to a people producing its fruits; namely, the Church/Apostles. In that very same city, under the shadow of a withered fig tree, a growing community of Jesus followers were quietly upstaging the old Temple and bringing to fulfillment all that God intended for it to be: the dwelling place of God, a house of prayer for all nations, a place for worship and singing and sacrifice, a place where the poor are provided for (Acts 4:23-37). And this was only the beginning. In obedience to the Jesus’ great, Temple-building commission, the Spirit-filled and fruitful church in Jerusalem began to multiply — “in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Through multiplication, the Church was “growing” into a holy Temple built of “living stones” (Ephesians 2:21, 1 Peter 2:5). It may have taken some shoving from “the hand of the Lord” (Acts 11:21), but ultimately, the early church came to interpret the Great Commission as a call to plant churches!
Ever since God planted the first church in Eden and called Adam to be its priest, fruitfulness and multiplication have been humanity’s assignment. And for two thousand years now, followers of Christ have been doing just that — bearing fruit and multiplying. Every church-going person belongs to a church that was once planted, a church that was once a church plant. And the cumulative, eschatological effect of all this filling and subduing is beautifully described in Revelation 21 and 22. John sees the holy city, new Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God (21:2, 10). Although the cubic dimensions of this city evoke the Holy of Holies, there is no Temple in the New Jerusalem, for God is all in all. There is, however, a Garden (22:1-3). This Garden is more than Eden restored, it is Eden glorified, Eden’s telos. And this time, there is no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God gives light to the city, and night is no more (21:23, 22:5). In essence, the final chapters of the Bible reveal the target that every church planter is aiming for (and every Christian, for that matter). We plant churches because we want to see the Garden-Temple expand to fill the entire cosmos, dispelling every trace of darkness.
Church planting is not merely en vogue. Nor is church planting a mere byproduct of God’s mission, as if His mission is primarily to individuals, whereas the Church just happens to be a good place for those individuals to grow. No, the Church is salvation in communal form, the proleptic social reality of the inherently social world that God is redeeming. Thus, in addition to the work of evangelizing individuals, church planting is how the social reality of the Kingdom gets kneaded into the nations. Church planting is the work of bearing fruit, multiplying, filling the earth, subduing it, and having dominion. Church planting is the work of lighting more candles and filling the darkened world with light. Church planting is growing the Garden and expanding the Sanctuary.
When Done Well
Not only is church planting essential to the Church’s mission, it offers a number of attendant benefits. First and foremost, it seems obvious to me that sacramental Christians ought to prefer hundreds of churches in the hundreds rather than tens of churches in the thousands. Prior to the advent of prepackaged Communion elements (the “rip and sip” variety), I can only imagine the procedural quagmire of administering a weekly Eucharist to a megachurch. Not only that, but the shepherdability of a megachurch is a major hurdle. So in this regard, Biblical worship and Biblical shepherding seem to put a cap on church size, and church planting is the healthiest way to govern the growth. For the church-planting church, there is less of a “ceiling” for rising leaders. When gifted people are permitted and encouraged to leverage their gifting for the sake of Garden-growing and Sanctuary-expanding, they are less likely to stagnate under the leadership of others, and their departure makes room for the rise of still more gifted people. In addition, church-planting churches are blessed to always have new birth on the horizon, which provides a perpetual opportunity for the congregation to exercise generosity. This also undermines the cult of personality which so often produces artificial growth. When a church routinely sends out gifted leaders and dear friends, the senders and the sent are both reminded that the mission of God supersedes our comfort and preferences.
When done well, church planting is a healthy thing, offering a variety of benefits to all involved. Yet so much depends upon that phrase: “when done well.” So much depends upon the “how” of church planting. On one hand, Christian ministers ought to feel free to take risks and to venture out in the name of Christ, confident that He is with us always and eager to bless. On the other hand, the Church is not a sandbox. The Church is made up of real people, at different points on their journey of faith, who are especially liable to deep pain and disillusionment when used as pawns (hopefully, tithing pawns) by church leaders. The flock of God deserves to be shepherded by faithful and prayerful men who prioritize their spiritual well-being by submitting to authority, getting assessed and trained, growing in humility and self-awareness, preparing with diligence, counting the cost, making plans, and so on.
