II. Qualitative Growth – what does God’s Word say?
A. “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Acts 2:42-47 (ESV)
B. Then there is all the teaching found in the Epistles on the quality of life of new believers and its importance.
III. Organic or Infrastructural Growth – what does God’s Word say?
A. Organic growth must accompany quantitative growth as seen in the early church’s amazing growth.
“Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, "It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word." And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.” Acts 6:1-7 (ESV)
B. This is one of the reasons for what are called the “Pastoral Epistles.”
Now putting all this together, in the next blog we will look at the first of ten qualities of a healthy reproducing church.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Planting Healthy Reproducing Churches
The more I study church planting and multiplication, the more I am convinced that it is not enough to plant and multiply churches. We must plant and multiply healthy reproducing churches. So the question comes to the forefront, “What is a healthy reproducing church like?”
What I propose to do in this study is to put together those characteristics that, when put together, help us to see a healthy church. But as I start, I want to acknowledge being helped to understand the question of a “healthy church” but the following seven sources:
1. First and foremost, the Word of God.
2. Then my own experiences in church planting and work with church planters.
3. Research that I have been involved in.
4. The research done by Christian Schwarz and outlined in his book Natural Church Development.
5. The teaching given by Mark Dever in his book 9 Marks of a Healthy Church.
6. The church health survey as compiled by Jim Fann and his team in the Evangelical Free Church movement.
7. Other help that I have received in understanding each of these ten qualities from others.
But the question comes, “Why is it so important to have a healthy reproducing church?” The answer to that question is double.
First of all, that is what a truly biblical church is like.
Second, a healthy church leads to three kinds of necessary dynamic growth.
1. Quantitative growth – growth in the number of true disciples.
2. Qualitative growth – growth in the quality of true disciples.
3. Organic or infrastructural growth – the growth of healthy structures within the church energizing both the growth in number of conversions and the quality of those who are converted.
Let’s explain each of these three elements:
I. Quantitative Growth – what does God’s Word say?
A. This kind of growth is very predominant in the Acts of the Apostles.
Acts 1:15 “a group numbering about a hundred and twenty”
Acts 2:41 “about three thousand were added to their number that day.”
Acts 2:41 “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
Acts 4:4 “But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.”
Acts 6:1 “In those days when the number of disciples was increasing
( multiplying).”
Acts 6:7 “The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased (multiplied) rapidly.”
Acts 9:31 “the church…grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.”
Acts 16:5 “So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.”
B. This kind of growth continues to be mentioned in Paul’s letters.
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” Ephes. 4:15-16 (ESV)
What I propose to do in this study is to put together those characteristics that, when put together, help us to see a healthy church. But as I start, I want to acknowledge being helped to understand the question of a “healthy church” but the following seven sources:
1. First and foremost, the Word of God.
2. Then my own experiences in church planting and work with church planters.
3. Research that I have been involved in.
4. The research done by Christian Schwarz and outlined in his book Natural Church Development.
5. The teaching given by Mark Dever in his book 9 Marks of a Healthy Church.
6. The church health survey as compiled by Jim Fann and his team in the Evangelical Free Church movement.
7. Other help that I have received in understanding each of these ten qualities from others.
But the question comes, “Why is it so important to have a healthy reproducing church?” The answer to that question is double.
First of all, that is what a truly biblical church is like.
Second, a healthy church leads to three kinds of necessary dynamic growth.
1. Quantitative growth – growth in the number of true disciples.
2. Qualitative growth – growth in the quality of true disciples.
3. Organic or infrastructural growth – the growth of healthy structures within the church energizing both the growth in number of conversions and the quality of those who are converted.
Let’s explain each of these three elements:
I. Quantitative Growth – what does God’s Word say?
A. This kind of growth is very predominant in the Acts of the Apostles.
Acts 1:15 “a group numbering about a hundred and twenty”
Acts 2:41 “about three thousand were added to their number that day.”
Acts 2:41 “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
Acts 4:4 “But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.”
Acts 6:1 “In those days when the number of disciples was increasing
( multiplying).”
Acts 6:7 “The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased (multiplied) rapidly.”
Acts 9:31 “the church…grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.”
Acts 16:5 “So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.”
B. This kind of growth continues to be mentioned in Paul’s letters.
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” Ephes. 4:15-16 (ESV)
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Sound Theology and Church Planting
I want to affirm again the relationship between dynamic new church planting and dynamic theology. Now, lest any misunderstand, I would also affirm that dead theology never plants churches and certainly not dynamic healthy churches. So, let’s consider the question, “why does theology need to be central in church planting?”
First, there will never be any churches effectively planted if the theology of the lost condition of people is not central in our ministry. This is so evident in the letter that Paul writes to the planted chuch in Rome, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’ “(Rom. 1:16 ESV). I remember Dr. Richard Longnecker stating that Paul’s letter to the Romans was a theological tractate based on his teaching during his evangelistic church planting journeys. So both in the introduction to Romans and in the development of Paul’s doctrine of salvation including condemnation, justification, propitiation, and glorification his effectiveness in church planting was solidly based on his fully-orbed theology. Is yours and mine?
