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Planting more than just trees north of the 49th parallel
Submitted by jay on Sun, 2007-10-21 20:21
I haven't heard the term before, but apparently there is a movement afoot to plant "10,000 new churches by the year 2015" in Canada. The group formed itself in 1997, so after 10 years I wonder how the plan is going.
If you think it sounds crazy, take a look at their chart titled New Churches Needed to Disciple Our Nation. I wonder if the The Prayer Palace North was a planted church, hmm.
You can see that the GTA region is really desperately in need of some smiting... The relationship between population size and number of needed new churches is in inversely proportional which I think is interesting regardless of whether the numbers are correct. If they are, urbanites are heathens. If they aren't, urbanites are still (according to the chart) heathens.
Still think it sounds crazy? The Evangelical Free Church of Canada, who claim Trinity Western University as a branch of the church, fully endorses Church Planting in Canada. (TWU warrants it's very own post someday).
So I think that church planters should do some serious talking with the old fella up there in the sky and do the right thing: go live north of the Pinetree Line and plant trees instead of churches.
- jay's blog
- 2999 reads
They'll bankrupt themselves
They'll bankrupt themselves trying to "plant" all those churches. Besides, they're crazy if they think that they'll convert enough people to fill that many pews. Come on now, this is Canada after all ... the secular north. Let's hope that all these newly planted churches are designed with good acoustics so that they can be used for indie rock concert venues when the churches either go bankrupt or the rapture comes.
Why do these people have to use such stupid terms like "planting churches"? Why don't they just say that they are going to build the god damned things instead?
Gord keep our land
Glorious and free
Oh Canada, we stand on guard
For thee.
Prayer Palace North, eh?
Prayer Palace North, eh?
From their website:
"The need became urgent to have a Prayer Palace spirited church north of Toronto, that would teach sound biblical doctrine to those in need."
Urgent for whom? The people of Barrie or the pastor's family? I wonder who the "those in need" are.
"WE ACKNOWLEDGE That without
"WE ACKNOWLEDGE
That without the raising up of new congregations there are still thousands of Canadians who will not have the opportunity to hear of the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ"
Besides the screwed English, they seem to be admitting that hearing the "saving" message of Jebus depends on them. Yet, according to their own theology, it will be those who have not heard, and not the derelict messengers who will burn in Hell. Yup, praise the lard.
Jim
Jim, they might as well have
Jim, they might as well have said, "there are still thousands of deprived Canadians who will not have the opportunity to hear of the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ". That's how they see us non-believers - deprived poor lost souls. They think they know better, that they have a better way, the right way, the only way. They think they can help us. I think they are condescending, self-righteous bastards. I don't feel deprived, do you? In fact, I feel privileged in that I see through "the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ" bullshit. I'll pass on the opportunity.
No kidding. Only "depived"
No kidding. Only "depived" should be "depraved" according to their theology.
It is not as if there are not churches enough in Canada. Why do they feel they need to "plant" more? The ones we have are not good enough, I suppose. One has to approach these kind of discourses as not only opposed to atheists and so forth, but as internal Church struggles. Sort of brand loyalty competition. It isn't enough to get everyone drinking cola, but it has to be coke, or pepsi, or whatever.
Property Holdings
I wrote a post a while ago titled Church Property in Canada, take a look :)
Now extrapolating from that 10,000 new churches by 2015, and from 1997 when that number was invented, that makes probably 5000 or so more churches to go (to use a round figure) since we're somewhere in the middle of that timeline, and assuming they're halfway to their target.
Now, consider the low estimate I made of $2-4 billion for the total value of Canada's 20041 churches. Those additional 5000 churches would work out to about $0.5-1 billion more in tax free property assets for Christian churches in Canada, making a total of anywhere from $2.5-5 billion in property assets by 2015. And again, all tax free.
A shame that.
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