By the nature of the work, church planting often attracts young, driven, ambitious, independent-minded, and self-confident leaders. And I believe this is a feature, not a bug, provided we are able to harness the energy. Consider again the metaphor of filling a sanctuary with candlelight. Fire is a beautiful and powerful thing, provided we are able to harness its energy. When, however, we are unable to harness its energy, fire is a highly destructive thing. Likewise, a church planter has the capacity to inflict incalculable damage. He is capable of burning himself, burning his family, and burning his followers. But just think about what fire can accomplish when properly harnessed — from cooking a gourmet meal, to travelling to the moon, and everything in between. If church planting attracts men with fire in their bellies, the institutional church would be wise to have systems in place to welcome and leverage that passion.
So what does it look like to harness a church planter’s energy? It looks like (1) honest assessment, (2) extensive training, discipleship, and experience, and (3) submission to authority. To be sure, these things slow down the process, but they slow down the process for all the right reasons. For the sake of the Church and the reputation of Christ, we need comprehensive strategies for forming and sending church planters. We cannot afford to be hasty in the laying on of hands (1 Timothy 5:22). We cannot afford to conduct cursory church planting assessments, heavy on charisma and light on character. We cannot afford to “rubber stamp” gifted young men who are allured by the prospect of autonomy and have little-to-no experience leading real people. We cannot afford to pour Kingdom resources into enterprises led by men who are more interested in gathering a crowd than shepherding a flock, and too insecure to metabolize critical feedback.
To borrow a quote from Deitrich Bonhoeffer, “When Christ calls a man [to plant a church], he bids him come and die.” Church planters need to learn this on the front end, not in the wake of their own failure. And I believe one of the best ways to learn this, to learn humility, is by submitting to spiritual authority. This is more than just mentorship. Every church planter should be in submission to ecclesiastical authority, a person or group of people designated to be a support resource and source of encouragement, but who also have the power to pull the plug and/or discipline a church planter when necessary. The sort of man who desires to plant a church is precisely the sort of man who ought to do so under the covering of others. This protects the planter, the people, and the reputation of Christ. In addition, planting under ecclesiastical authority promotes the unity of the Church. The proliferation of autonomous congregations may be evangelistically fruitful, but it ultimately contributes to the further fracturing of the Church. So why not plant those same congregations as part of a larger institution? The 21st century Church is a shattered vessel, and sometimes, planting a church can be like taking a hammer to the fragments.
Despite its perceived bureaucratic clunkiness, the institutional Church has a crucial role to play in supporting and guiding church planters, but this will likely necessitate a bit of reimagining and restructuring to allow for multiplication. Church planters ought to distrust themselves enough to reject autonomy as a value, but at the same time, institutions need to do the work of making themselves attractive to young, driven, ambitious, independent-minded, and self-confident leaders. We must pursue a healthy balance between trellis and vine, bone and flesh, organization and organism, institution and movement. These priorities are not antithetical, and the Church has done this well in the past. We need both stability and dynamism in order to plant new churches successfully and sustainably.
Conclusion
When it seems as though the world is growing increasingly dark, and the Church is constantly scrambling to proffer a thoughtful and prophetic word in response to every wave of cultural insanity, Christians might be forgiven the impulse to hunker down and ride out the storm. But in the words of Winston Churchill, “We shall not be content with a defensive war.” When Christian ministers tend our local Garden-Sanctuaries to the neglect of all that in this world remains unfilled and unsubdued, we are guilty of burying the Master’s talent. We have a Garden to grow, a Sanctuary to expand, and a world to fill with light. Even in a rapidly changing world — no, especially in a rapidly changing world — the Church should be on offense. We should always be taking ground. If you believe that the nations are destined to become the Kingdom of Christ, then church planting is non-optional. Church planting is applied eschatology.
The Bible repeatedly testifies to the power of multiplication when conditions are dark and stormy. In the land of Egypt, as a precursor to the exodus, “the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them” (Exodus 1:7). In fact, “the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad” (1:12). In the land of Babylon, God instructed the exiles, “multiply there, and do not decrease” (Jeremiah 29:6). And of course, while under Roman occupation, “the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied” (Acts 9:31). When the world is upside down, we do the work of multiplication until God turns it right-side up (Acts 17:6).
