EY, TANYA! LET’S do something crazy. Let’s make the biggest sand castle this beach has ever seen!”

Our family was celebrating the Fourth of July by camping on the Oregon coast. We were delighted that Tanya, a friend from Russia, could join us.

It was a perfect day. The sand was warm and clean. The waves were as white as the creamy inside of an Oreo cookie. The sky looked as if God had spilled a giant bucket of deep-blue paint. We felt almost as though we had fallen into a postcard.

We had all day and nothing to do. As I watched my daughter and her boyfriend put the finishing touches on a pint-sized castle, a wild idea emerged: Create the biggest sand castle the beach has ever seen.

“What do you mean?” Tanya asked.

“Watch this.” Dragging my toe, I made a huge circle in the sand. Concentric with the first, I moved out five feet or so and made a second, even bigger, circle. “Here’s the deal,” I announced. “Let’s dig all the sand from between the circles and throw it inside. Then we’ll use what’s in the middle to build a giant castle.”

Tanya grinned incredulously. “We could never finish it. It’s too big. It would take us two weeks to do all of that.”

“We won’t do it alone.”

“Who will help us?”

“Look at all these people on the beach. When they see us doing something big, they’ll want to be part of it. We’ll have all the help we need.”

She was visibly skeptical. “Do you think so?”

“I don’t know. Let’s try it and see.”

We knelt down and started to dig. With nothing but our hands, we tossed sand from the moat to the middle. The biggest castle, I said to myself, begins with a single scoop.

A couple came walking down the beach toward us. Their expression declared, Tell me you’re kidding, but they asked anyway, “What are you doing?”

“We’re building the biggest sand castle this beach has ever seen.”

“Cool! Can we help?”

“Sure!”

Progress attracts attention, and before long whole families joined the fun. Again and again voices shouted to friends or kids, “Hey, you guys! Get over here! We’re making the biggest sand castle this beach has ever seen!” My job quickly evolved from laborer to construction foreman.

A man came by, folded his arms, and watched. He had muscles like a bricklayer. His butch haircut looked like a welcome mat. “You all need some tools,” he announced. “Like a shovel or something.”

“Can you bring us one?”

He returned a few moments later with a driftwood log.

“I couldn’t find a shovel, but how about this?” He thrust it down repeatedly, breaking up the sand and making it easy to scoop up and move.

At one point 35 people swarmed around the castle like ants repairing their hill. In a couple hours the mission was accomplished. We had indeed created the biggest sand castle that beach had ever seen. We all felt proud. Tanya’s smile splashed joy all over everyone.

As we made our way to the campsite that evening, she said, “I learned something important today.”

“What’s that?”

“I learned that when you decide to do something really big, people get excited. They’ll drop everything, and they’ll come and help.”

Our Giant Dream
Adventists have a big task before us:  reaching our world for Christ. “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19, NIV) rings in the ears of every faithful member. We’ve been trying and praying for generations, but the goal, especially in the so-called Western countries, remains elusive. Why?

“Because ours is a secular society,” some say. Is it? If it were, maybe our task would be easier.

Step back a couple thousand years. Paul has arrived in Athens.  His comments to a few have sparked curiosity in many. He’s invited to Mars Hill to expound his wisdom. The crowd presses forward, reeking with cynicism: Come on, foreigner, tell us the latest insight from your neck o’ the woods!  Listen to Paul’s opening line: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious” (Acts 17:22, NIV).

Paul spoke the truth. Athens was indeed religious. Worshipers chose their god of the month from an idol-rich menu. They were religious indeed, but few cared a whit about the Messiah.

America today mirrors Athens of old.¹ A massive spiritual awakening is occurring on Beacon Hill and in Silicon Valley, but for the first time in a long time the Christian church is not leading the way. Consequently:

• The United States is now the third-largest mission field in the world.

• In North America 200 million people do not attend church regularly.

• Fewer than three out of 10 even believe in such a thing as absolute truth. (Leonard Sweet claims that not only do postmodern Americans not believe in absolute truth, but they have “absolutophobia”: they are actually scared by those who claim to know the truth.)²

• Eighty-two percent of Canadians call themselves unchurched.³

Actually completing the Saviour’s commission in North America seems preposterous.

Yet Jesus said one time—and He would say again today—“Don’t say ‘four more months and then the harvest.’ Open your eyes and look at the fields; they are ripe for harvest” (see John 4:35).

Let’s go back to the beach. What if Tanya and I had started our castle down by the water, at the edge of an incoming tide? The arrival of every wave would flatten the turrets. Our earnest appeals and exuberant actions would fail to keep the soggy sand from sliding out to sea. The few souls who agreed to help would quickly become discouraged and abandon the cause.

The dream of significance loses its power when the goal seems hopeless. The goal seems hopeless when the work advances so slowly. The gospel task is indeed huge, but with God we can do it. And when we build in a way that will matter, people will again get excited—they’ll drop their toys and suntan lotion, and they’ll come and help.

