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AEC2001
Anabaptist Evangelism Council
What We’ve Learned/Are Learning
about Church Planting
Anabaptist Evangelism Council
2001 Participants
During one session, Council participants were invited to
share in round-table discussions what they have learned and are currently
learning about church planting. Following are some of the ideas and insights
generated around the tables clustered into general categories.
Prayer and Spiritual Support
 | Prayer is always primary. Prayer must become the center.
Take adequate time to wait upon the Lord for guidance. "Our performance
is in direct relation to our preparation." |
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| A church planter needs prayer partners. |
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| Mutual prayer between the church plant and the
district/denomination is powerful, as well as with local congregations from
other denominations. |
The Church Planting Leader
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| The church planter must be a strong leader, especially
during the first few years. |
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| Church planting requires a strong commitment to God and
to people. You have to know your identity – know God has called you. You
need a clear sense of calling to plant a church. |
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| Watch for burnout. Find ways to care for yourself. |
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| Important for someone to pay attention to the church
planter’s health: spiritually, physically, and emotionally. Provide
encouragement and undergirding; support from district/area conference and
nearby congregations; and a mentor who provides a listening ear and who helps
the church planter match the resources with the needs – someone to walk
beside you from the beginning. |
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| We need places where church planters can gather for
support, ideas, visioning. |
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| Good pastors are not necessarily good church planters. |
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| There is a crucial role for leadership, whether the
leader becomes one through training or through natural ability. |
Church Planting Team and Leadership
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| It helps to have a leadership team than an individual
leader. "No man/woman is an island." |
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| Nurturing, training, and equipping that team is crucial |
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| Do what you do best and reproduce yourself. See the
potential in others and train them. |
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| Indigenous leadership should be given authority at the
earliest possible time. |
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| Where there is a mixture of cultures, that mixture needs
to be represented on your team. |
Vision
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| Expect challenge. Expand vision. Keep God at the center
of our plans. Let God lead. |
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| The church planting team needs a shared vision that will
last, especially if using a catalytic leader to plant the church who may be
there only a short time and move on. |
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| Help the core group and leaders see that they are part of
something bigger than themselves. |
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| The pastor must be the guardian and communicator of the
vision and philosophy of ministry. |
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| One reason for failure is poor foundations. Things must
be thought through at the beginning. |
Identification with Those We Are Called To Reach
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| Lessons from William Harris, who walked across the Ivory
Coast and baptized hundreds of thousands of persons: (1) identification, (2)
contextualization of the message, (3) leadership. |
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| Risk and creativity – listen to the community and be
willing to follow up on what you hear. |
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| Some of the best church planting may not be intentional
at all but a by-product of something else. For example, in Russian ghettos
created by the Communists, some pastors went door-to-door telling single
mothers about discussion groups designed especially for them, provided by the
church. This led to many joining the church. |
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| We need to be culturally relevant. Don’t bring a rural
mindset into urban/suburban settings. |
Church Planting Models, Procedures, and Support
Structures
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| A variety of methods are appropriate for church planting,
not just one road map. |
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| Dream for a multi-ethnic church where various ethnicities
meet in their own clusters weekly then gather together occasionally. |
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| Congregations (20, say) may partner to plant one new
church. |
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| Three years of financial support is not enough for Anglo
congregations. |
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| Don’t short-circuit the Holy Spirit by trying to clone
programs from other churches. |
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| Pouring huge amounts of money into a project without
sufficient thought and research could mean failure. |
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| Districts put a lot of hoops in the way rather than
empowering the church planter – for example, required bylaws, a facility, 75
members, and being self-supporting before a new church is recognized as a
congregation. |
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| But some districts don’t have enough hoops. The result
is there are not enough strong connections to the denomination or
accountability structures. |
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| There must be a balance between support and
accountability. The sponsoring group needs to put time, resources, and
encouragement into the church planting effort without strangling the church in
the process. |
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| Without clear guidelines, lots of things are done
backwards. Money thrown at church plants where there are no guidelines usually
results in wasted resources. |
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| We must give them the freedom to turn out differently
from ourselves. |
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| Putting children in the center of church planting is
important, giving them preference in some ways. Children often sacrifice much
in a church planting situation. |
Challenge and Perseverance
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| Church planting is difficult and can be very messy! We
must be willing to adapt and change from our original direction based on the
people God brings us. |
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| Sometimes the difference between the gold and silver
medal is trying one more time. |
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| Church planting is like riding a roller coaster: there
are highs and lows. |
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| Sometimes we need to help struggling churches close but
celebrate what God has done. |
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| Don’t give up too soon if things don’t happen as you
expected. The church planting pastor should commit for at least 3-5 years. |
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| Give church plants freedom to fail and keep going.
Celebrate every success. |
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| Church planting can be done if people have a deep
motivation and love for the people, even in the midst of difficult
circumstances. |
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| Be ready for who may come and when. One woman prepared to
teach children week after week even though no one came. When they finally
came, she was well prepared! |
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What Have You Learned about Church Planting
At New Life Ministries, we are interested to know what you have learned about
church planting through experience. Send
us a note with your insights.
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