The Lord Jesus poured out His Spirit upon the Church to empower her for fruitfulness and multiplication, to equip her with everything she needs to fill the world and subdue it. In fulfillment of all that the Garden-Sanctuary was meant to be, we are the dwelling place of God, the place on earth where the nations can come to commune with Him, to receive His blessing and to experience His presence. Thus, when we multiply the Church, we multiply the presence of God, the accessibility of God. And our Lord has promised that the gates of hell will not be able to prevent the Church from fulfilling this very mission (Matthew 16:18). No matter how feeble she appears, no matter how petty or divided or wayward, she is the Garden and Sanctuary of God. Her future is assured, as certain as God is faithful.
Even so, every generation must resolve to grow the Garden and expand the Sanctuary in their day. This involves so much more than initiating gospel conversations with non-Christian people. It requires that we cultivate communities that worship faithfully, raise up leaders, equip the saints and deploy their gifting, love our neighbors, welcome the wayward, and serve the poor. In other words, it requires that we build and grow institutions. It requires that we plant churches.
Want to dispel the darkness? Light more candles until the Garden-Sanctuary we call “Earth” is filled with the light and glorious splendor of our eternal King.
Drew Knowles is a Theopolis Fellow and pastor serving in Houston, TX.
On the Eve of Easter, the faithful convene in darkness, and a fire is kindled. From this newly kindled fire, a large, Paschal Candle is lighted, symbolizing Christ, and the congregation follows the flame into the sanctuary. This single flame then illuminates a sea of candles, dispelling the darkness, as the people sing: “Rejoice and sing now, all the round earth, bright with a glorious splendor, for darkness has been vanquished by our eternal King” (BCP 2019). In this way, the Church ritualizes the “rebirth” of our once-dead Lord, who is the light of the world (John 8:12), the true light, which gives light to everyone (John 1:9).
Nothing in all creation is hidden from this light. It touches everything, transfigures everything, which means the applications are endless. But for the purposes of this essay, I believe this “Service of Light” makes an especially compelling case for church planting. What happens in the sanctuary on the Eve of Easter is what happens on a global scale when the Church multiplies. Want to dispel the darkness? Light more candles. That is, plant more churches. Church planting is the process by which the sanctuary we call “Earth” is filled with the light and glorious splendor of our eternal King.
Of course, church planting is not without its critics and potential pitfalls. Any church planting endeavor must account for the very real possibility of division, squandered resources, perpetual transfer growth, cultural insensitivity, and competition where there ought to be collaboration. In addition, church revitalization (bringing new life to dying churches) is a worthwhile undertaking, and may be the best option in many cases. But either way, the goal is to light more candles, which has always been our purpose as the people of God.
In fact, God was Himself the world’s first “church planter.”
Expanding the Garden-Sanctuary
In the beginning, God planted a Garden in the land of Eden, in the east, and placed Adam there “to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). Both Adam and Eve were together granted dominion over all the earth (minus one tree) and given a great commission: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion [over everything]” (Genesis 1:28). God originally intended for humanity to join in the expansion of Eden, to cultivate and glorify the entire earth into a well-watered Garden. Instead, humanity was cut off from Eden, cut off from the presence and dwelling place of the Lord.
Stated differently, Adam was called by God to be a priest in the Sanctuary. The two words “work” (abad) and “keep” (samar) are translated elsewhere as “serve/minister” and “keep/guard” most often in association with Temple priests (e.g. Numbers 3:7-8, 1 Chronicles 23:32, Ezekiel 44:14), suggesting that Adam’s sin may also be considered a priestly failure to guard the Sanctuary from uncleanness and defilement. Like the Garden in Eden, the Tabernacle and Temple were both eastward-facing, and the lush imagery of the Garden featured prominently therein. Thus, when the children of Israel drew near for worship, they were reentering the presence and dwelling place of the Lord. Levitical worship was God’s way of welcoming the sons of Adam back into the Garden.
These interpenetrating themes of Garden and Sanctuary, when taken together, reveal the telos of creation. Humanity’s original commission was more than just a call to transform the uncultivated earth into a well-watered Garden; it was simultaneously a call to transform the unconsecrated earth into a Sanctuary. The command to “fill the earth” was given to a priest, not just to a gardener. God had planted a Garden-Sanctuary, and Adam and Eve were called to multiply that Garden-Sanctuary to the ends of the earth.