Building Castles, Planting Churches
A hundred years ago Ellen White urged every believing Adventist to embrace the evangelistic ministry of planting new churches. “Upon all who believe,” she insisted, “God has placed the burden of raising up churches.”⁴ Our history clearly shows that faithful, enthusiastic obedience to this call propelled Adventists to the forefront of soul winning in North America. We were the head, not the tail, when it came to reaching the lost.

Church planting was not a niche ministry; it was not something done by a few, and then only if extra money could be found. It was the heartbeat of Adventist strategy to evangelize those who needed Christ. When church leaders at every level—from the local church to the General Conference—wanted to reach a city, their first thought was Hey, let’s plant a church! And God blessed phenomenally.

But what about the present? If Ellen White’s prophetic voice spoke today, would she still implore us to plant? Absolutely! Not only would she repeat herself, but she would do so with greater-than-ever urgency. She would preach it from our pulpits. She would write it in the Review. She would post it on her Web site. She would plead with our administrators: “Upon all who believe, God has placed the burden of raising up churches.” Here’s why yesterday’s counsel is today’s earnest appeal.

1. Most of our churches have stopped growing. An imaginary scene in Anytown:  We decide to start a church. A few other families catch the vision, so we set a date and begin to meet. Since there are just a few of us, we conduct Sabbath services in someone’s living room. The kids’ Sabbath school meets in the basement. Things go well; we find it quite comfortable to meet in a home. As others join, we find that about 30 of us can squeeze in—if we’re really friendly. 

Move forward six months. One day we’re discussing long-range plans for our church and decide on the following: We like it here. We will never, ever move out of this living room. If people want to come, we’ll try to find a spot for them somewhere, but the church will always meet in this living room until Jesus comes.

What have we just decided? That we will not grow beyond about 30 people. The size of the living room has defined our vision.

Two years go by, and we haven’t grown. Ten years expire and—how do you explain this?—we are still 30 in number. We invite an evangelist for a series of meetings and rejoice at those who make decisions, but a year later we wonder where they went. We offer health classes, social events, and Bible studies, but our size remains static. Our church has matured in accordance with our minuscule vision.

Let’s agree that this scenario isn’t acceptable; we have to think bigger.  Especially in light of the fact that within a Frisbee toss of the house are thousands of lost people.

So instead we think bigger. We dream; we sacrifice; we tap the union revolving fund and erect a church that seats, say, 200 people. We are exceptionally proud of our church!  But when we move in, the unspoken assumption is that this is the place where the Adventist church will meet in this town until Jesus comes.

What have we just decided? The same thing as before. The number is different, but once we approach capacity, we’ve finished growing. The physical realities of our church have defined our vision.

We have just placed our finger on a serious problem. All across North America some 30 or 40 years ago new Adventist church buildings multiplied. Those churches ranged in size from 100 seats to 500 or 600. As the years passed, those churches achieved their level of attendance.

Pastors lie awake at night trying to figure out what to do. Laypeople pray and work with disappointing results. Conference officials allocate muchos pesos to evangelistic efforts. Yet our churches have nearly all completed their cycle of growth. (Other factors besides the physical building also affect the eventual size of the church. An understanding of these only reinforces the point.)

Maybe if we pray more, someone hopes, God will make our churches grow in spite of everything. He could, but listen to Ellen White:  “God does not generally work miracles to advance His truth. . . . He works according to great principles made known to us, and it is our part to mature wise plans, and set in operation the means whereby God shall bring about certain results.”⁵

Picture a sponge that’s full of water. The best of intentions won’t cause it to hold more. Pouring with greater enthusiasm is futile. Once the sponge is saturated, your choices are limited. Unless you expect God to overrule nature and force it to hold more water (which, of course He could do—but don’t hold your breath!), you had better find another sponge.

It’s clear. When we decide to reach the lost in our city, our first priority is to plant another church.

2. Starting a church always results in revival. A recent Newsweek article stated that 84 percent of American adults believe that God performs miracles; 48 percent claim to have seen one.⁶ What Newsweek didn’t report is that 100 percent of those who are planting a church have witnessed a miracle.

All of us long for revival. We know it’s essential, so we try everything. We “Amen” the pastor as he preaches from Ezekiel 37 (“O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord” [verse 4, NKJV]). We study the latest revival book at prayer meeting. We seek advice from last summer’s camp meeting speaker. We discipline ourselves for prayer. Yet few of our members are “revived.”

What, specifically, do we wish was true about the people in our church? We wish they would pray more and give more. We wish they were more loving to the lost. We wish they would unglue themselves from the television and devote some time to ministry.

Watch what happens when we plant a church.

• The members pray more than they have ever prayed in their lives. They have to—because they have stepped out to accomplish audacious things with little else but their faith in God.

