The Hostile Takeover—Sheep Stealing 101

Have people left your church as a result of a church plant that has swept into town? If so, have you wondered why they left or what pulled them away? Does it bother you that the new church didn’t discourage them from leaving? These are fair questions in light of a growing trend of church plants that recruit believers from existing congregations. I call this type of church plant the “hostile takeover” or “sheep stealing”. They miss the mark of why we should plant churches: namely, to advance the kingdom of God in places that haven’t been saturated with the Gospel (Acts 1:8). I can’t help but question the purpose and motivation of stealing people from an established Bible-believing church to build another. What does it accomplish?

Please understand, before we go any further, I’m all for people leaving churches that compromise truth, leaving the flock unequipped and spiritually anemic. For the church planter with worthy intentions, these can be rescue missions. I’ve gone on a few. In fact, we all should lovingly encourage anyone that is in a liberal or unhealthy church to find a place where they can grow in their faith or maybe even get saved! The problem I have is when sheep stealing church planters pursue people that are in healthy, churches where God is honored and glorified. They should be focusing on the lost world or people that haven’t landed in a solid church.

There, however, is one exception to this rule. There are churches that will gladly send some of their people to help launch a new work that meets biblical standards. I don’t think this idea enters many of the minds of the sheep stealing church planters, which causes them to miss out on a tremendous blessing. By way of example, when I planted my first church, we had a number of families join with the encouragement of their pastors so that they could be part of a Bible church in their community. In fact, one church gave a letter of recommendation signed by all the elders. These people became members and provided a strong foundation for the young church. I also wasn’t worried that pastors were getting upset with me. We simply received their blessing as a result of us being upfront with them about our intentions. We didn’t want to steal sheep; we wanted to see people saved, equipped, and focused on God’s glory. God honored our effort, resulting in the salvation of many and a good reputation of being a strong Bible-believing church.

This isn’t the norm today, as the hostile takeover approach has taken root. We should be aware and concerned about this type of church planting effort. The hostile takeover church plants not only can cause good churches to lose church members, but can cause an entire town to be swept up into fellowship with little to no spiritual depth. We need to keep our eyes open, discerning what is or isn’t God honoring.

How can you spot a hostile takeover church planting effort? Here is a list of some of the things I’ve noticed:
· They usually have a very large marketing budget to pull people in like a vacuum
· They promote their senior pastor who often has a charismatic personality
· They seldom introduce themselves to pastors in the town they are planting
· Their worship music can be pretty edgy and entertaining
· Their preaching focuses more on felt needs as opposed to verse by verse teaching
· Their youth ministry is mostly fun and games
· They’ll receive anyone into the fellowship—namely, people from your church
· The gospel they preach is made more palatable for the non-believer to receive

Sound familiar? Have you lost people to this type of church plant? Believe it or not, some sheep stealing church planters arrogantly stand in front of churches, passing out flyers inviting them to their new church. I’ve even heard stories of these men sending out church members to recruit new attendees from existing churches. In one case, a man from a pastoral staff of a hostile takeover church plant was sent to a Bible study of a nearby church to scout it out.

All this can be pretty discouraging, which begs the question of what should we do about it? Certainly we should start by making it a matter of prayer. We may also need to confront the sheep stealing church planter pastor in hopes that he will change his tactics. Who knows, he may just need a little guidance in the right direction. Wouldn’t that be an easy fix?

The Outreach Oregon team, for our part, has a solution and a plan. We want to lead by example by seeing a perpetual surge of aggressively evangelistic and Biblically grounded churches established in Oregon. We hope the results send a clear message of why and how we want to plant churches. This is a huge task, as many undiscerning professing believers are flocking to these new churches that offer lots of entertainment with little substance. We understand that this will take time, lots of effort, and the ability to stay the course.

In closing, we need to remember that Christ will build His Church (Matt 16:18) and that He wants it to be done His way, with His resources, using His people. The hostile takeover approach doesn’t honor God and is far from the way He wants to use us in building His church. If we preach Jesus and Him crucified, if we maintain a commitment to the word, not catering to depraved minds, we’ll plant churches the right way. I hope you agree.

Eric Nyborg

How Much Will I Give Up so that Others May Have Him?

The apostle Paul makes a most remarkable statement in his letter to the Romans when, after writing eight chapters in which he explores the unfathomable depth and the immeasurable expanse of the grace and glory of God, he suddenly says Romans 9:3: “For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” This statement comes in the context of Paul’s expression of terrible grief over the fact that Israel has rejected her Messiah (vv 1-2). He writes with a broken heart and a sincere desire to see his own people saved. The statement certainly draws back the curtain enough to give us a glimpse of his heart of love and compassion toward his fellow-Israelites. It also reveals him as a true patriot. He loves his fellow-Israelites and would sacrifice not merely his life for their salvation but, if he could, forfeit his own salvation toward that end. The word “accursed” here is the word “anathema” and it means “to be devoted to eternal destruction in hell.”

