The latest trend in church planting is to follow the franchise model of fast food restaurants. The aspiring church planter only need to find the model of church that he wants to replicate (WillowCreek, North Point Community Church of Atlanta, Mars Hill Church of Grand Rapids, etc.) and buy into their philosophy of ministry, their materials and their 'brand.' Read about it here: Out of Ur Following God's Call in a New World Conversations hosted by the editors of Leadership journalActually this idea is not entirely new. I first encountered it in seminary when someone made the comment that it doesn't always take entreprenurial people to plant churches. He recommended a book called The E-Myth: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber (available at Amazon.com). The premise of the book is quite simple: most people do not have the gifts or abilities to start a business and keep it growing. The same thing is true about church-planting: most ministers don't have all the gifts to plant churches and keep them growing. The solution? Simply buy into a franchise model which has already worked out all of the bugs and done all of the thinking for you and Presto! Voila! you've got a McChurch. I only got about halfway through the book when I realized that this was where the author was going.
The franchise model has its place in the world and that is in the realm of business. The franchise model undercuts the very nature of the church (ekklesia, Greek for called out ones) by asserting that all we need are the right methods to make things happen. Who needs to pray if the franchise model is foolproof? Who needs the Holy Spirit if the franchise model will draw people together? Brothers and sisters, let us not trust our methodology more than we trust in our God.
"Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts." Zechariah 4:6.
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