Yesterday, we finished up a meeting in Nashville with denominational leaders from over 20 denominations. More than half of the churches planted in the U.S. each year were affiliated with the denominations represented in the room.

You might find my opening words of some interest. In some ways, they relate to comments I made at the Advance09 panel.

It is a bad idea theologically, with bad results historically, for us to partner and jointly plant churches. But, it is a bad stewardship and irresponsible missiology for us not to find ways to learn from each other.

When it comes to church planting, it is not really the same as evangelism. In church planting, we need to plant our own gardens. But, we will consider this an agricultural co-op where we learn to do it better by learning from one another.

So, that is why we are here: to learn and share best practices with other Christian denominational leaders committed to plant churches.

We had a great meeting with much helpful interaction.

Here are the presentations that each of the speakers shared:

Ed Stetzer (LifeWay Research), The State of Church Multiplication and the Causes that Hinder It (no PowerPoint)
Thom Rainer (LifeWay Christian Resources), Twelve Axioms for Leading a Christian Organization
Ron Sylvia (Next Coaching Networks), Church Planting Coaching Networks
Larry McCrary (The Upstream Collective), Creating Church Planting Recruitment Systems for Denominations
Steve Pike (Assemblies of God), Influencing Your Denomination for Church Planting
Bob Harrington (Church Coaching Solutions), Understanding and Harnessing Networks: Part 1, Part 2
Chris Conrad (Wesleyan), Church Planting Assessment (no PowerPoint)

We are also undertaking two research projects with different denominations participating in each. One will focus on urban church planting and the other is on church planting assessment. Drop a comment below if you are interested in being a part of either one.

This meeting is the beginning of our leaders fellowship that will meet three times a year: November 18-19 is the next meeting. This is not an open meeting, but if you are the denominational head of church planting, you can leave a comment here and we will send you a network application. (Feel free to email this page to others who you think might be interested.)

Here is a pic from our first meeting (courtesy of Ron Sylvia).

We look forward to more to come.

This morning, I am meeting with some leaders from The Anglican Mission in the Americas. I have a great appreciation of the AMiA folks and am glad they have come in so we could spend the morning talking about church planting and evangelism.

I had the opportunity to keynote one of the early Anglican Mission in America meetings. It was an amazing thing to see hundreds of Anglicans, gathered under the Bishop of Rwanda, worshiping together and talking about God's global mission. And, it has been good to keep in touch with a few of the bishops and pastors.

Today, we are talking about the new Anglican organization in North America, called The Anglican Church in North America, and their plan to start 1000 new churches in the next five years. That is a VERY robust goal for such a new (and relatively small) denomination.

For those of you who do not follow the drama of "all things Anglican," the Anglican journey has been a challenging one over the last few decades.

Wikipedia has a helpful article on the Anglican realignment. Be sure to visit the Wikipedia article for much more information, but here is an introduction:

Anglican realignment is a movement among some Anglicans to align themselves under different oversight within the Anglican Communion. The movement is primarily active in provinces traditionally part of The Episcopal Church (United States) and the Anglican Church of Canada. The conventions of four dioceses of the Episcopal Church voted in 2007 and 2008 to leave the Episcopal Church and join Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of America. Twelve other jurisdictions with approximately one hundred thousand members formed the Anglican Church in North America on December 3-4, 2008, which was set up to create a separate ecclesiastical structure within the United States. The Anglican Church of Nigeria declared itself in communion with the new church in March 2009 and the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans has recognized it as well.

Two major events which contributed to this movement were the 2002 decision of the Diocese of New Westminster in Canada to authorise a rite of blessing same-sex unions; and the ratification by the general convention of the Episcopal Church in the USA of the election of Gene Robinson, an openly gay non-celibate man, as Bishop of New Hampshire the following year.

The movement differs from previous ones in that Anglicans are seeking to establish different ecclesiastical arrangements within the Anglican Communion rather than separating themselves from it. Some Anglican Communion churches, particularly in Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda and the Southern Cone, are seeking to accommodate them.

A number of parishes that are part of the Anglican realignment have severed ties with the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada and associated themselves with bishops from other national Anglican churches or provinces. Some other American dioceses and parishes (approximately 800 out of some 7,000 Episcopal Church parishes) still officially remain within those two provinces of the Anglican Communion whilst exploring their future options.

Please be praying for these meetings today as we talk about how to advance the mission of God through the planting of new churches.

Today, I am in Garden Grove, California speaking to the Converge Worldwide / Southwest Baptist Conference. For those of you uninitiated to all things Baptist, there are about 431,034 Baptist denominations. This one descends from the Swedish Pietist movement.

