a part of something bigger…
a few years ago i got to spend some time with Leith Anderson of Woodland Church in Minnesota. they do a lot of church planting and he is one of the leaders in churches that plant churches.
one of the things that Dr. Anderson said to us was, “churches should be a part of something larger than themselves.” at that time their church was struggling with their denomination. in the midst of the struggle Dr. Anderson was leading his church to study and assess which denomination they would become a part of should they decide to sever ties with the present denomination.
this morning we had a meeting at our offices with some local denominational guys. guys that have bought into what WRC has done in the area of church planting (other areas too but i’m discussing church planting).
i’ve said before that i am about as Southern Baptist as you can get. born, raised, saved, baptized, educated both college and seminary in SBC. i believe in cooperation. i believe that Dr. Anderson is correct that churches should be part of something larger than themselves. but you don’t get cooperation through demands and percentages. (btw: the guys we talked with this morning are not demanding anything. we have a great relationship with them.) i don’t know where the idea took hold that churches OUGHT to give 10%. i think a church should give at least that to missions, but missions involves more than a denominational affiliation: there’s associational giving, there’s foreign trips, church planting, benevolence, local missions and missions projects. probably more but you get the idea.
i don’t know the figures and it’s probably a study for Stetzer some day, but i wonder if you compare the giving of churches that are doing missions such as foreign trips, local missions, and church planting how their overall giving would compare to a church that is only giving to a denomination. or does when WRC gives to Engage Atlanta, CAYA, Warehouse of Hope, Paulding Pregnancy, send a missionary couple to Africa, help pay the salary of an FCA representative in our community, 15 church plants, build 1000 wells in Africa, start churches in Cuba, Africa, Jamaica, and 13 states around the U.S. does that not count? How many churches doing that level of missions are also giving 10% to a network or denomination? my bet is NONE.
do denominational types that require a %age that turns church planters away not realize that a small %age from several churches is more than a 10% gift from one large church?
on the other hand church planters…if you agree to take a denominations/networks money then be a person of integrity and live up to your obligations. we were recently denied funding for one of our church plants because of 10 churches in this area that took the money, only 2 have lived up to their promise. that unfortunately is not integrity. i know you are autonomous and i cannot force you to give, but if you take the money obey the rules. if you don’t want to be held to that standard then don’t take the money. you hurt the rest of us.
our denomination has a minimum that recognizes you as one of theirs. it is ridiculously low. but it is the rules. we are above the minimum, we ought to get full participation. if you don’t want to recognize that then change the rules.
the other interesting thing is that when you research the giving of churches of pastors that are making those decisions, very FEW of them are giving at the level required of church plants. can we spell hypocrites?
so: 1. be part of something bigger than yourself; 2. if you take the money, live up to your side of the covenant. 3. you’re either a member or your not, change the rules if you are going to exclude based on giving. 4. can’t we all just get along? 
go ye therefore and plant some churches.
