Church Planting

Church planting is simply starting a church. However, church planting is never an easy task. Despite of this truth, Christians should never hesitate in engaging themselves in church planting. It is true that there are people who were given a gift of church planting. But I believe that in the process of church planting, every single Christian inside the church should participate in this important movement.

I personally believe that church planting should be a crucial part and become one of the major concerns of any church. This means that every church should have daughter churches or at least a daughter church. In contrast to what is happening in our days, only few churches are engage in church planting. And as far as my personal experience, this is one of the most neglected parts of most churches.

Most church planting efforts come from different para-churches and not from the church itself. Although according to current campaigns like the Church Planting Movement or otherwise known as CPM, more and more churches are committing to be sponsors of Church Planting.

Church planting is a little complex thing to do. Spiritual anointing and training can be can be a big plus for church planters to effectively work in the mission field. Outreach Bible Study, or OBS is one of the most effective way in starting a church (based on personal experience), but there are lots of methods that can be applied in the field.

Perhaps, the most famous church planter that we can see in the Bible is Paul. No doubt that Paul is an educated man which is his advantage in the field. It helped him a lot but it is not the basis of his effectivity in the field, it is his personal calling and extra ordinary experience with the Lord.

On the other hand, the personal experiences of Paul and his education should not be a hindrance in planting a church. Any church member can plant a church as have to participate in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).

For the purpose of introducing you what church planting really means, please take time in reading this article that a friend of mine wrote about the model of Church Planting as Paul applied it in his ministry.

Church Planting Model
Text: 1 Thess. 1:1-10

Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 1 how he went about planting the church in Thessalonica and how they multiplied so quickly. This is a good model for us as we are looking at Church Planting Movements.

I. Paul lists four reasons why he knew that God called the Thessalonians. (This shows therefore what things happened that resulted in them being saved.) These are 4 essential ingredients in sharing the Gospel (Evangelism Phase).

A. Heard the Gospel with Words (vs. 5) (TRUTH ENCOUNTER)
People have to hear the Gospel if we expect them to get saved. Romans 10:17 says, &ldquoConsequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.&rdquo This includes hearing the Gospel in culturally appropriate ways. Any strategy of evangelism or church planting that does not including hearing the Word is not evangelism or church planting. By its very nature the Gospel must be heard. We will see as we go through Thessalonians 1, though, that it was not with words alone.

B. Came with the power of the Holy Spirit (vs. 5) (POWER ENCOUNTER)
It is impossible for someone to be saved without the work of the Holy Spirit. We can have many plans and strategies but if the power of the Holy Spirit is not there, they will not be converted. This is the importance of our praying. For some reason, in God&rsquos infinite wisdom, when we pray God&rsquos power is manifested. Paul is a good example of the importance he places on prayer. In verse 2 he had already stated that he prayed for the Thessalonians. Many of Paul&rsquos letters begin with his expressing how he prays for the churches constantly. The 12 Apostles also spent much time in prayer. When their time in prayer and sharing the Word was effected in Acts 6 (by taking care of many widows), they had 7 men chosen to take care of the widows. (This is a very important job also and was important enough to have the church have people specifically called out for that job.). The Apostles then could focus on the Word and prayer. Prayer is vital to any evangelism or church planting. Many times in history when believers united in prayer God would demonstrate His miraculous power and many were converted (Acts 4).

The power on the Holy Spirit can be demonstrated in many ways. Sometimes through miracles, signs and wonders. Many times because of these miraculous signs, people are saved. But we know that God shows His power in many different ways, sometimes through miracles, sometimes through changed lives, and sometimes through the simple sharing of His Word. But for people to be saved, the power of the Holy Spirit has to be there. That is Paul&rsquos point in these verses that the power of the Spirit was present and the result was that they were saved. Our part is prayer and believing in a powerful God. I think that the reason that the person of peace idea has been so effective is that it looks to see where God is working and joins Him where His Spirit is already working on someone. So we have seen that people have to have a truth encounter (they have to hear the Word of God) and they have to have a power encounter (the power of the Spirit has to be there).

