Church Planting
What is the Church?
The Great Commission calls us not only to make disciples, but to make disciples within the context of the local church. To do this, we must have a clear picture of what the church is in nature and practice. The best picture of what the church should be like is found in Acts 2:37-47. These verses show us the church in its purest state - before men added their traditions and structures.
The church in the book of Acts was based on the relationships the Christians had with Jesus and with one another. Since they had no “model” to base their activities on, they were spontaneous, following the leading of the Holy Spirit. They tended to respond rather than plan. They were more of a community than a club. They valued relationships more than programs, buildings, or methods. Church growth was the natural fruit of those relationships.
The disciples were simple, practical, and effective in their approach. They had no formulas, programs, or organized structure. They responded to life with joy and a love for Jesus. The secret of their power was their passion for Christ. This passion was rooted in two basic beliefs: (1) that Jesus was raised from the dead, and (2) that Jesus would return at any moment. Most first century Christians were convinced that the second coming of Christ would occur before the death of the Apostle John (see John 21:21-24). This motivated them to live with a reckless abandon regarding the things of this world. This reckless abandon is shown through their willingness to have all things in common and to be willing to risk their lives or freedom to win others to Christ. Study Acts 2:37-47 and list the things you see the early church emphasizing.
DNA and the Church
Now that we have a good understanding of what a local church should look like and be like, we want to examine some of the things that will help it look that way. An appropriate illustration for us is that of a baby.
At conception the baby does not look like a human being, but it possesses all of the potential attributes of a human being. The eyes are not yet brown or blue, but the genes that will determine the color of the eyes are in place. How the baby will look, speak, act, think, even how the long the baby potentially will live – all of these things are already fully present in the cells at conception. They are in the genes of the DNA of the baby. The baby’s life is completely mapped out in its DNA.
DNA
As it is with a baby, so it is with a church. There will be a point at which the church will be conceived by the Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds. After much prayer, planning, and work, the church will be born. In the same way the parents of the baby contribute to the make-up of its DNA, so the church planters contribute to the DNA of the church plant. This DNA will define the church’s life.
Unlike biological parents, we can determine what spiritual genes to put into the new church’s DNA. What genes will bring the result we desire? What truths, values, and disciplines will produce the healthy, spiritually mature, reproducing local church we are laboring so diligently to birth?
How You Start is What You Become
The DNA of the baby is in place at conception. What the baby starts with is what the baby will become. The same is true of the church. There are two popular ways of starting a church in Africa: (1) the revival meeting, and (2) the Sunday morning worship service. Let us examine how these two methods impact what the church becomes.
- The Revival Method - If the church begins with a tent revival, it will have to continually do revival meetings to sustain its growth. By starting with a series of revival meetings, the church attracts people who enjoy revivals - the preaching, the music, the whole revival atmosphere. Usually, these people are already Christians who attend other churches, or they are people who were raised in Christian homes. Most sinners - the supposed target of the revival - are not attracted to such meetings at all. In this method of church planting, the church services become mini-revival meetings and disciples are rarely made or brought to maturity.
- The Sunday Morning Worship Method - The second popular way to start a church is by beginning Sunday morning worship services. Usually, the church will begin in a school classroom or tent or hall and will meet on Sunday mornings for a time of preaching, music, testimonies, offering, and announcements. There are two problems with this method: (1) the church becomes a service on Sunday mornings, rather than the Biblically functioning community illustrated in Acts 2:41-47, and (2) it becomes inclusive rather than exclusive - that is, its focus is on who is there rather than on who is not there! In fact, the church will look more to its own needs and growth than it will to the community in which it is set.