“We need twenty more churches!” These were the words of the pastor of a young church plant in the same suburban area in which I was preparing to plant. This is a kingdom-minded brother, but his response surprised me. Sure, we could us a handful, even a dozen, but twenty?! The rest of our conversation only confirmed what I have experienced as three reasons why the American suburbs need more new churches. In short, the suburbs are growing, the suburbs are changing, and because church attendance does not necessarily mean discipleship is happening.
Reason #1 – The Suburbs Are Growing
I am planting in a suburb of North Dallas with a population of just under 20,000. This is up from 17,000 just a few years ago, and it is projected to increase by 40% before 2030. And while our area happens to be among the fastest growing in the country, most suburban counties are experiencing steady growth resulting in the need for more churches. In the early twenty-first century suburban growth slowed as immigrants, Millennials, and empty nesters rediscovered inner cities. This trend has been abruptly reversed in response to all things 2020, with what some have referred to as a suburban revival. Our world is now different in several ways that have enabled and motivated millions to flee high-density housing areas for nearby suburbs.
As it turns out, this exodus to the burbs has occurred before in response to war or a national crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic simply “supercharged the trend.” The fundamental changes in the workforce and education alone, with the normalization of working from home and the increase of homeschooling, indicate a change that is here to stay. And it’s about more than regaining a higher church-to-resident ratio, this kind of numerical growth presents plants with a unique opportunity to engage their community as infrastructure and felt-needs change in realtime – to engage with new residents, build relationships with the school board, meet new business owners. In short, to grow with your growing community!
Reason #2 – The Suburbs Are Changing
Even if your target suburb is not growing as rapidly as mine, the odds are that it’s changing in significant ways that necessitate additional new churches.
In fact, the suburbs have changed so much recently that the term suburb practically needs redefined. A historic increase in urban and international residents has changed the once homogenous suburban population to the point that it is becoming more diverse racially, politically, and culturally than the rest of the country as a whole. Suburban areas are even seeing more economic diversity, accounting for nearly half of the total national increase in the poor population since after 2000.
This is significant because the local church is to reflect its immediate community. And while some existing churches in the area will slowly grow more diverse over time or start programs to reach new people, nothing reaches new generations, new residents, or the unchurched like new church plants. In a recent conversation with an Indian couple in our church, my wife and I gained a new appreciation for how difficult it is for the church in America to reach people with a rich Indian culture. We discussed the benefit of a monthly Bible study outreach in their home and how that could more realistically feed into a church plant that is as new to the area as they are, relatively small, and able to offer an expression of discipleship and community with them in mind.
Reason #3 – Church Attendance Does Not Necessarily Mean Discipleship
The most common deterrent to starting new suburban churches is a misconception of saturation. A target community may be prematurely overlooked due to the presence of a few large churches and a dozen other established churches who have served the area for years. Despite 65% of churches having fewer than 100 people in weekly attendance and the vast majority of remaining churches worshipping weekly with less than 500, American evangelicalism remains preoccupied with being among the 5% of “large” churches. By doing so, we tend to overestimate our reach as a church and underestimate both the evangelistic need of our community and the spiritual care of a healthy congregation. While New Testament churches varied in size, Scripture’s silence on the issue is deafening, and its emphasis on discipleship – the church as family (Galatians 6:10), one-another ministry (Ephesians 4:2), participatory worship (1 Corinthians 14:26), communion fellowship (1 Corinthians 11), multiplication (Acts 13:1-3), and resource allocation (Acts 4:32-35) – is clear.
When my friend said we needed 20 new churches, he was not only referring to the outsized growth our community is enjoying, but also implicitly to the size of a faithful local church. While I trust his church will continue to grow, I am confident that he is more concerned with the churches in our area having a greater sending capacity than he is in building bigger buildings with greater seating capacity. After all, the local church is not a storm shelter, where the goal is to simply get as many people as possible inside. The local church, particularly its membership, is a family where everyone is known, has a role to play, and a gift to give for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7). The Great Commission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ and doing this well requires adequate attention, encouragement, accountability, and ministry opportunity (Matthew 28:18-20). Our large churches contain many gifted and committed people who are ready to advance the kingdom by being trained up and sent out to launch new congregations!
My wife and I named our daughter Haddon, so you’ll excuse me if I conclude with a quote from 19th century English pastor Charles Haddon Spurgeon, who demonstrated his commitment to the church’s sending capacity in a sermon from 1865: “We encourage our members to leave us to [start] other Churches; nay, we seek to persuade them to do it. We ask them to scatter throughout the land to become the goodly seed, which God shall bless. I believe that so long as we do this we shall prosper.”