The Power and Importance of Church Planting

Are you Planting Churches?

The longer I serve in missions the more I am convinced that the single activity toward which all missionary work should lead is – CHURCH PLANTING! One mission leader said it this way: “Missions is church planting. Everything else is ministry.” In other words, missionaries plant churches. The people in those churches do the ongoing ministry in their communities.

Before we go on, let me clarify a few ideas.

Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” This is the one ministry activity Jesus guarantees will be successful!

Jesus commanded us to, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you…” Discipling and teaching happens most effectively in community groups - churches.

Paul planted churches wherever he went, and then through the years wrote letters to those churches with words of instruction and encouragement. From his writing we got much of the New Testament. The New Testament is a record of Jesus’ Great Commission being carried out – and we should follow the example.

The “local church” is a group of believers in Jesus Christ who are in a committed relationship with each other, who gather together regularly to worship, grow and serve each other, and who exist within their local community as a light to the world around them. We all need a group like this for our own needs – the same is true for every person on earth. Everyone needs a “family of God” place to belong and be loved, nurtured, to worship Jesus, and to be challenged to serve others.

The goal of mission, God’s mission, is to get His sent ones to start such assemblies of believers all over the world. Every activity we engage in – whether evangelism, teaching, prophecy, bible schools, radio programs, or humanitarian service – should intentionally and deliberately be engaged in accomplishing this goal.

I don’t think any of us disagree with the goal on principle. The problem we have is with getting our daily activities too truly contribute to this goal. It is easy, in the pressure of ministry demands, to lose sight of the goal and just be busy doing good (but not great) stuff.

So, how to stay on track? Ask yourself:

How do I measure “success” in ministry? Is it by the activity I love or is it by how my work contributes to God’s goal?
How can I improve faithfulness and obedience to God’s command to make disciples?
What could I change to start doing more fruitful work?

We all tend to fall in love with our favorite projects and activities. When that happens, we become vulnerable to reduced effectiveness and, frankly, disobedience to the Great Commission. WE SHOULD NOT BE IN LOVE WITH PROJECTS OR ACTIVITIES! We should be in love with the GOAL – which is helping people become followers of Jesus and planting them into churches where they can grow and take the Gospel to their nation! The projects, activities, methods, programs, and daily schedules we start and maintain should all serve THAT goal and should be regularly evaluated by their effectiveness.

Perhaps one of the most difficult kinds of ministry to apply indigenous church planting principles is in working with the desperately poor. The Bible has much to say about God’s love for the poor and helpless, and much more to say about showing mercy and providing safety and assistance. Sometimes we simply must love through humanitarian aid. However, church history demonstrates that such aid over time quickly erodes into co-dependent, disempowering forms that rob the recipients of their dignity. Therefore, aid program must simultaneously develop ways to empower the poor to take care of themselves and become followers of Jesus within their own communities.

My challenge to you in 2008 is this: Start planting churches!

If you are already planting a church, ask God how you can turn this one over to national leadership and plant another one. Ask God how you could plant 10 more!

If you are not a church planter or pastor, ask God how your spiritual gifts and ministry strengths can join hands with missionary or national church planters so you are contributing directly to this goal. Don’t just “do good in Jesus’ name.” Don’t just win souls to Jesus. Help establish them into permanent churches where believers – new ones and mature ones – can grow and serve!

Think big! If money were no object, how many churches do you think you could help plant in your ministry lifetime? I guarantee you, money is NOT the problem. God has plenty of money to give. The problem is that we must first get focused on the goal, and then think, pray, and work strategically towards it – before we can tap into God’s provision.

When we were in Sri Lanka, after we had planted the first 6-8 churches, we set as our goal to plant 50 churches in the next ten years. We had very little money, but we had a vision. We left before we had reached the goal – we only planted 33. But today over 70 churches, with more than 25,000 congregants, are meeting every Sunday in the hill country. The work continues to grow indigenously!

Here’s to many new churches, planted by Globe missionaries, in 2008!!!