Why Haven't We Planted Another Church Yet?

I'm working on a team within the Utah/Idaho Southern Baptist Convention exploring how to mobilize our churches to impact our region through new churches (we call it "church planting). Over the last decade there has been, among church and denominational leaders, an increased emphasis on church planting. Statistics show (trust me) that starting new churches is one of the best ways to reach more people with the Gospel. You can argue that point if you want to, but it is pretty clear no matter what numbers you look at that there is a need for more churches.

NorthStar was launched seven years ago. We were started with the vision of not just becoming another SBC church in a place where there are few, but to become a church planting church. Along the way that vision has never been lost, yet still we seem to have made little headway in fulfilling that vision. There are plenty of excuses I could offer, but forgetting the past I'd like to explore with honesty in introspection why we still haven't planted a church. Where are we now, and what will it take to reproduce?


I hope to be exploring this and other related topics here in the coming weeks.