• They give up vacations, sell mutual funds, and postpone buying new cars to give to the cause—and consider it an honor to do so.

• They treat unchurched guests with astonishing sensitivity and love. Why? Because every empty chair shouts that if they don’t, the church won’t be around six months from now.

• And what about ministry? Hang out at a new church and see for yourself. From the occasional attender to the seasoned member, people do things they never dreamed they would. They get up early, stay late, and serve in ways that used to be far outside their comfort zone. And they love it! Which is the reason the “unemployment rate” in a new church is almost nonexistent.

Planting a church just may be God’s “Plan A” for revival. When a parent church has a baby, the very things we wish were true about our members become true. Automatically. Of necessity. It’s like an overnight revival. It changes them individually, and it revives the church.

Ellen White knew it long ago. “It will cultivate a missionary spirit to work in new localities. Selfishness in respect to keeping large companies together is not the Lord’s plan.”⁷ Without question her voice would still declare, “Upon all who believe . . .”

It’s simple. We need revival. Planting a church will cause revival. Let’s plant churches.

3. We owe it to the lost. There’s no doubt about it: The lost matter to God. Once we know what will reach them, we owe it to them to do it. Paul wrote back then, but would shout today, “The love of Christ constrains us!” (2 Cor. 5:14, NKJV).

The evidence is mountainous: new churches are far and away the most effective method of reaching the lost. Note these few examples:

• When a church is brand-new to 3 years old, it takes three members to win a convert in a year. When the church is 4 to 10 years old, it takes seven members to win a convert in a year. Once a church is more than 10 years old, it requires 89 members to win a convert in a year.⁸

• Consider nine new churches in the Mid-America Union. After 20 months 650 persons were attending those churches, 407 of whom would not be attending anywhere if those new churches had not been started.⁹

• In England, at a time when church attendance overall declined by 22 percent in the past decade, attendance in new churches increased by 38 percent.¹⁰

Every Monday morning church planters from around the world call or e-mail our office with thrilling accounts of what God did last Sabbath to reach the lost.¹¹

More and more Adventists are saying, “I’m thrilled with what God is doing overseas, but what about the lost in my town? Is there hope for reaching the United States, Canada, and the rest of the West, where, for the most part, our work has stalled?”

The answer is uncomplicated. Once we examine the evidence, we no longer wonder what to do. Once we heed the counsel, our task shifts from wishing for the solution to encouraging one another to “go for it.” Planting the right kind of churches, in the right places, with the right leadership and the right methods, will change our world.

We must be willing to pay the price. We need a deliberate change in our thinking and a reordering of our priorities. Church planting can no longer be considered a niche ministry. It must not be the task of a few and only when extra money can be found. It must again become the heartbeat of the Adventist strategy to evangelize those who need Christ—indeed, foundational to all that we do. Church planting must become as central to Adventist church life as Christian education or youth ministry. When church leaders at every level want to reach their city, their first thought must be, Hey, let’s plant a church! When this becomes real, thousands, perhaps millions, who today are lost will be saved in the kingdom.

Ten years ago church planting was important. Five years ago it was imperative. Today it is urgent with a capital U. If Jesus delays His return for 20 more years, we will either look back with regret, or we’ll rejoice that we acted boldly.

It’s imperative. Now that we know what to do, we’ve got to do it.

What would Tanya say? I asked her. “I think we should be really bold,” she grinned, “this time not just for fun, but for God. Let’s build the biggest castle this beach has ever seen.”

Tanya, we agree. With God’s help, we will begin a movement.  A movement of significance. A movement so big that people will again get excited. They will drop everything. They will come and help. And before you know it, this daunting task will be finished.

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 ¹The things that are true about America apply also to other Western nations such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and many European countries.
 ² SoulTsunami (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub. House, 1999), p. 385.
 ³ Murray Moerman, ed., in Outreach Canada.
 ⁴ Ellen G. White, Medical Ministry, p. 315.
 ⁵ ———, Christian Service, p. 228.
 ⁶ Newsweek, May 1, 2000, p. 56.
 ⁷ White, Evangelism, p. 47.
 ⁸ Research was conducted by Church Multiplication Training Center, Colorado Springs, Colo., and represents churches of various denominations in the United States.
 ⁹ And for those who watch tithe numbers, those 9 churches returned $656,000 in tithe to the conference in the first 18 months. (Study conducted in August 2000.)
¹⁰ Independent, Apr. 16, 2000 (www.independent.co.uk)
¹¹ Want to hear some of the stories? Call us at 1-877-30PLANT or visit our Web site: www.plantthefuture.org.

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Ron Gladden is the church planting director for the Mid-America and North Pacific unions. His love is his family (wife Fran, daughters Marla and Jana), his hobby is mountain climbing (“just about anything with snow on it!”), and his passion is planting churches that reach the unreached for Christ.