Comments on: 10 Questions About Shutting Down A Church Plant: Wayne Park

By: 10 Questions About Shutting Down A Church Plant: Dave Ingland | daveingland.com

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:50:08 +0000

[...] closing out this series with a culmination of things already expressed with posts from Wayne Park, Elora Ramirez, and Rindy Walton. My experience is kind of like a blend of all 3 of the previous [...]

By: Dave Ingland

Dave Ingland — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:41:33 +0000

Pete: I always thought with all my study and preparation, that I would not be one of those church planters that failed to launch and sustain like those other guys. Wayne Park was one of the guys I talked to before we did our preview services for Revolution Church Sacramento and he really gave me some great insight, as he has in responding to the 10 questions in the post. Sometimes we move as if we know more than God. I concur with Wayne on many things he points out from his experience and am thankful that there are guys like Erwin McManus and countless others that have not tasted success in their early endeavors as they were prepared and humbled for future ministry. Thanks for the encouraging example and for your support :)

By: Dave Ingland

Dave Ingland — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:35:53 +0000

Greg: We disbanded quite awhile before I pulled the plug on Revolution Church Sacramento. We tried to regroup and get away from being an exclusively Asian-American church as I felt God calling us to minister in a multi-cultural context, but that never really shaped up, so we just shut things down and waited to see where God would lead us next. I never imagined it would be Beaverton, OR though.

Thanks for following our journey and know that while we are in a new place with new people right now, I think there will be more to our story that will continue to unfold as we are prepared for greater works. Thanks too for your prayers!!!

By: Wayne Park

Wayne Park — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:33:02 +0000

I agree that we have to measure success in light of kingdom values.

I just wonder if the two can ever be seen as compatible and necessary to each other? On this I think Donald Mcgavran has some compelling thoughts on “church growth” – a misnomer by today’s standards. But as the OG on the subject I think he brings a different spin on what we term “success”… MacGavran, Spontaneous Multiplication of the Church

By: Pete

Pete — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:12:31 +0000

Wow, great article. Church planting is still a few years away for me so I appreciate learning from the wisdom of both of you. Thanks for posting.

I know some would consider closing a church plant a failure, but I’m reminded of Erwin McManus and his LASER church planting project which first brought him to LA. He left everything behind in TX to follow a vision from God to plant 100 churches in one summer. They planted 1. And that was only because he was pastoring that church. But he eventually had to fire himself, so the sum total was 0. Failure? Maybe to some. But God knew what He was doing.

By: Camnio

Camnio — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:45:53 +0000

thanks for the article. I know several people that are planting churches and this is good advise

By: greg germany

greg germany — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:17:16 +0000

So I have been a follower of your story …
I became interested in your progress because I too am a church planter right here in sactown (Carmichael) …. we are very small after 5 years, 40 strong, 5 Mylife community groups … we focus on Jesus and we love being forever friends and would never dream of folding our tents, I hesitate to ask because it may seem like a leading question ( read: looking for more members hah!) but God has been on me every since I came to understand today that revolution sac is “done”(?) …so please hear me caring, not prying… my question is : what happens now to the people who were with you trying to form RS? Are they still meeting somewhere -regrouping ? … what I read regarding Rev Sac , sounded like a sister church , out there reaching people who Jesus misses the most …
our whole “City” family will be praying as I share with our team – for God’s guidance, direction, resources and blessing on Dave, his health, His new mission in OR… and those still here in Sacramento

By: Sinead Roy

Sinead Roy — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:27:43 +0000

Wow. I have to admit I was rather shocked by some of these comments. I live in Montreal, Quebec and have been involved in church planting for over 10 years now. This is a province of over 7 million people. Less than 0.3% are evangelical Christians. Our church has about 16 adults attending, plus a whole bunch of children. They are among the most dedicated, commited people I have seen anywhere. With a small handful like this, we not only operate a church, but run a very successful fulltime elementary and secondary school in an innercity environment, with no financial support from the government. We work with several ministries around the world, encouraging and supporting through prayer, fellowship and whatever limited finances we can offer. We stream our services and receive constant feedback from people all over the world of how much they are being blessed by our ministry, True, it’s not “viable” and most of us live well below the poverty line, but there is no way I could consider the past 10 years a failure. This is mission work, and most churches in this province face similar challanges and obstacles. Church planting is not for everyone, and it is, by it’s nature, the toughest ground-breaking work there is, but we are here to establish a Kingdom, and our success is not measured by numbers, but by our faithfulness to the call. True, there may be some who have at times, to reasses thier calling, but let it not be as a reaction to the response of people, but to the response of the Lord.

By: Elora

Elora — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:29:04 +0000

There’s a lot of wisdom in this post. Wayne – thanks so much for sharing.