The Most Common Mistake when Starting a Church

You know the story: A church is stuck in its ways. The senior pastor doesn’t know how to change or doesn’t want to change some things that aren’t functioning well. An associate pastor on staff gets frustrated. They start to imagine how things would be different if they were in charge. They would update the worship music, take down the awkward bulletin boards, and preach more relevant sermons. The dreaming eventually turns into comments and conversations that sow discord. A group forms out of the frustration and has the idea: “We should start a church!” The main reason for starting this church? “We could do church better!

Already this group has committed the most common mistake in starting a church. They started with their ECCLESIOLOGY (what they think about the church) and let that inform their MISSIOLOGY (what they think about the mission they are called to) and they hope that that will lead to a robust CHRISTOLOGY (what they think about Jesus and how they will worship and serve Him). The problem with this scenario is that they end up doing a lot of work to fix the church but tack Jesus on at the end of their plans like a mascot.

Instead, we teach our church planters at the Central Region BASICS training to start with CHRISTOLOGY. We must spend time with our King Jesus and re-learn what his character and priorities are. Out of that a church planter begins to discern MISSIOLOGY. They discern their mission by knowing the character and priorities of Jesus and learning to do as Jesus did. They also discern the vision for their church plant, which is the specific part of Jesus’ mission this local body is supposed to pursue. They discern this by seeking the Lord in community and asking what Jesus is up to in their midst. Finally, after they have done this hard work, they can focus on their ECCLESIOLOGY. The shape of the church must flex according to the mission that the church has discerned.

We have planted a lot of different styles of Kingdom Advancing Environments in the North Central District. House Churches. Multi-sites. Micro Churches. Business as Mission. Multi-congregational Churches. None of these models were arrived at by dreaming about the best way to “do church”. Instead, our church planters have done the hard work of letting their CHRISTOLOGY inform their MISSIOLOGY which informed their ECCLESIOLOGY. And the results have been more and more unique environments that truly expand God’s Kingdom.

Even for those not starting a church, I have found that Christian leaders (myself included) often obsess with our ecclesiology. I wonder what would happen if we obsessed with the character and priorities of Jesus to the degree to which we discuss and diagnose our church structures? What might Jesus do in our midst if we were more and more modeling our lives and ministries after the things that Jesus prioritized? I wonder if some of our ecclesiology might just straighten itself out over time? So, let’s continue to pursue Jesus together and see what he does amongst us.

Kyle Magstadt

Associate Superintendent for
Church Multiplication