Church Planting by the Book

In His Word God tells us what he wants us to do, lays out the theological foundation for it, paints the historical background, explains the practical implications, and then gives real-life examples so we can see how it works. The Scriptures thoroughly equip us for what He asks us do (2 Tim. 3:16-17). God’s church-planting strategy in Acts 14:21-26, teaches us that we must:

1) Preach the Gospel. Just as in the first century, the gospel today is the answer to the need of a lost world around us. We have the privilege of proclaiming the good news that the God-man died in the sinner’s place and rose again to offer redemption to all who will receive Him (1 Cor. 15:1-4). Whatever else we do, we must preach the gospel. 2) Make disciples. When people respond to the gospel, the next step is clear – teach them what God has said and then help them learn to live accordingly (Matt. 28:19-20). A disciple is one who grows in the knowledge of God through His Word, and then grows in the practice of obedience to that Word.

3) Build up believers. Believers need to be established in their faith and encouraged in their walk with Christ. Those who all their lives followed the course of this world, the god of this age and the desires of the flesh now have a new nature and a new Lord (Eph. 2:1-10). Because they live in a hostile environment they will need constant teaching. Because they are now dealing with unseen spiritual truths, they will need a consistent example to follow. Because Christian growth is an ongoing process they will need ongoing encouragement.

4) Train servants. The fact that elders (pastors) were ordained (selected & installed), implies not only that their gifts were recognized and their character evaluated, but that they were purposefully prepared for ministry (see Acts 16:1-4; Titus 1:5-9). The church planter must help every believer discover, develop & deploy his spiritual gifts. He must continually be training and mentoring faithful men for service and leadership (2 Tim. 2:2).

5) Establish churches. The job of the church-planting team was not finished until a local church was founded and functioning in each place.

Now you are saying, “All of this we know! So what?” Let’s think about a few conclusions:

Start at the top! This seems so obvious, but the temptation is to start at the bottom. By this I mean we set up an organization, secure a meeting place, and then make it our goal to find people to fill and staff the church. Rather than seeking bodies for our church, we should be looking for souls that can be evangelized and discipled.

Use the right tool! The Word of God is not just our theological textbook and our training manual, it is the tool God uses to accomplish His work. We have probably all made the mistake of talking about Bible truths inpstead of getting people into the Book and letting it to do its job. We must use the Word to evangelize (1 Pet. 1:23), to make disciples (2 Tim. 3:15-17) and to encourage believers in victorious living (Eph. 6:13-17).

Do the whole job! We tend to focus on the aspects of ministry for which we are most gifted and in which we feel most comfortable. If we want to plant strong, reproductive churches, we must be prepared to effectively work in each of these areas of ministry.

Don’t stop! This cycle of ministry not only needs to be repeated in every new place, it must be repeated with every new person that comes across our radar. There may be times in the church-planting process when we focus more on one aspect or another, but the successful church planter must be purposeful about working in all of these areas all of the time.

The milieu has changed since the book of Acts, but our MO should remain the same. As we go out to do the work of God, let’s do it by the Book.