Why Not Just Plant?

An Argument for Expanding the Facility of South Shore Baptist Church while Pursuing Local Church Planting, by Pastor Jeramie Rinne - November 10, 2009So why not just plant?

“Why build an expensive addition to our facility when we could plant churches much more cost-effectively?” It is a question I have asked myself, and have been asked by members of South Shore Baptist Church (SSBC). We all know our church has grown numerically. We’ve added overflow seating and squeezed every last inch out of the church Sunday School space. We’ve turned away kids from VBS two years in a row now. SSBC attendees have made Sunday morning parking into a creative art form. So why not alleviate the space constraints of the current facility by sending out SSBC members to form new, local congregations? The church is the people, not bricks and mortar. And so the argument goes that our focus needs to be on sending out people, not constructing sanctuaries and classrooms at a cost of millions of dollars.

As I have prayed, thought and discussed my way through this question, I have come to the conclusion that SSBC can and should do both facility expansion and church planting. The two are not mutually exclusive at a philosophic or strategic level, though they may for a time be mutually exclusive operationally. It would be challenging to organize a church planting effort in the middle of a construction project, or vice-versa.

To be clear, SSBC needs to be more intentional about local church planting. God works in local communities through local churches, and there are far too few gospel churches on the South Shore. Church plants call forth our faith, challenge our complacency, stir up our hearts for the lost, and bring out the gifts of the body. The New Testament Christians not only evangelized, but also started congregations of those who had come to Christ. To this end the elders have established a church planting research team that is investigating the demographics of the South Shore and SSBC as a ground work for future church planting.

Nevertheless, those church planting efforts do not exclude building as a worthy goal, and something that I believe we need to do now by God’s grace. I have written this paper to share my views with the church; I hope to encourage thoughtful discussion in the congregation as we begin to approach a decision-making point for adding onto the church’s facility. Below are six arguments for the viability of facility expansion as a ministry goal, while maintaining a commitment to starting new congregations.

1. Building isn’t wrong.

It is not fundamentally immoral or unspiritual to expend church resources to build a facility for worship and ministry. If building contradicts the gospel, then we should be consistent and sell the current facility and worship in the open air. It is true that the church is the people, not the facility. But people exist in space and time. We are not disembodied spirits ministering in heaven to other spirits. We need to gather for worship in a physical place, ideally with a roof, walls, and heat for our New England winters!

Because something is earthly does not mean it is worldly. God made the earth and said, “It is good.” Buildings are similar to other earthly tools we use in ministry: projectors, hymnals, pews, desks, lights, pianos, and bulletins. They are not immoral in and of themselves. The spiritual issue is the purpose for which we use those tools, and the manner in which we use them. Spending millions on a building, or anything else, can be a spiritual act if it is done for godly ends, like God’s glory and the advancement of the gospel, and in a godly manner.

It should be noted that church planting also requires money, tools and facilities. Money used for church planting typically goes to help pay a planting pastor’s salary, which is in turn spent on things like the pastor’s rent or a mortgage (a building!), bills, food and the like. Church plants also need a place to meet and so they spend money on rent, or even on purchasing a facility. Dave Wilson, who preached at SSBC this August, started New Hope Church in Norwell three years ago. David’s congregation rents the Cushing Center in Norwell for Sunday services. Dave has been telling me recently how helpful it would be for ministry if his church owned a facility. Talk to church planters. You will find they are very concerned with facilities.

I found the same true on the mission field this summer. In Macedonia, my host, Slave, was most excited to show me the large gymnasium he hoped to acquire from the government. And in fact he did get the facility after we left, and is now seeking funds to repair and improve that facility. In Bulgaria, Mark and Kim Jennings told of pastor Ivan’s desire to build a youth camp in the mountains. And you guessed it: he had drawings of many buildings he needed to make it happen. Even in our mission project for Vacation Bible School this year, we raised money to help buy a house for street boys in Uganda, where they could learn a trade and hear about Christ.

We need to be careful not to think that spending money to expand our facility here at 578 Main Street is inherently unspiritual or worldly, while believing that church planting or even missions spending is somehow a spiritually superior use of money. Pastors who’ve gone through building programs attest that the question always arises, “Why aren’t we using this money for missions, the poor, or church plants?” It is a fair question, but perhaps in some ways the question is a bit too easy to ask. The reality of ministry is more complex. The most important moral questions to ask in spending money on earthly ministry tools are: 1) For what purposes are the tools or facilities being used? and 2) What is the manner in which they are being used?

2. God has used our current building for his glory in the advance of the gospel.

We can see the value of buildings by considering the history of our current facility. SSBC began as 2nd Baptist Church of Hingham on February 22, 1948, when 20 adults and 15 children met at the Perkin’s home on Main Street. The church grew quickly and needed more space. So the congregation rented G.A.R. Hall near Hingham Center. However, this new church start saw the value of having a permanent facility. A building fund was soon started with a vision to build a permanent facility. Eventually the church acquired the current property and in December 1956 completed the current sanctuary. This congregation built a sanctuary that could seat well over 200 (twice the size of the membership) with a vision for reaching their community with God’s Word. In 1977 they completed the education wing at the east end of the facility. They also expanded the parking lot by purchasing an old gas station on the south side of the facility. In the early 1980s, the church renovated the sanctuary by adding the balcony, completing the steeple and hanging the bell.

