Dear Christian Bible College Professor,

I just read an article you wrote and I wanted to respond to it. I have much respect for you and I have been reading your articles since I was a college student. However, in this article, I’m bothered and feel compelled to comment. I hope that I have missed the point that you are trying to make with this article, and if that’s the case, please delete this comment and write it off as, “Bitter – Party of One.”

You mentioned that one of the ways you are motivating your students is by having them create a church planting plan. I think it’s nice that you have them create a church planting plan. I think that’s a great exercise for them – it’ll stretch their mind and it’ll move the students towards thinking about how to strategically impact a city. It gives them the tools they need to build a successful business and create a synergy that will build a nice place for people to go and practice their Christianity in well organized events and planned outreach opportunities. But I don’t see how having your students spend hours on a church planting proposal is going to help them build a serving church.

The problem with a church planting proposal is that it is developed from concepts and ideas that the students already know and understand. It’s exciting to create these proposals, but it’s not going to create a serving church. Why? Because I would venture a guess that the majority of the students in your classes have never been involved in a serving church. They want it, then long for it, they’ve heard and possibly read about serving churches, but they’ve never been a part of one. In fact, I would even go one step further and say that if your students ever actually were a part of a serving church – they’d probably leave within 6 months because it won’t fit what they actually think it should be.

Instead of having them create a church planting proposal – why not have them create a plan that might have an impact on culture today? Why not have them create a plan that works towards social change instead of creating a plan that is just going to add to the millions of voices clamoring for attention in today’s society? If they could turn those young, brilliant minds towards creating a service that is desperately needed in today’s society – maybe then they will begin to create a church that is worth going to.

The thing is – this kind of social change ministry works. Ever heard of the Salvation Army? They started out by serving others in the community. How about Compassion International? Think about the work that they’ve done. What about Tom’s Shoes? In case you’ve never heard about them – for every pair of shoes you buy from them – they GIVE AWAY a pair of shoes to children who need them!

Even most of our local churches are still today being impacted by a direct response to social change. What is it? Sunday School. Sunday School was originally started as a school for the poor. The concept of Sunday School was created in England around 1780 where churches began offering rudimentary instruction to working people on their free day. It is a far cry from Sunday School today – but that does not change the fact that it’s history is rooted in social change!

Imagine a church doing this today. With all the problems we have in society today – would those men and women from 1780 be content with a well-written plan to create a church? I don’t think so. I think they’d be out starting organizations that work towards solving society’s most pressing problems.

Maybe the best thing to do for these students when they graduate is to put these young and gifted individuals in an low-paying, high-school graduate level job. Surround them with bitter, angry, hurting people who hate everything that the church represents. Keep these future leaders out of the relative safety of the ministry and put them in a place where they have to fight for everything they believe in. Let them sit there for a couple of years and if they can come out of that situation with a love for people and a deeper passion for sharing the message of Christ at any cost with the lost, then give them the ball and let them change the church. Let them learn exactly what the world is desperate for and then have them create something that targets those specific things.

Cause that’s what we need. We don’t need anymore of our young leaders “pastorized” in the relative safety of the local church or in the “adventure” of a well-planned church plant the minute they graduate from the shelter of college life. We need them raw, hurting, bleeding, and desperate to do anything to show the world the love of Christ at whatever cost. We need them fully aware of what the world needs and hungry enough to make a difference about it.

My hope for the next generation and the generations to come is that they will be more interested in being the hands and feet of the body of Christ instead of just being the mouth. We’ve got enough mouth’s around – what the church needs is people who are willing to step in and actually do some work, myself included.