This project — multiplying the Garden-Sanctuary of God — was the very project that human sin and rebellion derailed. But God is no quitter. The rest of the Old Testament tells the story of God repeatedly reaffirming His original purpose for creation and taking the necessary steps to restore His people to their original vocation. And when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son as “the last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45). The last Adam succeeded where the first had failed, received from the Father all authority in heaven and on earth, and took His seat in the heavenly Garden-Sanctuary as our Great High Gardener-Priest.
But for what purpose? Has Christ ushered the sons of Adam into a great age of thumb-twiddling as we await His return? Is the Garden-Sanctuary of this world destined for defilement and decay? Or could it be that we have finally been restored to our original purpose and commission before God? Could it be that we have a real job to do and a real war to win on this side of the Second Coming?
Indeed, Jesus has restored the people of God to their original vocation. He has placed the Garden-Sanctuary project back on the rails. When Jesus commissions His followers to “disciple the nations” (Matthew 28:18-20), He does so as the last Adam who claims “all authority in heaven and on earth.” The Great Commission is thus a call to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.” Far from thumb-twiddling, the Church is on offense — organizing and strategizing and resourcing a global effort to cultivate the wilderness into a Garden and to consecrate the earth into a Sanctuary.
This is precisely what we see in the book of Acts: Garden-growing and Sanctuary-expanding. We are told that “The word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly” (Acts 6:7) and “The word of God increased and multiplied” (Acts 12:24). This Greek word for “increase” (auxano) has organic connotations (c.f. Matthew 6:28, 13:32, Mark 4:8, Luke 13:19, 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, Colossians 1:6, 10) and could just as easily be translated as “be fruitful.” Indeed, it’s the Greek word for “be fruitful” in Genesis 1:28 LXX. As the word of God is fruitful, as disciples multiply, the command to “be fruitful and multiply” is fulfilled in and through the early church. The Word finds good soil, and the Garden grows.
In addition, the fruitfulness and multiplication of the early church is presented as the ongoing expansion of a new Temple. The Great Commission given by Jesus in Matthew 28 clearly resembles the Temple-building commission of Cyrus in 2 Chronicles 36, and this does not appear to have been lost on the Apostles. With all authority in heaven and on earth, Jesus commissions every Ezra and Nehemiah throughout the ages to build up the Temple and holy city. According to Jesus, the Temple of His day was a withered fig tree doomed for destruction (Mark 11:12-26, 13:1-2). In addition, He claimed to be the Cornerstone of a new Temple, and the chief priests and scribes (the Temple authorities) were present and fully aware of His meaning (Mark 12:1-12). Thus, when Peter and John were brought before the Sanhedrin, they were eager to remind the Temple authorities of Jesus’ claim (Acts 4:11). The Kingdom was being taken away from the Sanhedrin and given to a people producing its fruits; namely, the Church/Apostles. In that very same city, under the shadow of a withered fig tree, a growing community of Jesus followers were quietly upstaging the old Temple and bringing to fulfillment all that God intended for it to be: the dwelling place of God, a house of prayer for all nations, a place for worship and singing and sacrifice, a place where the poor are provided for (Acts 4:23-37). And this was only the beginning. In obedience to the Jesus’ great, Temple-building commission, the Spirit-filled and fruitful church in Jerusalem began to multiply — “in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Through multiplication, the Church was “growing” into a holy Temple built of “living stones” (Ephesians 2:21, 1 Peter 2:5). It may have taken some shoving from “the hand of the Lord” (Acts 11:21), but ultimately, the early church came to interpret the Great Commission as a call to plant churches!
Ever since God planted the first church in Eden and called Adam to be its priest, fruitfulness and multiplication have been humanity’s assignment. And for two thousand years now, followers of Christ have been doing just that — bearing fruit and multiplying. Every church-going person belongs to a church that was once planted, a church that was once a church plant. And the cumulative, eschatological effect of all this filling and subduing is beautifully described in Revelation 21 and 22. John sees the holy city, new Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God (21:2, 10). Although the cubic dimensions of this city evoke the Holy of Holies, there is no Temple in the New Jerusalem, for God is all in all. There is, however, a Garden (22:1-3). This Garden is more than Eden restored, it is Eden glorified, Eden’s telos. And this time, there is no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God gives light to the city, and night is no more (21:23, 22:5). In essence, the final chapters of the Bible reveal the target that every church planter is aiming for (and every Christian, for that matter). We plant churches because we want to see the Garden-Temple expand to fill the entire cosmos, dispelling every trace of darkness.