We can easily take our current facility for granted. But the members of SSBC over the years sacrificed money and energy to build what we now use and enjoy. This was money that our missions-minded body could have sent to the mission field or given to the poor. Instead they understood reaching the South Shore with the gospel was also part of their biblical mission. Hence they changed the church’s name from 2nd Baptist of Hingham to South Shore Baptist Church. As a result, we have a facility that has been used effectively to bring the gospel to the South Shore, and to facilitate ministry beyond our own church’s walls. They didn’t build instead of missions, but in order to expand the base of their missions efforts.

I wonder how many people have come to faith in Christ in our current sanctuary? How many have been baptized there? How many people have been reached for Christ globally or helped financially because of this church’s missions and benevolence dollars collected in our current sanctuary? How many Christians have been strengthened over the past 60 years by sermons delivered from the pulpit in this facility, or encouraged and supported through the fellowship formed in worship and study here? Wouldn’t it be interesting to view a list of the names of all the children who’ve heard the gospel in the education wing at VBS year after year? Of course the facility didn’t save anybody. It is just a tool. But God used his people and their building to proclaim his kingdom beyond the South Shore. Ministry happens in a physical context.

3. God’s present work at SSBC is a valid reason to invest tangibly in an expanded facility.

God’s past blessing on SSBC continues today. He has sustained a gospel witness for his glory in our congregation. The commitment to world evangelization lives on, and members of our church are burdened to introduce Jesus to their neighbors and relatives. The bonds of fellowship and unity at SSBC are still strong and warm. His hand of blessing rests on ministries like Mom’s Together, the Men’s Retreat, our youth ministry, and Senior Fellowship, just to name a few. We have seen the congregation grow in depth and size, all by God’s grace.

Given this blessing, doesn’t it make sense to invest in a vibrant work of God in New England? Is it not a good and wise use of money, energy and talent to supply the tools needed by such a growing congregation? As Henry Blackaby is fond of saying, Christians are wise to find out where God is working, and then join him in it. SSBC is certainly not the only place God is working in New England, or even on the South Shore. Nor is construction the only way to join in the work of God here. But that being said, God has been moving in our congregation powerfully for a number of years now. And a building is one very important tool needed by the work here. A gospel church in Massachusetts is growing by God’s grace! Let’s help it grow.

4. Building is an investment in the infrastructure for future gospel ministry.

A building creates infrastructure for future growth in ministry at SSBC. A larger sanctuary creates room for more to worship the Lord and hear his Word on the Lord’s Day. More classrooms creates potential for expanded discipleship in Sunday school. A large lobby enables fellowship and hospitality to newcomers who may not know the Lord. And as people come to faith and grow in grace, there are more people, and more maturing people, to give, serve and go to the ends of the earth. Simply put, SSBC is growing numerically and so it needs to grow physically to support those increasing attendance.

But even beyond the simple arithmetic of more space for more people, I have a vision for SSBC to be a center for encouraging regional church planting. I would like to see us not only plant a church in the future, but become an engine for driving a church planting movement, by God’s grace. A larger church with greater resources can often fill that role effectively. A larger fellowship has people to send without dramatically changing the church. A larger congregation can often support intern training or an additional staff member dedicated to leading a new plant. There’s a kind of economy of scale over the long-term for churches with a vision to be a resource to others. We have a hope of seeing the South Shore affected with the gospel, and a growing church has resources and energy to invest in a more regional focus. A building gives us more physical capacity to move into that role.

I think of Tim Keller’s ministry at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, the Acts 29 network spawned by Mark Driscoll in Seattle, or Capitol Hill Baptist’s work birthing new fellowships in the greater D.C. area. These are all larger churches that are using their resources to lead in the area of church plants. God appears to be growing our church numerically as well as spiritually. I believe we should go with what God appears to be doing and use our trends as strengths to serve our region. Every church has its unique shape, size and calling, and God seems to be moving SSBC in this direction. A larger facility is simply a powerful tool for enabling this kind of vision by enabling the church grow numerically.

Of course, one could argue that consideration of the future is a reason not to build. What if the church loses its way and shrinks numerically as a result? What if there is a large building with declining life and numbers within its walls? What about all the resources spent on that facility then? The reality is that there are no guarantees for any ministry investment, whether a building, a church plant or a missionary. Buildings can become monuments to bygone eras of life and fruitfulness. Church plants can sputter out. In fact, I have seen estimates as high as 80% for church plant failure rates. And missionaries can become ineffective in their ministries. We cannot know the future. But God calls us to step out in faith and trust him to work, even in ways that defy our understanding. As we have studied in Hebrews, we walk by faith. Any ministry initiative requires us to put our confidence in God’s power.

5. Building can stretch and mature a church spiritually.

One of the great benefits of church planting is what it does for the spiritual life of the congregation itself. Planting stretches believers. It is all hands on deck in a new congregation. No one can sit idly by if the plant is to succeed. And in the sending church, key leaders will have departed, creating opportunities for gifted people to step forward. New churches feel the need to evangelize very viscerally.