Wikipedia explains:

The Baptist General Conference grew out of the great revival of the 19th century, but its roots can be traced back to Swedish Pietism. In 1852, Gustaf Palmquist emigrated from Sweden to the United States. Forty-seven days after his arrival, he and three others organized a Swedish Baptist church in Rock Island, Illinois. Frederick Nilsson, who was instrumental in leading Palmquist to Baptist views, arrived in America the next year with 21 immigrants. Some of these united with the Rock Island church, while others organized a church at Houston, Minnesota. Nilsson traveled widely, founding and strengthening churches. Anders Wiberg was another pioneer among these churches from 1852 until 1855, when he returned to Sweden as a missionary.

Christian experience was a major emphasis among these Swedish Baptists, and they prospered from the awakenings in the 19th century. Immigration, aggressive evangelism and conversion through revivals brought rapid growth to the denomination. John Edgren founded the Swedish Baptist Seminary in Chicago, Illinois in 1871.

In 1879, when the Swedish churches had grown to 65 in number, they formed a General Conference. The members of these churches assimilated into American society and gradually lost their separate ethnic identity. By 1940, most churches were English-speaking. In 1945, the Swedish Baptist General Conference dropped "Swedish" from its name and became the Baptist General Conference of America. Swedish Baptists had maintained an alliance with the American Baptist Publication Society, American Baptist home and foreign missions, etc., and later the Northern Baptist Convention. Some Swedish Baptists expected to merge with that body, but the groups moved toward different developments of theological emphasis. The conservative Swedish Baptists pulled back from growing liberalism of the Northern Baptists, and in 1944 formed their own Board of Foreign Missions. This moved them toward independent existence, which they have maintained to the present.

Today, they are a newly renamed group, now called "Converge Worldwide," and have almost 1000 churches in the U.S.

In 2006, the BGC had 194,000 members in 950 churches in the United States. These churches are also organized into 13 district bodies: Columbia, Florida/Caribbean, Great Lakes, Heartland, Iowa, Mideast, Michigan, Minnesota, Midwest, Northern California, Northwest, Northeast, Rocky Mountain, and Southwest. There are a further 105 churches in Canada organized into 5 district bodies. These congregations cooperate together nationally through the Baptist General Conference of Canada.

I have had the privilege of consulting with them as they merged their national and international mission boards a few years ago (focused on the idea that "one worldwide mission" requires "one mission board").

Based on a research project I did for Leadership Network, I have said that they are the leading mid-sized to large denomination engage in North American church planting. (I will unpack that more in a new and forthcoming book, our in 2010, on church planting.)

Great folks and honored to spend the day with their leaders today.

Networks have grown in prominence over the last decade. Actually, few national networks are more than a decade old. However, it is not a secret that they are growing in participation and in influence.

This has not been free of controversy. Many in denominations are concerned and some are critical at the rise of networks. They have some valid concerns: networks often have less racial and economic diversity, they tend to be often less involved in global missions, and they are often driven by one methodology.

I am regularly asked if denominations still matter. Actually, I am asked often why I work for one. And, I answer consistently for the same reason - I think we can do more together than we can alone.

However, denominations are in an important time of rethinking right now. I believe that many denominations, including mine, will look significantly different twenty years from now.

In Breaking the Missional Code, we wrote about denominations:

This is the longest time I have gone without posting to the blog.

I have been super busy, speaking this weekend at The Summit Church and C3 Church, both in Raleigh Durham. I was there with my daughter Jaclyn so I did not have time to post. I will make up for it this week.

The last time I wrote, I mentioned that my denomination has a statement of faith that includes an article on cooperation:

I have been doing lots of denominational meetings lately and church-to-church cooperation has been on my mind. So, I am feeling a series coming on... not sure how long it will be, but I can feel it!

I am pleased to see what looks like a renewed confidence in the church of God as the means of carrying out the mission of God. When Jesus commanded us to "go and make disciples of all nations" he was not commanding individuals, but his church. While I hear more and more about the importance of the local church (thank God), I fear that some are losing sight of the need to cooperate with other churches for the spread of the gospel and the glory of God.

Now, some churches have strong theological cooperation, but not a missional cooperation. There are some great theological networks out there that highlight the gospel, and we need them. But the gospel leads us to preach, work, and start churches, and such work demands greater cooperation. Both denominations and networks can be a great means of cooperating and fulfilling the Great Commission.

Most churches are under 200 in size, and even our larger churches are limited in their ability to reach far with the gospel on their own. To put it more plainly, we cannot do all that God calls us to do on our own. The planting of churches and the continuation of all gospel work across North America and throughout the world requires churches to link up with others for training, support, accountability, and funding. Certainly, they can do more than these things, but these are a good start and I think they should be a primary focus:

Training
Networks and denominations allow for a pooling of training resources that most churches greatly need and from which they can benefit. That can include seminary, college, training for ministry, and so many other things. Planting a church, for example, is no small or easy task. Assessing church planters, the development of a strategy, and church planter training are often areas in which local churches need help.

