Thank God for providing us with large churches! Seriously. Large churches have the resources (people/finances) to provide support for church plants.
If you don't have a large church, you usually end up having a group of smaller churches working together to start other churches. Unfortunately, those groups end up losing focus within a decade. They may establish one or two churches, but typically (not always), they get bogged down in the politics.
Large churches have an advantage...
1) The mission / philosophical direction has already been established. Politics are diminished.
2) They can "lose" a few families to the new church plant without sacrificing important resources of the mothering church.
3) Finances. A large church has more finances. Advertising/Marketing budgets out to include a large portion to outreach. What a better way to outreach but to replicate in a different location?!
Big potential, and unfortunately all too common, problem with this approach... a large church can be led by a large personality. Those personalities can be so large, that there is not a church PLANT but a church SATELLITE. These large personalities who establish satellites have not built a sound, mature congregation from which to provide a solid, mature leader.
If you don't have a large church, you usually end up having a group of smaller churches working together to start other churches. Unfortunately, those groups end up losing focus within a decade. They may establish one or two churches, but typically (not always), they get bogged down in the politics.
Large churches have an advantage...
1) The mission / philosophical direction has already been established. Politics are diminished.
2) They can "lose" a few families to the new church plant without sacrificing important resources of the mothering church.
3) Finances. A large church has more finances. Advertising/Marketing budgets out to include a large portion to outreach. What a better way to outreach but to replicate in a different location?!
Big potential, and unfortunately all too common, problem with this approach... a large church can be led by a large personality. Those personalities can be so large, that there is not a church PLANT but a church SATELLITE. These large personalities who establish satellites have not built a sound, mature congregation from which to provide a solid, mature leader.