Why Missional Church Planters Can Exceed the Mega Church
So you want to plant a church, out of the suburbs for a change.....congrats! But wait, the mega church next door is planting as well. How on earth will you compete with 200 people 'transplanted' to the new location and a budget over 250K?
Some missional church planters get discouraged when they are faced with little to no financial resources in comparison to their wealthy (temporarily) evangelical counterpart. However, cash and strategies are the wrong combination in our current church game.
The good news is you probably don't need the money. The bad news is you probably need a real job. Hopefully you have more than bible degrees 
. Bi-vocational church planters are a reality in our new culture, that's the point I want to make.
The normal evangelical/Protestant church is caught in a world where they still think people can be recruited into church. There is an implicit assumption that people already have some taste of the gospel story, so all we have to do is literally market a brand they'll like to get them into the door (which is the point, getting them into the door of a building).
The good news is missional church planters understand the world no longer operates like this, and regular people have zero connection to anything gospel or church. As such, the 'tactics' used by regular churches are starting to fail--money and strategies won't win.
In comes the missional planter who rejects the consumer mentality of old box churches, and instead plants themselves in a community, learning the language, establishing nitty gritty relationships. You see, the current culture will respond to a certain expression of gospel, and it's not about who has the best flash and dance.
So in fact, missional church planters have a lot going for them. They understand their culture whereas the best box/consumer churches can do is do a demographic study. One will create lasting impressions, the other will be a fleeting memory lost every week when we walk out of the Sunday show.
Interpreting and understand your context is a crucial component to your impact in the community. Don't under estimate your capability just because you lack cash or transplanted people.
David Fitch wrote an article about the differences between consumer and missional churches. For most of his comparisons the spectrum is huge, so plant yourself on the current side.