Church planting is not merely en vogue. Nor is church planting a mere byproduct of God’s mission, as if His mission is primarily to individuals, whereas the Church just happens to be a good place for those individuals to grow. No, the Church is salvation in communal form, the proleptic social reality of the inherently social world that God is redeeming. Thus, in addition to the work of evangelizing individuals, church planting is how the social reality of the Kingdom gets kneaded into the nations. Church planting is the work of bearing fruit, multiplying, filling the earth, subduing it, and having dominion. Church planting is the work of lighting more candles and filling the darkened world with light. Church planting is growing the Garden and expanding the Sanctuary.
When Done Well
Not only is church planting essential to the Church’s mission, it offers a number of attendant benefits. First and foremost, it seems obvious to me that sacramental Christians ought to prefer hundreds of churches in the hundreds rather than tens of churches in the thousands. Prior to the advent of prepackaged Communion elements (the “rip and sip” variety), I can only imagine the procedural quagmire of administering a weekly Eucharist to a megachurch. Not only that, but the shepherdability of a megachurch is a major hurdle. So in this regard, Biblical worship and Biblical shepherding seem to put a cap on church size, and church planting is the healthiest way to govern the growth. For the church-planting church, there is less of a “ceiling” for rising leaders. When gifted people are permitted and encouraged to leverage their gifting for the sake of Garden-growing and Sanctuary-expanding, they are less likely to stagnate under the leadership of others, and their departure makes room for the rise of still more gifted people. In addition, church-planting churches are blessed to always have new birth on the horizon, which provides a perpetual opportunity for the congregation to exercise generosity. This also undermines the cult of personality which so often produces artificial growth. When a church routinely sends out gifted leaders and dear friends, the senders and the sent are both reminded that the mission of God supersedes our comfort and preferences.
When done well, church planting is a healthy thing, offering a variety of benefits to all involved. Yet so much depends upon that phrase: “when done well.” So much depends upon the “how” of church planting. On one hand, Christian ministers ought to feel free to take risks and to venture out in the name of Christ, confident that He is with us always and eager to bless. On the other hand, the Church is not a sandbox. The Church is made up of real people, at different points on their journey of faith, who are especially liable to deep pain and disillusionment when used as pawns (hopefully, tithing pawns) by church leaders. The flock of God deserves to be shepherded by faithful and prayerful men who prioritize their spiritual well-being by submitting to authority, getting assessed and trained, growing in humility and self-awareness, preparing with diligence, counting the cost, making plans, and so on.
By the nature of the work, church planting often attracts young, driven, ambitious, independent-minded, and self-confident leaders. And I believe this is a feature, not a bug, provided we are able to harness the energy. Consider again the metaphor of filling a sanctuary with candlelight. Fire is a beautiful and powerful thing, provided we are able to harness its energy. When, however, we are unable to harness its energy, fire is a highly destructive thing. Likewise, a church planter has the capacity to inflict incalculable damage. He is capable of burning himself, burning his family, and burning his followers. But just think about what fire can accomplish when properly harnessed — from cooking a gourmet meal, to travelling to the moon, and everything in between. If church planting attracts men with fire in their bellies, the institutional church would be wise to have systems in place to welcome and leverage that passion.
So what does it look like to harness a church planter’s energy? It looks like (1) honest assessment, (2) extensive training, discipleship, and experience, and (3) submission to authority. To be sure, these things slow down the process, but they slow down the process for all the right reasons. For the sake of the Church and the reputation of Christ, we need comprehensive strategies for forming and sending church planters. We cannot afford to be hasty in the laying on of hands (1 Timothy 5:22). We cannot afford to conduct cursory church planting assessments, heavy on charisma and light on character. We cannot afford to “rubber stamp” gifted young men who are allured by the prospect of autonomy and have little-to-no experience leading real people. We cannot afford to pour Kingdom resources into enterprises led by men who are more interested in gathering a crowd than shepherding a flock, and too insecure to metabolize critical feedback.