C. The Gospel came with deep conviction (full certainty) (vs. 5) (CONVICTION ENCOUNTER)
Paul knew that the Gospel was absolutely true and he knew for certain that if people did not receive Christ that they would go to hell. He had a deep conviction or passion about the Gospel. Therefore, he had urgency about sharing the Gospel. I have heard a story about Billy Graham that when he was first starting his crusades that he struggled with if the Bible was completely God&rsquos Word. He was seeing people saved, but not like he would after an incident that happened in his life. One day he went out into the woods and took his Bible. He was troubled by what one of his friends was telling him about errors in the Bible. At the end, he laid his Bible on a stump and felt like although he could not answer all his friends&rsquo questions he knew inside his heart that the Bible was the Word of God. He went back with this passion in his heart and it was then that he saw massive amounts of people coming to know Christ. He was fully convinced as Paul was and it made the difference in his ministry.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:

Inside the Organic Church: Learning from 12 Emerging Congregations By Bob Whitesel / Abingdon Press The organic church (another synonym for the emergent/emerging church/converstaion) is reaching out, both to the unchurched members of society and to alternate methods of experiencing church. While many use devices and techniques not found in traditional mainline Christian churchs (emphasis on the 'social gospel' and services geared towards unsaved visitors; elements from other faith traditions such as labyrinths and drum circles; replacing the seeking of the lost with attracting them), these congregations are growing both in size and in number. Whitesel gives an overview of twelve such places, both large and small, giving the reader a first-hand account of what goes on in these religious communities.

Planting Growing Churches for the 21st Century, Third Edition By Aubrey Malphurs / Baker Planting Growing Churches for the 21st Century is not about how many people you can get through the church doors on Sunday morning, but about planting and growing spiritually healthy churches that are equipped to reach today's unchurched generation. With vision, purpose, and practical advice, Aubrey Malphurs carefully leads you through the six stages of a new church, including funding, creating a strong servant leadership, and establishing values. The church planters workbook will help you implement the book's contents into your own unique ministry situation, showing you how to develop a focus group, recruit a leadership team, and implement small groups. This third edition of a popular and practical hands-on guide will inspire, encourage, and equip ministry leaders. Aubrey Malphurs is a professor of pastoral ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary and president of The Malphurs Group. He engages in church consulting and training and is the author of numerous books, including Being Leaders and Building Leaders.

Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age By Ed Stetzer / B & H Publishing Group Are you thinking about planting a church? Do you have questions? Doubts? Reach for this book! Combining examples from his own experience with keen biblical insights, Stetzer examines emerging trends in postmodern culture, explores the theological basis for planting, offers fresh ideas for reaching unchurched people, provides step-by-step instruction on starting new churches, and more. 365 pages, softcover from B&H.

D. Paul lived a life of love among them (vs. 6) (LOVE ENCOUNTER)
The Thessalonians knew how Paul had lived among them for their benefit. Paul not only spoke the Gospel, he also lived the Gospel. Paul&rsquos love is expressed in many verses in Thessalonians, but especially in 1 Thess. 2:6b-12.

&ldquoAs apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.&rdquo

Paul loved the people tremendously! We need this in our evangelism and church planting. Without it we will not see a church planting movement happen. Paul expressed his love in many ways. He worked hard not to burden them, he lived with them and shared his life with them, he met their needs, he lived a holy life before them, and he encouraged and comforted them in times of trials. When he lived among them, he became apart of them, not just staying on the surface of the community. He modeled the kind of life that he wanted the new believer to live.

When I read the case studies on the church planting movements put out by the International Mission Board, it struck me that almost every one of the Church Planting Movements had human needs ministries going on among the people. These missionaries truly loved the people and when they saw the needs of the people they could not pass them over and say &lsquowe are called only to preach the Gospel and plant churches&rdquo. Love compels us as James says that when we see a need, we cannot just turn away. True faith expresses it self through loving people by meeting their needs. Actually, meeting needs almost always softens people&rsquos hearts to the Gospel and shows them that we truly love them. Paul is considered the model church planter and when he saw churches in need, he did not hesitate to take up collections to meet those needs. Even when these churches were already established churches. His church-planting ministry was inclusive of meeting these needs and they did not in any way take away from his multiplying churches. Actually, it probably was a propelling factor in seeing the multiplication of churches. We need to make sure that our church planting and evangelism incorporates these types of love ministries. And I would also say that it is better when we can live among the people and share our lives with them as well, not just occasionally visiting their area. To truly make disciples as Jesus did, we must be &ldquowith them&rdquo as Jesus was with His disciples.

