Research:  Baptisms Are The Best Indicator of Health in Church Plants

Orginally published on Thursday, April 05, 2007 at 6:06 AM
by Todd Rhoades

Baptisms is the best indicator of church health in new plants, according to a new study, because baptisms measure whether churches are reaching the lost -- not just moving believers around. The "Church Planting Survivability and Health Study" was conducted by the North American Mission Board's Center for Missional Research based in Alpharetta, Ga...

The research -– based on more than 500 completed telephone interviews sampled from 1,000 church plants from 12 denominations and networks -— indicates that flourishing new church plants with a higher-than-average number of baptisms during their first four years of existence, share several common traits: evangelistic emphasis, effective ministries and expanding leadership.

“In the area of missions and evangelism, these new church plants recognize that the community will not connect with their church unless they connect with their community,” said Ed Stetzer, missiologist and director of NAMB’s research center. “They look for needs in the community and find ways to meet those needs,” through food banks, emergency shelters, drug and alcohol recovery opportunities and other ministries, Stetzer said.

Among other characteristics of high-baptism church plants:

-- They start at least one “daughter” church within three years of their original church plant, he said.

-- They have a proactive plan for stewardship development.

“This basic aspect of the Christian life is nurtured, not neglected by the new church plant,” Stetzer said. “Church plants that consistently grow their members and challenge them in the area of stewardship grow toward financial self-sufficiency and do so at a faster rate.”

-- They sponsor more events and ministries, such as block parties, midweek children’s programs and special children’s events, including Easter Egg hunts, fall festivals, Vacation Bible Schools and sports.

-- Via direct mail or other means, they have a strategy to promote and publicize their programs, events and ministries. “They don’t hide their lamps under a basket,” Stetzer said.

-- They place a top priority on the training and development of their church members and staff and they conduct new member training classes for all new church members.

Stetzer emphasized that many traits common among new church plants with higher-than-average baptisms are seen even in plants with a marked, higher-than-average church attendance.

“Church plants -– even effective ones –- aren’t all the same,” Stetzer said. “Some of those surveyed are stronger in some particular factors than others. But the majority of church plants with higher-than-average baptisms and church attendance showed all of these factors in common.”

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Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.

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