Growing families step on one another’s toes. It’s a byproduct of living in close proximity. Growing church communities are the same way. As churches multiply across the country, some will inevitably start in communities with existing congregations. And the church planters of today will face this issue tomorrow.

How should you respond when you hear someone is wanting to start a church in the community where you pastor? It could easily feel like someone is stepping on your toes. When that happens, is your first thought about competition or collaboration?

Ministers who are deeply rooted in a community can feel threatened when a new church comes to town. Insecurities may cause them to worry:

Does the church planter think my community needs a new church because I’m not effective enough?

Will the new church try to steal people who attend my church?

What if I can’t compete with all the new church has to offer?

And whether intentionally or unintentionally, they may find themselves holding a “No Trespassing” sign. It tells everyone who comes near, “No more churches needed here. My church has this community covered already.”

Such responses arise from a scarcity mindset that treats missions as a zero-sum game. It’s easy to think there are only so many people to go around, so every person who goes to your church is one less to attend mine.

Those fears are natural, but they’re not biblical. The enemy of our souls would have us believe other churches are a threat. But the sad truth is, there are likely more people far from Christ in your community than any one pastor or church can reach and disciple.

In Matthew 9:37, Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”

Lost people are all around us; there’s no shortage of them. The shortage is in harvest workers. So if we took Jesus’ words seriously, the signs we’d hang above our churches wouldn’t be “No Trespassing” but “Help Wanted.”

In the same passage, Jesus tells His disciples, “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (verse 38). It is, in fact, one of the few prayers Jesus explicitly commands us to pray.

Are you reciting that prayer regularly? If so, perhaps the new pastor moving to town to start a church is God’s answer to your prayer. After all, the task of reaching your community for Jesus is too big for you to accomplish alone.

How we react to this situation has everything to do with how we see the harvest and the clock.

There are likely more people far from Christ in your community than any one pastor or church can reach and disciple.

Harvest

Do you see the work of the harvest in your community as just begun or almost complete? If you see it as almost complete, you may feel like you don’t need any help. However, if it’s just begun, there’s a lot more to do, and many more hands are needed to accomplish it.

According to Pew Research Center, nearly 5 billion people in the world don’t profess Christ, and 60% of Americans don’t identify as born-again Christians. No matter where you live, the harvest is plentiful.

Clock

Jesus said workers have to toil while it’s day, because night is coming when no one can work. As farmers know, when the sun is up and the weather is good during harvest season, it’s a mad dash to bring in as much of the crop as possible. As the sun starts to set, they work even more feverishly to finish the job.

In a spiritual sense, how much time do you feel is left for the world to hear about Jesus? If you think the clock is winding down and time is short, that’s good incentive to invite the assistance of everyone willing to join with you in the harvest work.

I believe we’ve only scratched the surface of the harvest, and we’re running out of time. We need all hands on deck in every community. So here’s how I suggest ministers react when a new church starts in their community:

Assume the best. I work with enough church planters to know this about them: They don’t start a new church to compete with existing churches. They start a new work to reach lost people who don’t attend church.

You can either wonder why a new church planter didn’t reach out to you and get your blessing to plant near you, or you can make it your goal to initiate a conversation, blessing the pastor and genuinely welcoming him or her to town. Offer to introduce this new leader to key influencers, which could greatly accelerate the fledgling congregation’s Kingdom effectiveness. Do for this church what you wish others would have done for you.

Honor one another. The only Bible-sanctioned competition in the Church is to outdo one another in showing honor (Romans 12:10). What does that look like? Speak highly of the new pastor and the church. Offer to help them in any way you can.

Encourage your congregation to pray for this new church launching in your community — that God would give it favor and that many who are far from Christ would be saved and discipled through the church’s ministry.

Stay faithful to your calling, and cooperate with others. You can be passionate about what God has called you to do and Kingdom-oriented enough to embrace what God has called others to do. Make a decision not to compete. You’re co-workers in the same enterprise.

Instead of competing, look for ways to cooperate with the new church on outreach initiatives, community events or resource sharing. And if you want to take collaboration to the next level, consider gifting finances and/or people from your church to help get the new church started.

Planting these seeds of generosity will result in a harvest for both churches.

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2020 edition of Influence magazine.