II. Next, Paul lists 3 other reasons for why they were not only saved but how the multiplication of churches happened out of Thessalonica after they were saved (vs. 6-10)

A. Paul made disciples (vs. 6) (Modeling & Imitating)
Paul did not just make converts. He saw a multiplication movement because he discipled the converts, formed them into churches, and trained them to do exactly what he did. In verse 6 we see that the Thessalonians imitated Paul. The basis of discipleship is the &ldquowith him&rdquo principle: people being with a mature believer and seeing what the mature believer does and then imitating it. It was very important that Paul had the right type of life to model. He was holy in his lifestyle, walked in the Spirit, had a vital and on-going relationship with God where he was hearing God and obeying immediately. He also lived a life of love and of passion to share the Gospel. Paul was desperately in love with Jesus. Jesus and all the Apostles used this same method of modeling discipleship. And again their lives were worth reproducing. Jesus said in Mark 3:14, &ldquoHe appointed twelve&mdashdesignating them apostles&mdashthat they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.&rdquo Paul said to Timothy in 2 Tim. 2:2, &ldquoAnd the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualifies to teach others.&rdquo Paul did not stop with evangelism but also discipled the believers and trained them to multiple my modeling and then they imitating what they saw in him. We would do well to follow his example today. This means that just preaching in crusades and not following people up will not result in church planting movements. The new believers should be discipled to do what we are doing. They become imitators of us. This also means that just because someone has gone through a discipleship book does not mean that the person is a disciple. Discipleship, among other things, always includes imitating. Someone who says they are discipling but only sees the person once a week and does not really know what is going on in the disciple&rsquos life is not doing discipleship. Discipleship has a teaching element to it, but unless they see you doing the things that you are telling them to do, they usually do not do them. You can teach doctrine and some skills but rarely do you see change in character or see a church multiplier until they have seen you demonstrate how to not get angry, how to show love to an enemy, how to start a church, how to multiple churches, etc. May we be about this type of discipleship. I call this type of discipleship, mentoring discipleship. Also, you see that they were imitating Paul for less than a month before Paul had to leave. Though their training was not done (I Thess. 3), they were imitating what Paul did and taught.
(One last thing I wanted to mention about verse 6 is that the Holy Spirit is once again the sustainer of the believers even in the midst of persecution.)

B. The Thessalonians became models for the believers in Macedonia and Achaia (vs.7)
Not only were the Thessalonians discipled but they also became disciple-makers (modelers). The Thessalonians became the Model for people in two large provinces. For church planting movements to occur and to really see the Multiplication that we long for, the churches that we plant must be discipled and become disciplemakers (modeling CPM&rsquos to others who will model it for others). Our church planting will be only be addition and not by multiplication if we do not have many lay disciplemakers (lay modelers). Paul of course, in each place that he planted a church, established elders and they were models, but each disciple should become a model as well. Everyone will have different spiritual gifts and therefore will model (do disciplemaking) in a different style, but each disciple of Christ should be a disciplemaker of other believers.

C. The church at Thessalonica became a beacon of light that multiplied all over the world (vs. 8)
The church did not stop with just being a church or just planting churches in the two provinces but expanded to affect the whole world. We should expect multiplication of churches from the churches we plant and also that they will eventually affect other parts of the world (Cross-Cultural Missionaries). We must give them this vision and expect it of them.

III. Summary of the Pillars of Paul&rsquos Church Planting Model

I see that there are 10 pillars that were basic to Paul&rsquos church planting model and therefore, I see them as essential pillars if we want to see church planting movements.
¿« Personal lives worth modeling
¿« Prayer
¿« Evangelism (The Word of God is the center of our sharing the Gospel)
¿« The power of the Holy Spirit
¿« Passion/conviction
¿« Love (shown in some concrete way)
¿« Discipleship (Mentoring &ndash Imitating you & the Lord &ndash they must be able to walk in the Spirit, hear God and be obeying Him immediately. Also have the love and passion for people)
¿« Disciplemaking/Leadership training (Modeling)
¿« Church Multiplication
¿« Cross-cultural Missionaries

Additional 2 &ndash Persecution and Worship

Obstacles to Church Planting Movement:

As I look at the normal obstacles to CPM, almost all of the obstacles in some way get away from these 10 pillars.

1) Lack of access to the Word of God and the witness of believers.

2) Pastors only sharing the Gospel, so that lay people just support the pastor. This violates two of the pillars. There is not enough people to share the Gospel and to be a pastor there needs to be a lot of training, supposedly. Therefore, the Word of God and the witness of believers is slowed so that people are not hearing the Word of God. Second, the mentoring and discipling aspects are violated. The focus on pastors leads to few people being discipled. The pastor is too busy doing everything else.