Support
One of the most important benefits of cooperation is support. Within a family of churches you can find real affection that emerges out of a shared mission. Some networks think of this support as a kind of "family" that amounts to the mutual encouragement and counsel between churches and church leadership. It is common for churches to feel isolated in their particular context of ministry, but through our networks and the internet cooperating churches can connect and find the support they need as they continue the hard work of ministry. How do I handle this popular false teaching? What is the best approach for dealing with a particular barrier to our church's growth? Has anyone else ever encountered this situation in a church plant? I am depressed, feel like a failure - anyone have any words for me?! Cooperation allows for support that would otherwise be out of reach for many.

Accountability
When churches cooperate together for the mission of God accountability becomes a very healthy and necessary component to ensure that the gospel remains central, that false doctrine is avoided, and that the mission continues to move forward.

Funding
In some denominational and network contexts there is the potential for financial support. This is a great help to carrying out the Great Commission. In my own denomination, the International Mission Board can support over 5,000 missionaries across the globe, while its North American Mission Board also helps 5,000 missionaries/church planters.

We are drawing a lot of theological lines in the sand these days. We often do this through statements of faith or confessions. Although it is easy to criticize such statements, I tend to affirm them--it is a good thing to know where you stand and have boundaries, when rightly understood.

So, we can work within our denominational community and without. There are different levels of cooperation (as I have already written elsewhere). Oddly enough, my denomination (not known for palling around with others), has even penned the value of cooperation within our statement of faith:

Article 14 on Cooperation

Christ's people should, as occasion requires, organize such associations and conventions as may best secure cooperation for the great objects of the Kingdom of God. Such organizations have no authority over one another or over the churches. They are voluntary and advisory bodies designed to elicit, combine, and direct the energies of our people in the most effective manner. Members of New Testament churches should cooperate with one another in carrying forward the missionary, educational, and benevolent ministries for the extension of Christ's Kingdom. Christian unity in the New Testament sense is spiritual harmony and voluntary cooperation for common ends by various groups of Christ's people. Cooperation is desirable between the various Christian denominations, when the end to be attained is itself justified, and when such cooperation involves no violation of conscience or compromise of loyalty to Christ and His Word as revealed in the New Testament.

More on that tomorrow...

The National Council of Churches has released their annual yearbook of U.S. and Canadian churches.

A few highlights (or lowlights, depending on your perspective):

Only three of the top 10 - the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Presbyterian Church (USA) - are "mainline" Protestant churches.

By far the largest church in the U.S. is still the Roman Catholic Church, numbering 67 million members. The others in the top three are the Southern Baptist Convention (16.3 million) and the United Methodist Church (nearly 8 million).

Jehovah's Witnesses, who rank 25th in size among U.S. churches, reported the largest increase in membership since the publication of the 2007 Yearbook : 2.25 percent, with 1,069,530 members. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints grew 1.56 percent to 5,779,316 members.

My prediction: there will be more Mormons than Methodists in twenty years.

(And, one quibble: I would not consider Mormonism / JW as faiths belonging on a list of Christian denominations, but in a catagory for other faiths.)

Other bodies in the top 25 churches that reported membership increases were the Southern Baptist Convention (0.22 percent, to 16,306,246 members), the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (0.21 percent to 1,443,405 members) the Roman Catholic Church (0.87 percent to 67,515,016 members) and the Assemblies of God (0.19 percent to 2,836,174 members).

All other communions in the top 25 said they lost members or reported no increases or decreases.

What are the implications? It depends on who you ask. As you read the comment below, put me in the catagory of the "some will wish to argue."

"Some will wish to argue that the slowing growth rate is evidence of an increasing secularization of American postmodern society," Lindner writes. "While such an explanation will satisfy some, caution in drawing such a conclusion is warranted."

Many churches are feeling the impact of the lifestyles of "Gen X'ers" or "Millennials" - people now in their 30s and 20s - who attend and support local congregations but resist becoming members, Lindner observes.

However, I would also point out what the National Council of Churches will not-- the more liberal a church is the faster that denomination is declining.

More breakdown:

Pentecostal churches represent three of the top 25: the Church of God in Christ (5,499,875), Assemblies of God (2,836,174) and the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (1,500,000).

Six of the 15 largest churches are historic African American Churches: the Church of God in Christ, (5,499,875), National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc, (5,00,000), National Baptist Convention of America, (3,500,000), National Missionary Baptist Convention of America, (2,500,000), Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., (2,500,000), and the African Methodist Episcopal Church, (2,500,000).

Interesting times...