But church building projects can also bring about spiritual growth opportunities. Buildings require sacrificial giving, whether one is wealthy or poor. Even the “widow’s mite” is needed. The inconveniences of building projects stretch a church family’s flexibility and trust in God. New physical spaces create new potentials for ministry, which require members to step forward and serve in new ways. And changes in our building challenge our often unexamined complacency with the familiar. A more empty sanctuary sends a visible message to a church, “There are empty seats here that need worshippers!”

One of my favorite SSBC faith stories comes from the time when the church was building the current facility. At one point construction halted because the builders ran out of gravel. They were unsure what to do, when suddenly a large truck, loaded with gravel, broke down on Main Street directly in front of the church. The truck had to unload its gravel to be repaired, and the church gladly received it. The members were amazed at God’s specific provision. SSBC old-timers have held faithfully to the saying, “God’s work done in God’s time and in God’s way will never lack God’s resources.” They saw this incident, and the entire building of the facility, as a demonstration of that aphorism.

6. We need to plant and build for the right reasons.

Church planting needs to arise from the right motives. We must search our hearts to discover why we favor church planting over building, if in fact we do. Is our motivation simply that we see a full church, and church planting seems like a cheaper and simpler way to decrease crowding? Fostering new congregations should arise from a theology of the local church, and not simply a pragmatic, cost-conscious strategy for alleviating attendance pressures. It is easy to say, “We should plant because it’s crowded.” But are we ourselves willing to go? And is it really cheaper to plant, or are we merely shifting the financial costs long-term onto another group that will require some sort of facility?

Now of course the same caution applies to building. Construction on site should proceed from the best motives. We should not build simply because it is crowded. Building must be part of a larger vision for the future of a local congregation. Nor should building be undertaken out of a selfish sense of pride: “Look at our successful church! People will see our larger building and be amazed.” Then again, church planting could spring just as easily from pride: “We’re not falling into that church building trap. We’re using our money for more spiritual, godly endeavors.” Our hearts are so deceptive! May God examine and refine our inner thoughts. We need to surrender our agendas to him so that he might lead us.

Furthermore, let us realize that church planting is no simple proposition. It takes energy, resources and preparation. Church plants take time and leadership to organize. And even when done well, new congregations can struggle or even fail. Tim and Janet Ells, SSBC leaders who helped plant North River Community Church in Pembroke, reminded me that church planting can be grueling work!

Imagine that we decided to forgo building tomorrow and instead planned to birth a new fellowship one year from today (which seems to me to be an ambitious time-table). Imagine that in the next year we hired a church planter, raised funds for the new church, socialized the planter and the mission with the congregation, gathered a team, and then launched the new congregation. I wonder how many might leave SSBC to attend the new church? Again, would you go? What if the initial core group was as many as 50 , 60 or even 70 individuals? Most planters would consider that a very strong launch. But to what extent has that addressed the overcrowding of the facility here? And what has happened to the facility-stretched ministries during that past year? What if the congregation grew, during that same year, by another few dozen as it did last year?

I am committed to church planting for the same reason I’m committed to missions: both are part of the biblical pattern of gospel growth. But I am concerned that the call to “just plant” may not be facing squarely and courageously the continued challenges of on-site growth. I am concerned that we not gravitate to church planting out of fear of the challenges of building. Church planting needs to become part of the “DNA” of our congregation, and such a change will take more time to develop.

Conclusion

A facility is not an inferior, less desirable, or less spiritual endeavor that must be abandoned if we as a church are to become more intentional about church planting. The two in my mind are not mutually exclusive at a philosophical level. A building, if it is God’s will, seems to me to be a strategic opportunity to invest in God’s work here and create infrastructure for a growing future ministry in our region and around the world. We have done our present ministry in part because of the past investment of others in building our current facility. I believe it is our time to invest so that we can provide for the ministry of future generations.

Of course, there may be other challenges with building. It may be cost-prohibitive in this economic climate. Some may simply have problems spending such a large amount of money on any ministry initiative, building or otherwise. We might still face legal challenges. God may somehow sovereignly halt the process. I have only sought to address the ministry rationale behind constructing a new facility. Practical realities must be faced thoughtfully and prayerfully.

However, on the practical level my own perspective is that after a long wait God seems to be providentially arranging circumstances for the building to become reality. Over the past year or so, God has been dramatically opening doors for us with the town as we’ve received permit after permit. The economic conditions could mean lowered building costs. The sanctuary, classrooms and lobby of today’s plan seems to fit better with our church’s philosophy of ministry and outreach more than the gymnasium of our original plan. The town of Hingham even put in a traffic light at our corner. Miracles never cease. It has been encouraging to see the prayerful, deliberate approach the church has taken over the years as we’ve patiently sought the Lord’s wisdom and timing throughout the process. He appears to be opening a door before us now with the town, and I am excited to step through it by faith.

I pray that this paper will evoke fruitful conversation around the church as we seek God’s wisdom for the future of his congregation at SSBC.

- Pastor Jeramie