To borrow a quote from Deitrich Bonhoeffer, “When Christ calls a man [to plant a church], he bids him come and die.” Church planters need to learn this on the front end, not in the wake of their own failure. And I believe one of the best ways to learn this, to learn humility, is by submitting to spiritual authority. This is more than just mentorship. Every church planter should be in submission to ecclesiastical authority, a person or group of people designated to be a support resource and source of encouragement, but who also have the power to pull the plug and/or discipline a church planter when necessary. The sort of man who desires to plant a church is precisely the sort of man who ought to do so under the covering of others. This protects the planter, the people, and the reputation of Christ. In addition, planting under ecclesiastical authority promotes the unity of the Church. The proliferation of autonomous congregations may be evangelistically fruitful, but it ultimately contributes to the further fracturing of the Church. So why not plant those same congregations as part of a larger institution? The 21st century Church is a shattered vessel, and sometimes, planting a church can be like taking a hammer to the fragments.
Despite its perceived bureaucratic clunkiness, the institutional Church has a crucial role to play in supporting and guiding church planters, but this will likely necessitate a bit of reimagining and restructuring to allow for multiplication. Church planters ought to distrust themselves enough to reject autonomy as a value, but at the same time, institutions need to do the work of making themselves attractive to young, driven, ambitious, independent-minded, and self-confident leaders. We must pursue a healthy balance between trellis and vine, bone and flesh, organization and organism, institution and movement. These priorities are not antithetical, and the Church has done this well in the past. We need both stability and dynamism in order to plant new churches successfully and sustainably.
Conclusion
When it seems as though the world is growing increasingly dark, and the Church is constantly scrambling to proffer a thoughtful and prophetic word in response to every wave of cultural insanity, Christians might be forgiven the impulse to hunker down and ride out the storm. But in the words of Winston Churchill, “We shall not be content with a defensive war.” When Christian ministers tend our local Garden-Sanctuaries to the neglect of all that in this world remains unfilled and unsubdued, we are guilty of burying the Master’s talent. We have a Garden to grow, a Sanctuary to expand, and a world to fill with light. Even in a rapidly changing world — no, especially in a rapidly changing world — the Church should be on offense. We should always be taking ground. If you believe that the nations are destined to become the Kingdom of Christ, then church planting is non-optional. Church planting is applied eschatology.
The Bible repeatedly testifies to the power of multiplication when conditions are dark and stormy. In the land of Egypt, as a precursor to the exodus, “the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them” (Exodus 1:7). In fact, “the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad” (1:12). In the land of Babylon, God instructed the exiles, “multiply there, and do not decrease” (Jeremiah 29:6). And of course, while under Roman occupation, “the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied” (Acts 9:31). When the world is upside down, we do the work of multiplication until God turns it right-side up (Acts 17:6).
The Lord Jesus poured out His Spirit upon the Church to empower her for fruitfulness and multiplication, to equip her with everything she needs to fill the world and subdue it. In fulfillment of all that the Garden-Sanctuary was meant to be, we are the dwelling place of God, the place on earth where the nations can come to commune with Him, to receive His blessing and to experience His presence. Thus, when we multiply the Church, we multiply the presence of God, the accessibility of God. And our Lord has promised that the gates of hell will not be able to prevent the Church from fulfilling this very mission (Matthew 16:18). No matter how feeble she appears, no matter how petty or divided or wayward, she is the Garden and Sanctuary of God. Her future is assured, as certain as God is faithful.
Even so, every generation must resolve to grow the Garden and expand the Sanctuary in their day. This involves so much more than initiating gospel conversations with non-Christian people. It requires that we cultivate communities that worship faithfully, raise up leaders, equip the saints and deploy their gifting, love our neighbors, welcome the wayward, and serve the poor. In other words, it requires that we build and grow institutions. It requires that we plant churches.
Want to dispel the darkness? Light more candles until the Garden-Sanctuary we call “Earth” is filled with the light and glorious splendor of our eternal King.
Drew Knowles is a Theopolis Fellow and pastor serving in Houston, TX.
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