To Plant New or Rebuild the Old

I'm currently serving in a church that is 60 years old. It's actually the youngest church I've served as my last was over 100 years old and the one before that, was around 75 (I'm actually not sure on the last one, but I know it's old). I'm taking Church Planting right now at Rockbridge Seminary and the course has me thinking a lot about why we plant churches. Just tonight I attended the 1st worship gathering of a new church that a friend of mine is planting here in San Antonio. The Sunday before that I attended a different worship service of a new church plant in our city. On my way to both of those worship services I probably passed more than a dozen church buildings that likely sit half empty on a regular basis.

So why do we need these new churches? Shouldn't we invest our efforts into continuing these other churches that have plenty of room to grow or some dying congregations that need a jolt of life breathed into them?

I'm a big fan of Andy Stanley and heard a podcast where he made a statement that the last thing that the church in America needs is more Real Estate. The problem seems to be that there is a great division in the church in America. We have booming young churches that have space issues and limited resources while we have beautiful empty buildings with dying congregations that are unwilling to change. Can't the two of these be combined? Why don't they? Don't the young churches need the resources and wisdom found in the older congregations? Don't the older congregations desire to invest in the future? My opinion to the problem: PRIDE. My suggested solution: Humble Courage. This is actually something that I just read about in Erwin McManus' book: Uprising. He talks about the need for ministries to be bold and step out of their comfort zone while doing it with humility. So often when we step out into doing the extraordinary we want all eyes on us.

I believe there is great need for more churches even here where we see church buildings everywhere. I also believe that there are churches that will never change and aren't worth the effort. My hope though is to see more movements with congregations seeking diversity with young passion and zeal combined with mature wisdom and experience. Our best days as the church are not behind us but ahead of us!

What are your thoughts? Do you want to invest your efforts in building or rebuilding existing congregations or planting new ones?