3) No Bible in their heart language = can&rsquot hear the Word of God in it&rsquos deepest form.

4) Using Culturally inappropriate forms of sharing the Gospel. Understanding at least the basic worldview is important to know how to share the Gospel. Paul shared the Gospel in different styles depending on the audience.

5) Lack of prayer shows little communication with God or knowing Him and also lacks to power that is needed in Church Planting.

6) Slow methods of evangelism &ndash Lack of people hearing the Word of God. This is why the Abundant Gospel Sowing is so important. Methods which takes many years to share the Gospel or which leave people in a position to not proclaim the Gospel are counter productive. I heard of one place where a missionary lived for years in a good human needs project but never proclaimed the Gospel because he was afraid of loosing his visa. Is that really worth it?

7) Using books or creeds that become the guide to doctrine and how to church planting and not the Bible. The Bible needs to be the central authority for everything and the methods we model should centralize on the Bible.

8) Not letting local people become leaders quickly. Paul left most places in just a few months. He could do this because he was modeling and discipling, so the people were ready to do what he had been doing.

9) Mule Churches &ndash churches that do not reproduce.

10) Any method of evangelism that does not get people sharing the Gospel fairly quickly is doomed to miss a great opportunity for new believers to share the Gospel with their oikas.

11) Training being formal and only lecture and not OJT.

12) Extra-Biblical requirements to being a strong church. When people think that they are not strong, then they focus on themselves to strengthen themselves, and do not multiple. When it is written, said, or implied that a group is not strong until they have a pastor, land, building, etc. They will not multiple.

13) Look at the Obstacles in the CPM booklet and see if they do not all violate in one way or another the 10 Pillars.
Motivations for Ministry
Many people struggle with having members who do not want to work or if they work they just do the minimal. Or they have members who start well but do not finish. How do we motivate these people for ministry? 1 Thessalonians gives us a model.
Faith = Work
Love for God and People = Hard Work
Hope = Perseverance

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

Inside the Organic Church: Learning from 12 Emerging Congregations By Bob Whitesel / Abingdon Press The organic church (another synonym for the emergent/emerging church/converstaion) is reaching out, both to the unchurched members of society and to alternate methods of experiencing church. While many use devices and techniques not found in traditional mainline Christian churchs (emphasis on the 'social gospel' and services geared towards unsaved visitors; elements from other faith traditions such as labyrinths and drum circles; replacing the seeking of the lost with attracting them), these congregations are growing both in size and in number. Whitesel gives an overview of twelve such places, both large and small, giving the reader a first-hand account of what goes on in these religious communities.

Church Planting in the African American Community By Michael J. Cox & Joe Samuel Ratliff / Judson Press In this valuable resource for church planners, evangelists, community activists, urban planners, and others, Cox and Ratliff will take you on a journey of dicovery that will lead you to develop a theology and strategy for church planting. Church Planting in the African American Community offers practical, detailed and invaluable advise for churches and their leaders - the kind of advice you wont find anywhere else because no other guide explains how America's grand black churches grew to such size and stature in the face of society's ever-present challenges and roadblocks. Whether you are already involved in the process of sponsoring a new church plant or just considering a first step in the adventure, you will discover what it takes to to overcome the odds facing church planters in the African American community.

What I am not saying
1) That you have to have Human Needs ministry &ndash the point is to love people and see that your people are doing the same.
2) That these 10 are sequential. Most of them are happening all at once.
3) That you have to have a long discipleship period or they cannot start doing things until they have finished all of discipleship. Actually I would say the opposite. Paul had patterns and doctrines on in people, but they were done in a short period of time and always included OJT to see that they could do them. I very much like the Duck analogy here for Discipleship and Leadership Training.
4) That pastors should not have training or seminary. I am saying that whatever training they get should be On The Job training and it should include obey the Word and teaching it to others immediately. Theoretical training can lead to pride. Residential training has some benefits for upper level leadership, but it is just not practical for most leaders. Seminary could be very useful if it focused on upper level leadership and had an extensive Extension Program that was OJT!
5) That all missionaries have to live among their people group. In some instances, people will not be able to do this. But the point is that in some way they need to be with people who can get in and spend time discipling them well, so that they live a life worthy of the Gospel when they are among the people. Others have started by living among the people and after they have some disciples living the life, they move out so that the movement is not hindered. At some point though they need to see a good example in you. Some have the privilege of starting with people who are already good examples. In this case it is not as necessary to live among the people, as long as that person(s) is modeling the life of Christ and is in love with Jesus.

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