Swapping Sheep

I've noticed lately that we're planting churches by filling up our plants with churched people. And, in case we've missed the memo, church planting is NOT about "swapping sheep" from the Kingdom fold. Church planting is about seeing goats (lost souls) converted into sheep (saved souls). The reality of this hit me as I began to examine how little our new churches are transforming and impacting culture. Recently I talked to a church planter from a southern state who was quick (and proud) to tell me that one of their church plants, which is only three years old, was running 1500 in attendance. He then began to relay the fact that this church plant was thriving and growing in a community of only 7-8000 people. As he shared this my first sarcastic reaction was of elation. I told him that it must be awesome to see this whole community turned upside down by all of those
people coming to faith in Christ. I then asked him if the crime, divorce, and abuse rates have declined drastically with such a phenomenal movement of God in this community. When the reality hit him that the growth of this plant wasn't really about transformational growth, but rather through sheep swapping, he quickly changed the subject. Now I'm sure the growth of the plant wasn't ALL from churched people, but it probably was the majority of the growth.

So where does "sheep swapping" get us today in impacting our culture with the good news of Jesus Christ? No where! As we produce more and more plants (3-4 per day), and as existing churches die (8-10 per day), what is spiritually taking place in our culture as it relates to transforming lives with the gospel of Jesus Christ? Not much at all! You see; it is much harder, time consuming, and bears limited success (numbers) for church planters to go after and focus all their energies on reaching the lost. Plainly said, it just easier to open the doors and let the disgruntled and disenfranchised "Christians" fill up the plant.  But, is easier really producing the results needed to change and impact the culture?