Why Plant Churches in the South?

As someone who speaks and writes quite often about church planting, there are a few specific questions I’m asked more frequently. One that always seems to arise is “Why plant churches in the South?” It’s a good question.

First, let me say that if you are not sure where to plant a church, I’d encourage you to consider international planting first. In other words, think about planting a church in the 10/40 window. If God does not want you there, think about planting in one of the megacities in North America. If not there, what about reaching the lost in rural (and unchurched) Maine or Montana (or lost of other similar areas)? If still not there, then at that point– maybe– you should consider the South.

It’s not that I don’t love the South– I just don’t think that everyone needs to plant there, and a disproportionate number of people say that God has called them to the South, forcing me to choose between the idea that God is not good at math or that church planters are going where there are already a lot of believers.

So, why plant churches in the South? And, obviously, why am I not taking my own advice?

Well, the short (and probably snarky) answer is simply “Why not?” But that obviously doesn’t begin to cover the multiple intricacies of the question. So let me attempt to cover a few of those. Keep reading

I thought that I had run this article on Anglicans Ablaze but when I googled it, I found no post. I went ahead and posted it. If I have posted it before and you have read it, now may be the time to read it again. I live in the Bible Belt. There are a lot of churches–two or three or more even in small rural communities. If there is not one in the community itself, there is likely to be one on the outskirts of the community. There are also churches out in the middle of nowhere with may be only one house in sight. Yet if I remember my figures correctly more than 70% of the population in my county alone is unchurched. The percentage may be larger. New churches are needed to reach and engage the unchurched population. Revalitalized, turned-around existing churches are needed too.