Now let’s quickly dispatch any notion that this wish expressed by the apostle was possible in reality. Paul knew that there were no circumstances under which his salvation, once received, could be forfeited; not even by his own choice. Hodge suggests, and I agree, that this language is to be understood as originating in “strong and indistinct emotions rather than in definite ideas”, thus conveying the way in which Paul felt his whole being swallowed up in the salvation of his people. Paul’s thought then could be expressed in this way: “If it would be of any help to them (although it wouldn’t be) I would wish myself to no longer have a part with Christ (though I know that is not possible).” It is not to be overlooked that thousands of years previous to Paul another leader in Israel, Moses, uttered a similar thought (Ex 32.32).

What we have here then is the honest sincere (v.1) heart expression of a servant of Christ who was, irrefutably, a consummate church planter. How many are there in America today who would be possessed of such love, compassion and pure patriotism as to say, “If it would be of any help to them, I would wish myself to no longer have a part with Christ in order to see people across this land … in the next community … across town, come to Christ.”

What are the things that hinder that level of commitment in our lives today? Is it unreasonable to expect such a high order of love, compassion and patriotism among American believers today? What IS the threshold beyond which much of American Christianity, churches, leaders and even church planters are unwilling to pass? What are the things that we will NOT forfeit (things which it WOULD be possible to do) in order to see people across this land … in the next community … across town, come to Christ. If we can identify them, perhaps we can begin to encourage one another and others in addressing them.

What say you all?

A Clarion Call to Action

In what may well be one of the most stirring messages I have ever heard at an IFCA Convention, Executive Director Les Lofquist drew a line in the sand that reaches from the beaches on the coast of Maine and South to Florida and encompasses everything from there to the West Coast. It was a clarion call to the churches and individual members of IFCA to rally to the need for renewed vigor and purpose in the Great Commission activity of church planting. "The needs of America are great", Lofquist said, "we must respond or die." In language that was sometimes very direct and forceful, and at other times filled with the passion and emotion of his heart, the IFCA Executive Director struck a note that would resonate throughout the Convention and will, hopefully, continue to resonate throughout America for years to come. It was no uncertain note ... but one that was loud and clear and unmistakable. If we, as a Fellowship, respond to the call, there is reason for hope as we look to the future. If we fail to respond and continue in the mediocrity of the status quo, may God have mercy on us.

Listen to the Vision America Keynote Message by Les Lofquist today. And go to the Vision America Website to listen to the excellent messages of Alex Montoya as well. These two have delivered a "one-two" punch that has been needed and must be reckoned with not only in IFCA International but in similar movements and fellowships across the land.

God Bless you brother Lofquist!

Endless Opportunities

Hi. I've been NICE (Northwest Independent Church Extension) for most of the last 43 years, and I presently serve as Director. I've attended 33 of the last 34 Annual IFCA Conventions. I think I've never enjoyed one more than the one in Eugene, Oregon, just ended. The theme was Vision America, and that has me thinking.

How are we going to reach our cities? A recent letter from the widow of one of our founding Board members reminded me of how many small, rural communities we have reached. She meant it as a compliment. I feel convicted. We must reach the throngs of people who live in our cities -- and I am thinking especially about our city - Tacoma. We live in the heart of South Tacoma. My only conclusion so far? To reach a city we need to live in it. What's the next step?

One more thing. A first time attendee of the convention in Eguene commented about the ethnic diversity of IFCA. He noticed a number of foreign nationals, some Hispanic folks, and a few others. He then commented that what did not see was Native Americans. We usually think of Native Americans living on reservations, but many now live in our cities.

The need and opportunities for church planting seem endless

Midwest Church Extension

Tim Jeske here. I am the Administrative Director for Midwest Church Extension, the IFCA International church planting agency in five states from Iowa to Ohio and up into Wisconsin. I pastored a church for 25 years and for 13 of them served as the Chairman of Wisconsin Church Extension. Shortly after Midwest Church Extension was formed from a merger of Wisconsin Church Extension, Illinois Bible Mission and Indiana Bible Mission (2004) I became the AD for the mission in the Spring of 2005.

Among the various tasks of an AD are such things as website development and maintenance, literature design and production, church documents, external and internal communications, and anything else that the Executive Director tosses in my direction. We live in Dubuque IA and in addition to three two legged children we have a four legged one who currently lives at home. Her name is Noelle Starr.

I'll be one of the "writers" here and am looking forward to the interaction!

OUTREACH OREGON

As this site is birthed, I thought it would be a good idea to introduce myself. Perhaps others participating could do the same. My name is Eric Nyborg with NICE, and I am the team leader of a church planting initiative in Oregon called “OUTREACH OREGON”. Our desire is to plant churches through evangelism in our needy state. You can check out our blog at learn more.

My role on the team is to target communities to plant, develop outreach strategies, develop core groups, and recruit and mentor church planting pastors. This is a unique role, in the sense that I’m able to work closely with our church planting pastors as they navigate the ins and outs of church planting. We believe this will greatly help in successfully launching new works.

Currently we are working on two plants. The first is Antioch Bible Church in Aloha, OR. Dan Cagle is our church planting pastor and he will be moving to the area in the near future. The second is Columbia River Community Church in Knappa, OR. We hope to start having Sunday morning services soon and are pursuing a church planting pastor for the Knappa church. Both have mission church status with Vision America.

If you have any church planting questions, feel free to contact me.