CHAMPIONING CHURCH PLANTERS

Interview with IAN KRUITHOF

Ian Kruithof served the ACC Victoria State as Church Growth Director, coordinating Church Planting and Health, for the past 15 years. He has pioneered healthy churches in Australia and overseas in more than four decades of ministry.

Q: What has always been your main passion and purpose over four decades of ministry?

IAN: My passion and purpose has been to serve Jesus however I could. There have been many opportunities to serve Him through our movement – beginning as a youth leader, then as a local church pastor, and to regional, state and board roles. Nationally, I was the ACC World Relief director and served on the ACCIR board for many years. Q. As Director of Church Planting and Church Health, you have seen many churches start from small plants and become healthy churches in their communities. What does it takes to pioneer new territory for the Kingdom?

IAN: When I took on the role of Church Growth Director in Victoria, I did an autopsy on fifty failed church plants, to learn what did not work. Then I flipped the findings to discover the things that would produce sustainable plants. The main things were: a leader who is called and anointed to be a church planter with a history of having grown a previous ministry/venture.

The planter needs to be well connected with the movement and networks conducive to growth. Training at a bible college was also high on the list. The church should have a critical mass in people, finances, and ministries to launch in strength. The autopsy showed that starting in a sizeable local community whose culture suited the planter/core team was advantageous.

Victoria recognises a planter and plant if it has these factors. The state supports them with coaching and equipment and setup support. We do not endorse them as a provisional church or offer a credentials until there has been proof of ministry. This proof includes fifty people in fellowship, a functioning legal entity, regular weekly services, and attendance at ACC events.

Q. Can you describe some different modeals for church planting, and what works in different situations?

IAN: I have found that there are basically two models for church planting that work. These are the slow burn and the big bang. As long as the core team is strong and the approach is strategic and considered, both methods can work.

An example of a strategic slow burn is building small groups until sufficient people are available to start a church service. The big bang is a method that gathers enough people over a short period of time for a purposeful major church launch and then builds quickly on the momentum created.

Seasons of prayer and a well-communicated God-given vision are needed for both models. Both methods attract people through similar means. This may be through creating online communities, conducting expression of interest meetings in cafes, homes, or other venues, and holding events such as children’s fun days during holidays. Conducting Alpha, marriage or youth courses is another way to gather contacts. Crusade-style meetings with great music and ministry have worked to gather interest.

The new plant doesn’t need to do everything but I have found that a good standard of music, preaching, kids ministry, and coffee (fellowship) need to be provided. Q: What makes a successful church planter?

IAN: A church planter should have a breakthrough spirit – to push through the challenges and kick some doors down mentality. Church planting is not for the meek. They must be a gatherer or be able to inspire gatherers. They need to have an outward focus to reach more people and build a monthly new contacts list continually, and not just rely on meetings to gather people. They should have the ability to rally to a cause, live godly lives, train and release ministries, bring the anointing of God, be strategic and structured, and love people.

Q. What were some of the unique challenges with Church health and growth in the recent pandemic years?

IAN: Church planting did slow but did not cease during the Covid years. Though Victoria had the hardest and longest lockdown, we endorsed more than one new work each month over those two years. Pivoting to online services became necessary.

Some older churches did not make it. Some smaller churches could not regather and the opportunity to shut down some unhealthy campuses was taken by some churches. Yet Victoria still grew overall. A good number of >

Q. What are some keys you'd share with pastors regarding their health and the health of their churches?

IAN: Many books have been written on this. A healthy pastor usually means a healthy church. The reverse is often true, when the church is unhealthy perhaps it’s not all the people’s fault. A simple list however would include these headings: Learn to stress less; Create boundaries for you and your family; Remember your relationship with Jesus; Resist temptation; Be filled with the Spirit; Contemporize your ministry but operate in the gifts of the Spirit; Hang out with people of big vision, calling and capacity; Make good long-term decisions; Learn how to think and act strategically; Take holidays, and have date nights; Keep fit, exercise and diet; Have annual physical and mental checkups; Engage with the movement as often as possible; and be led by principles and processes, not by people’s wants.

Q. Anything else you’d like to add as encouragement to ACC pastors?

IAN: Pastors who are healthy are often too hard on themselves. They and their spouses need to recognise that they are amazing people, should be more appreciated. These men and women hold out faith in a faithless nation, pray for countless needs, sacrifice their time and finances, care for often thankless people, and endure criticism. By doing so they experience the joy and satisfaction of saving lives, see hope renewed, relationships restored, children taught the word, young people find Christian partners forming Christian families, older people being supported and cared for, and communities impacted.

To our ladies, I encourage you to rise to become senior ministers and church planters in your own right. Our movement began with churches that were planted by more female than male ministers. My wife was for many years a senior minister while I served in my state role. She was also a regional leader. I understand the challenges that women face through her but the kingdom cannot afford to have the 52% of our congregations that are females not engaged in these ministries.

In Victoria where a third of our churches are mono-ethnic ninetyfive percent close their doors within a generation. This has been a reality for over sixty years. To our migrant pastors, I would say position your churches for the future by transitioning culture and transferring influence to the acculturated second generation progressively as a priority.

IAN KRUITHOF has been an ACC pastor for over 46 years. Ian and his wife Lorri were honoured at the 2022 Victorian State Conference for their service to the Movement.

ACC CHURCH PLANTING

DID YOU KNOW? 24% of ACC churches were started after 2013. [Source: ACC 2019 Census]

CHURCHES PLANTED IN THE LAST DECADE:

2020-2021: 91 churches planted between April 2019 – April 2021 2019: 47 churches planted 2018: 33 churches planted 2017: 42 churches planted 2016: 25 churches planted 2015: 41 churches planted 2014: 58 churches planted 2012–2013: 49 churches planted 2009–2011: 40 churches planted

ACCI CHURCH PLANTS:

Over 2,000 churches were planted through ACCI between 2009 amd 2021

VISION: To plant 500 churches across Australia over the next ten years