We need to go back to the 50s in one regard. Church planting. The 40s-60s were the pinnacle of Church of Christ church planting. It has decreased every decade sense. The current path is unsustainable.
This isn’t a complaint. It is an encouragement. We MUST normalize church planting. Congregations weren’t planted to last forever but the last few generations have lived with little concern for starting new churches.
There are exceptions. But what is mainstream is to not think about or plan new churches. That won’t work. We won’t be around in 100 years at the pace our movement (which has become a placement) is on. Again, not a criticism. Just an observation/reality.
Church planting must become mainstream. It must. We need to dream and plan and do. Just like they did in the 50s.
Let’s get back to the church planting enthusiasm of the 50s just with a healthier theology.
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The cofC will need to decide when planting new congregations just how they will go about doing it and what type of congregations they want to start. The extreme congregational autonomy means that individual congregations rarely work together, even when a few strong churches’ resources would be useful. If a new church is going to be under one or two strong ones, then there will be accusations of being too “Catholic” and a hierarchy beginning. If the new congregation is similar to the old cofC, then you will have the problems that the cofC currently has.
So. … . What is meant by >> Church planting must become mainstream. It must. We need to dream and plan and do. Just like they did in the 50s. << Can we have some resources that show what they did dream and plan from the 50s? As an example…North A and Tennessee in Midland TX, now called Downtown, budget in the 50s, more that 50% was to missions, not the congregation, local. Hardeman Nichols was the pulpit minister then. Such information would be verified by going to the bulletin or various CPA documents or Mission minutes but may not tell me the dream and plan. Exciting post, but looking for more information. And I may have missed a post that discussed the information I am asking for.