Once my husband and I had children, I noticed that my parents were much more likely to come visit us than when it was just my husband and me. At one point, I confessed to my Mom that I thought she and Dad really didn’t come to see us at all but rather our kids. When I say I’m planting a new church using house churches, I sometimes hear the same sentiment posed as a question, “What’s the point of starting a new church when there are others nearby that need help?” It’s an understandable appeal. New churches, like children, need a lot of care early on, but they also have the most energy, desire and often, ability, to make new followers of Jesus. “Go make of all disciples (Jesus followers),” Jesus said. A disciple or Jesus follower doesn’t accept Him and then just rest on their salvation until they die. Driven by their love for Jesus, real, honest to goodness followers of Jesus Christ serve those in need and to introduce them to Him. This doesn’t mean no one cares about those who already follow Jesus or the churches having difficulty. That would be like saying that having a child means you no longer care for your other children or your Mom and Dad or your ailing grandparents. But, we can’t allow caring for existing churches keep us from also inviting others to become Jesus followers. We need both existing churches and new ones, for as Jesus says, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” A new church is just one more way to send workers to the harvest.
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The point is quite simple. It is to reach that one person that would not be reached otherwise. I think of the lost sheep parable here. Additionally a new church will have the ability to help those other churches in times of need.
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