New CBF leader says, 'Let's start some churches.'

[Ed Pettibone]

[Michael Wrenn]

[Sandy]

[Tim Bonney]

[Michael Wrenn]

[Sandy]

[Sandy]

[Michael Wrenn]

[Tim Bonney]

[Michael Wrenn]

[Tim Bonney]

[Michael Wrenn]

[Tim Bonney]

[Michael Wrenn]

[Ed Pettibone]

Michael writes in part "My point in this conversation was/is that if there are churches of only one theological leaning in a given area, and a new variant of a denominational family is interested in planting churches, why do they restrict that church planting effort to suburbia, urban areas, and college towns but leave out rural areas."

Ed: Michael, who do you expect to pick up the tab for starting a CBF church in your back yard, perhaps you? You have already said there are several little Methodist churches in your area, may we assume that there are also some SBC and possibly an independent, Presbyterian or Pentecostal maybe even a church related to one of the several Black denominations. Yea, I have some differences with each of those but if for some reason I couldn't move and there was no ABC-USA or CBF church, I would probably visit the Black church with the shortest worship time if they where cool to me, I would go to one or other of the groups listed above, all of them have folk who love Jesus and believe he arose from the grave and ascended into heaven and is coming again. And teach the 10 commandments, so I can worship with them and generally keep quiet about our differences. My tithe would go to the church where I attended and my offerings would be spread around ABC-USA and CBF entities, or maybe the other way around. The truth is some areas can not afford all the churches they have let alone something they have never experienced.

[Tim Bonney]

[Michael Wrenn]

[Ed Pettibone]

Ed: Michael, I wish you success in starting a new church in your area, if and when it comes please let me know how it was accomplished. Presently my efforts are going toward helping a few long established churches that are facing a dwindling population base to stay viable. Some in upstate NY are simply maintaining until the last members die, to do so they are burning up assets that I am persuaded could really be used to advance the kingdom in better ways.

[Tim Bonney]

[Sandy]

[Tim Bonney]

Sandy,

If anything I've pastored in towns that had too many churches for the population. There are ten UM churches in Sioux City and we can't really sustain that many. Really only four are doing well.

I've also pastored in several small towns where there were multiples of several kinds of churches. I could easily worship in quite a few churches that I have some disagreement with if I were in a pinch.

[Sandy]

[Tim Bonney]

I agree. And yet it is really hard to consolidate churches. United Methodist churches have to vote to close. The denomination doesn't close churches. So there are some churches that should consider a merger or close that are on their last legs and the congregation is spending all kinds of money mostly to keep the heat and lights on. That isn't the best way to use church resources to reach people for the kingdom.

[Ed Pettibone]

Ed: Sandy, I have some questions about the experience You report from the Church with which you worked this summer.

1. Was the survey team Southern Baptist from the south?

2. Last summer how long had the new church plant been established?

3. How many members did they have last summer and how many do they have now?

4. Would you name 5 cities in the North East that you believe to be in similar a circumstance.

My team partner and I heard similar reports when we went to the South East Side of Indianapolis in the summer of 1991 for a church planting Praxis, a credit course at SBTS. We found nothing like what had been reported to the home mission board by the Indiana State Convention, when they asked for students from SBTS to do a survey. Unfortunately the more complete account of that experience which I reported on these boards disappeared with the complete archives of this site several years ago. BTW, census track info is more meaningful than is zip code areas when doing Church plating studies.

Here is a table that Google turned up for me on Religious affiliation in Pittsburgh.

Religion Pittsburgh, PA United States
Percent Religious 60.57% 48.78%
Catholic 38.44% 19.43%
LDS 0.40% 2.03%
Baptist 2.31% 9.30%
Episcopalian 0.64% 0.63%
Pentecostal 1.31% 1.87%
Lutheran 2.36% 2.33%
Methodist 4.40% 3.93%
Presbyterian 3.97% 5.51%
Jewish 1.37% 0.73%
Eastern 0.83% 0.53%

[Michael Wrenn]