Biblical Base for Church Planting - First of Five Pillars

III. The Question of the Biblical Base for Church Planting in the 21st Century.

It is just as important to establish a biblical base for church planting as we advance into the 21st century as a theological base. Here are five pillars for church planting and multiplication in this new century.

It is the Will of God that His People Multiply

In an insightful look at Matthew 16:18 where Jesus declares, “I will build my church,” Donald Carson explains that the Greek verb “to build” (oikodomeô) used here is in direct line with the OT idea of “building” a people.” The Hebrew word banah is used in this sense in Ruth 4:11: “May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel.” To build up the house of Israel is to multiply the people of God. In Exodus 1 there is the same motif of multiplication. The same God who multiplies his people in the OT multiplies them in the NT as predicted in Matthew 16:18. He does this by building up his church. His church grows as his people multiply and churches then multiply because of this growth. The only way to accommodate the multiplication of believers is by the multiplication of churches. What could be more biblical than churches starting other churches by branching out and forming daughter churches?

Furthermore, Christ is Lord of his church and he is at work causing it to grow. It is not human know-how, techniques, demographics, and surveys. Iain Murray, in his book Revival and Revivalism, marks a clear distinction between these two often-confused subjects. For him, revival is the sovereign working of God where there are "times of quickened spiritual prosperity and growth in the church." Revivalism is men trying to fabricate this by techniques. Again Murray says:

True church growth and multiplication is the forgotten truth that the work of Christ
in salvation did not end with his ascension, thereafter to be carried on by the church and human energies. Rather, Christ remains the source of all authority, life and power. It is by him that his people are preserved and their numbers increased.

And it could be added that it is by Christ that the church multiplies into local churches giving birth to new churches and the marvelous process continues. When this promise in Matthew is fulfilled in Acts, the accomplishment of this “building” by multiplication is seen. A study of the structure of Acts that is informed by the key transition passages (Acts 6:7; 9:31; 12:24; 16:5; 19:20 and 28:30) shows that each section of this book aims at "expansion." Acts shows the growth of local churches and their multiplication. The Antioch church is one of the best models of this as it extends out to begin new congregations. The Lord's command in Acts 1:8 is obeyed as the church occupies more territory and new churches are planted. If the Acts model is to be followed, churches should not only multiply believers but also churches. Acts 2:42-47 describes the church as meeting in the temple court and in homes. This two-pronged approach gives credence to the idea of the expansion of the church giving birth to new groups in new regions. Those committed to cell-groups point out that the church is just as much the church in the cell-groups as in the larger congregation. This does not prove that churches should start branch churches, but it does show that God wants his gathered people meeting in different geographic areas as a witness. Theoretically and practically this is best accomplished not only by cell-groups but also by some of these cells becoming functioning churches on their own and thus expanding the church into new areas. This will be dealt with later as the question of theory and practice are related.

Second Quality of a Healthy Church - True Discipleship

II. True Discipleship.

A. Matthew 28:18-20 (ESV) “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ "

B. John 15:8 (ESV) “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”

C. True discipleship illustrated: Acts 2:42 (ESV) “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

D. This includes the following:
1. The Word of God.
2. True communion with other believers.
3. Meaningful worship.
4. Prayer.
5. Witnessing
6. Spiritual disciplines.

 NOW TO EVALUATE

ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 10 EVALUATE TRUE DISCIPLESHIP IN YOUR CHURCH


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0

Ministry at Szeged on onwards

Photo of Mark Sipos and his wife Csilla along with the developing church in Szeged

On Thursday, April 15th, Noreen and I traveled from Debrecen to Szeged in the south of Hungary as church planers, Mark Sipos and Gabor Szazs drove us between those two cities. In Szeged we had an evening meeting at the large Baptist Church with participants from various evangelical churches in the city. We had an excellent translator and presented two studies: "Balanced Growth" and "The Importance of Small Groups."

We also had the opportunity of seeing the ministry of Gabor in Kubekhaza where the small new church meets in the social center in the town.

On Friday, April 16th, Gabor Rabatin from the Budapest area drove down to Szeged to accompany us back to Budapest and then to a meeting at the Felsopeteny Church north of Budapest to meet with the pastor and leaders about planting a daughter church.

On Saturday, April 19th, we traveled to Miskolc where we had an encouraging day's seminar on "What Does it Take to Plant a New Church" and "Multiplying Churches by Planting Daughter Churches." There were a number of participants from Miskolc and the region--even from Ukraine.

On Sunday, April 18th, we had the joy of ministry at the Rock Church in Budaors west of Budapest. Istvan Durko is the pastor of this church. The message was on "Eight Signs of a Healthy Church" based on Acts 2:37 to 47. For lunch we met with the leaders of the church to discuss daughter church planting.

We were delayed for seven days because of the volcanic ash but then had our last Sunday, April 25th, at the Rakoskeresztur Church in the 17th District where our theme was "God's Great Love Story."

We are thankful for God's blessing and provision during our time in Hungary. We flew out on April 27th arriving back in Bloomington that evening.

Helping in the Vision for Church Planting and Multiplication in Hungary 2010

This photo shows the participants in the seminar organized by Pastor Zolt Budai through Pastor Gabor Rabatin and held at the Logos Bible School in Miskolc, Hungary.

We arrived in Budapest at the request of Hungarian leaders to help in the vision of planting healthy reproducing churches for God's glory.

The first Sunday (April 11th) we had the opportunity to share the Word of God from Acts 11:19-26 and 13:1-3 during the morning service at the Rakoskeresztur Church in the 17th District of Budapest. How good it was to visit this church again. Pastor Rabatin has a wonderful vision for church planting in Hungary and then in other countries with a new church plant in Vecses near the Budapest airport and then in London. He also envisages the planting of new churches in Romania by the training of leaders there.

In the afternoon we had the joy of teaching the Word of God at this new daughter church and then meeting with the leaders afterwards to seek to help them in this pioneer effort. It is so encouraging to see what God is doing to plant new churches by the daughter church method.

On Monday evening we had a training seminar at the Baptist Union Headquarters in Budapest after meeting with some of the key leaders who want to see new churches planted in Hungary.

I was asked to speak on the question of "Structures, Strictures, and Spontaneity in Church Planting" which deals with those things that help or hinder the planting and multiplication of new churches. There was lively interaction as we sought to think through this question.

On Tuesday evening we met with the leaders of the Rakoskeresztur Church where they shared their vision for church planting and multiplication both in Hungary and in other countries. We talked together about church health that makes churches grow.

On Wednesday, April 14th, we traveled to Debrecen with Pastor Sandor Toth and his wife Monika for an afternoon seminar on "Five Leaders Needed for a Growing Church Multiplication Movement" and then an evening seminar on "Seven Principles for the Planting and Multiplication of Churches in a Region" followed by a seminar on "Church Growth Ceilings in Churches." This church has sponsored a church plant in Szeged in the south of Hungary. They also want to see a new church planted in France and we discussed how we might collaborate in this. What a vision this church has and how encouraging it is to see their concern for church planting in Hungary and in other countries.

More in the next blog about our move to Szeged and the rest of the ministry in Hungary. God's grace is so great.