Viable Long-term Church planting situations in the Maritime Provinces of Atlantic Canada : an analysis of common characteristics

Abstract

The practice of church planting has become commonplace for many evangelical denominations in the Maritime Provinces of Atlantic Canada in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Many of these new churches have not been able to attain expectations for long-term viability as presented in much of the literature on church planting, especially from American based sources. The science of practical theology enabled research into the religious and cultural milieu of this region to inform the practice of church planting. The study tested the hypothesis that there are unique and identifiable characteristics that are common to long-term viable church planting situations in the Maritime Provinces of Atlantic Canada. It compared the common characteristics with the widely accepted Indigenous Church Mission Theory that states a new church should be self-supporting, self-propagating and self-governing within three years of establishment. A conceptual framework was developed based on available literature from North American, Canadian and global sources on church planting which examined church planting theories in regard to: theological issues, including foundational Biblical concepts, current theological issues and vision; structural issues including church political structures and leadership issues; cultural and geographical issues. This study of church planting situations in the region has employed a grounded theory method, using a constant comparative process, to reveal data that begins to form a theoretical base for church planting. The researcher used semi-standardized in-depth interviews of pastors, from evangelical churches, involved in church planting in the Maritime Provinces, along with case studies based on the researchers own experience in the field, to derive data that reveals common characteristics of church planting in the region. The analysis of research data from the in-depth interviews and case studies, when compared to one another and the conceptual framework, revealed unique and identifiable characteristics of church planting in the Maritime Provinces. These characteristics are: slower change and slower establishment of new churches in the region compared to literature based expectations; the prevalence of a pastor formulated vision for new churches; traditional thinking in the region that led to slower growth of new congregations; rural isolation and a smaller demographic base that led to slower growth and the need for sustained financial support for new churches.