Mohler on Church Planting

Southern Seminary President Albert Mohler has posted an article on church planting on his blog. You ought to check it out -- he's absolutely right. Referring to a new Christianity Today article by Tim Stafford, Mohler says,

...we also need this generation of young pastors to go into established churches and revitalize a Gospel ministry through expository preaching and energetic leadership. Giving up on the established church is not an option. Some young pastors see church planting as a way of avoiding the challenge of dealing with the people and pathologies of older congregations. This is an abdication of responsibility.

and

The energy and commitment evident in the church planting movement should encourage all who long to see a new wave of evangelism throughout North America. But this movement must be driven by a robust New Testament ecclesiology and must be undergirded by an eager embrace of the faith once for all delivered to the saints. This movement must complement -- not castigate -- existing churches. Each needs the other, and both can learn from each other.

He's "spot on." Not everyone is called to be a church planter, and not every church planter is planting for the right reasons. Let's be careful not to make our brothers called to pastor established churches feel "second class." At the same time, let's be careful to understand the missiological factors involved in penetrating unreached cultures.

Two summers ago, I preached a message at my home church, "What I've learned in four years as a former pastor." One of those things is that we need each other: old and young, new and established, academic and uneducated. We are the Body of Christ.