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.

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.

Ministry Trip to Nigeria in October 2009

We thought that it would be good to share what God is doing in Nigeria and here is the first part of our report.

Report on Nigeria Ministry from October 1st to 21st 2009

We left Indianapolis on Thursday, Oct 1st and flying through Dulles and Frankfurt arrived in Lagos on Friday, Oct 2nd at 4:45 p.m. We were greeted at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport at Lagos, Nigeria in West Africa by Rev. Dr. Samson Fatokun and his family after exiting the airport. We were driven in his van to his home in Ibadan, about 147 kilometers to the north of Lagos.

Nigeria is a warm beautiful country with an amazing history. It was revealing to travel this long highway with Samson and his family as we dodged potholes, broken down sections, police checkpoints, masses of people and trucks. Apparently the road was more crowded because of a huge evangelical camp meeting taking place between Lagos and Ibadan with something like a million people attending. It took us almost 5 plus hours to navigate our way to his home in Ibadan. Dr. Fatokun has three children, Joy, Peace, and David, and his wife’s name is Christiana. He is an associate pastor at the Christ Landmark Ministry Church at Apete near his home.

On Saturday October 3, 2009, we met pastor Stephen Omegai who is pastor of the Christ Landmark Ministry Church near where Samson lives. He came to greet us and to share his vision of evangelism resulting in new churches being planted and multiplying. He uses a bus to do this evangelism and calls the ministry “Seek and Save.”

Right away was also asked to visit the “All Nations for Jesus Church” right near Samson’s home to share with some of the leaders he is training.

Then on Sunday, October 4, 2009, we started out by a greeting and visit to the Christ Landmark Ministry Church pastored by Rev. Omegai. We were warmly greeted and ask to say a word. Then everyone went outside for a group photo. The Nigerians love to take pictures and to be in a picture. We then went on to the large Christ Landmark Church where we are to be ministering this week for a greeting and short sharing.

We finally arrived at in The Redeemed Evangelical Mission Church pastored by Rev. Khandie, a large church that has planted some 26 daughter churches and is in the process of planting its 27th daughter church and plans to plant a 28th daughter church in November of this year. I spoke with translation into Yoruba on “A Living Church According to Acts 2:37 to 47. I later discovered that the attendance that morning in his church was 464 (so this church really tracks its attendance to know what is going on.) About three came forward in response to an invitation to receive Christ or be baptized. In the evening at 5 p.m. Noreen spoke to about 40 to 50 ladies on living as a godly woman. There was a good response to her teaching.

On Monday October 5th, we left early Monday morning to travel to Irele-ese-odo in the Odon State, Niger Delta and arrived at the Bishop’s Court and met Bishop Akinbuluma, head of the Missionary Diocese of Irele-ese-odo, a good friend of Samson Fatokun from University days. We had a good Nigerian meal and were escorted to the church for a parade leading up to the church accompanied by the Diocese band where we were also greeted by the mayor of the town. We went into the church and then out again to inspect the brigade and back to the church for an official greeting given by a number of people. Our time there finished with a lecture I gave on “Why Do Some Churches Reproduce?”

On Tuesday, October 6th, we continued ministry in the Missionary Diocese of the Anglican Church in Irele-ese-odo with a 9:50 to 10:45 study on Balanced growth – quantity, quality, and structure. Then from 12:00 to 1 p.m. “A Guide Plan for the Planting of Daughter Churches” and then 1 to 2 p.m. “Qualities of an Effective Church Planter” an abridged study. We finished with a final study from 2:30 to 4 p.m. on “Seven Principles for the planting, growth, and multiplication of Churches.” During this time, Noreen did study with ladies on “Six Qualities of a Godly Woman:

"White Hot Faith" - Start with this

Addison's first characteristic of a movement that changes the world is "White-hot faith." Donald McGavran states in one of his first books on church growth entitled How Churches Grow (London: World Dominion Press, 1959) as "General Factors in Church Growth" (Chapter VIII, pages 55 to 59) that "Authentic Spiritual Fire" is the first of those factors.

In an article that followed up a module on church planting held at the Aix-en-Provence seminary in southern France, for La revue réformée (April 1988, Vol. 39, No 154) entitled "La croissance de l’Eglise: Une possibilité en France?" I stated that there is a very close link between the growth of the church and the intensity of the faith of its members. Then I explained, "How is an "intense faith" to be understood? It is a faith that shines around, convinced. By the power of the Holy Spirit it overcomes obstacles and renders people receptive to the gospel. It is an obedient faith that obeys the commandment of Jesus not only to proclaim the gospel, to evangelize, but to make disciples of all nations." (Vajko 1988, 31)

There is no doubt that whatever you call it -- white-hot faith, authentic spiritual fire, or intense faith--any movement that is truly on fire for God grows by multiplying disciples and then churches.

How can this be better reflected in our desire to see more people won to Christ and growing in solid healthy churches and all this by God's wonderful grace.

Let's interact on this quality of a movement along with what Steve Addison has said.

.......

Reading Steve Addison's Book on Movements That Change the Word

August 22,

I am presently enjoying the reading of Steve Addison's book Movements that Change the World (Missional Press, 2009) and he lists 5 major qualities of a dynamic movement.

White-hot faith

Commitment to a Cause

Contagious relationships

Rapid mobilization

Adaptive methods

I am comparing his thinking about this with David Hesselgrave's previous study on Dynamic Religious Movements (Baker 1978) where Hesselgrave lists a number of factors in the last chapter called "What Causes Religious Movements to Grow?"

His first thought is "To be successful, any religious movement must be simultaneously 'of the culture' and 'not of the culture.'... By 'of the culture' I mean that to be widely accepted, a religious movement must be meaningful in terms of indigenous world views and values and traditional ways."

Then he further explains, "At the same time, each successful religious movement seems to represent some significant parting with that which is commonly believed and practiced within its culture." (p. 304).

I have discovered this to be true in effective church planting and above all in church planting movements.

Let's dialogue on this subject and see what you think...