Second, the churches that we plant will not endure long without solid biblical theology. Paul was so convinced of this that he wrote letters to churches he had planted, to those he had not planted, to apostolic helpers (such as Timothy and Titus) constantly affirming the importance of biblical doctrine. Particularly in what we call the pastoral epistles he hammers home the fact that “I am writing these things [doctrine which includes practice] to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth” and then he gives the great confession of faith: “ Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:
He was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated by the Spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed among the nations,
believed on in the world,
taken up in glory.” 1 Tim. 3:16 (ESV)
Third, the health of the church will be dependent upon a clear theology. Now when I speak of a clear theology I am including both right doctrine (orthodoxy) and right practice (orthopraxy) so that is exactly what is meant by the “apostle’s doctrine” in Acts 2:42a. The great scholar of the history of doctrine, Jaroslav Pelikan pointed this out stating, “When the Old Testament speaks about ‘instruction’ or the New Testament about ‘the doctrine,’ this includes teaching about both confession and conduct, both theology and ethics. A separation between them is fatal…” (Pelikan 1971, 2)
Implications:
1. Biblical doctrine needs to be the basis of all that we do and say in church planting. So the question comes to us as church planters, “Is the priority of biblical doctrine evident in our ministry?”
2. Biblical doctrine means teaching “all the counsel of God.” (Acts 20:27) So the question comes to us as church planters, “Are we teaching all the Word of God and not just those sections that we like?”
3. Biblical doctrine needs above all to be taught to leadership in church planting. So the question comes to us, “Are we taking time to develop leaders with solid doctrine including knowing and being?”
4. The test of Jesus is both orthodoxy and orthopraxy as he looks at the planted churches in Asia Minor in Revelation 2 and 3. So the question comes to us as church planters, “What does our Lord think about the church or churches we are planting as he looks at them?”
References Cited
Quotes are from the English Standard Version (ESV). 2007. Wheaton, IL: Crossway
Bibles
Pelikan, Jaroslav. 1971. The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine. Vol. 1.
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
First, there will never be any churches effectively planted if the theology of the lost condition of people is not central in our ministry. This is so evident in the letter that Paul writes to the planted chuch in Rome, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’ “(Rom. 1:16 ESV). I remember Dr. Richard Longnecker stating that Paul’s letter to the Romans was a theological tractate based on his teaching during his evangelistic church planting journeys. So both in the introduction to Romans and in the development of Paul’s doctrine of salvation including condemnation, justification, propitiation, and glorification his effectiveness in church planting was solidly based on his fully-orbed theology. Is yours and mine?
Second, the churches that we plant will not endure long without solid biblical theology. Paul was so convinced of this that he wrote letters to churches he had planted, to those he had not planted, to apostolic helpers (such as Timothy and Titus) constantly affirming the importance of biblical doctrine. Particularly in what we call the pastoral epistles he hammers home the fact that “I am writing these things [doctrine which includes practice] to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth” and then he gives the great confession of faith: “ Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:
He was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated by the Spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed among the nations,
believed on in the world,
taken up in glory.” 1 Tim. 3:16 (ESV)
Third, the health of the church will be dependent upon a clear theology. Now when I speak of a clear theology I am including both right doctrine (orthodoxy) and right practice (orthopraxy) so that is exactly what is meant by the “apostle’s doctrine” in Acts 2:42a. The great scholar of the history of doctrine, Jaroslav Pelikan pointed this out stating, “When the Old Testament speaks about ‘instruction’ or the New Testament about ‘the doctrine,’ this includes teaching about both confession and conduct, both theology and ethics. A separation between them is fatal…” (Pelikan 1971, 2)
Implications:
1. Biblical doctrine needs to be the basis of all that we do and say in church planting. So the question comes to us as church planters, “Is the priority of biblical doctrine evident in our ministry?”
2. Biblical doctrine means teaching “all the counsel of God.” (Acts 20:27) So the question comes to us as church planters, “Are we teaching all the Word of God and not just those sections that we like?”
3. Biblical doctrine needs above all to be taught to leadership in church planting. So the question comes to us, “Are we taking time to develop leaders with solid doctrine including knowing and being?”
4. The test of Jesus is both orthodoxy and orthopraxy as he looks at the planted churches in Asia Minor in Revelation 2 and 3. So the question comes to us as church planters, “What does our Lord think about the church or churches we are planting as he looks at them?”
References Cited
Quotes are from the English Standard Version (ESV). 2007. Wheaton, IL: Crossway
Bibles
Pelikan, Jaroslav. 1971. The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine. Vol. 1.
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Discipleship and Church Planting
Discipleship and Church Planting
By Robert J. Vajko, TEAM
What a shocker for one who believes in church planting—the Bible never says, “Go therefore and plant churches in all the nations.” If this is true, then why teach and preach church planting and why have a “Help for Planting and Multiplying Churches” bulletin? Nevertheless, there is no doubt in my mind that the Bible teaches the importance of planting churches since
1) This is the biblical way as seen in the book of Acts
2) Half of the New Testament letters were written to planted churches
3) The Apostle Paul spent his life planting new churches
4) When the Holy Spirit is at work in a church, leaders are sent out to plant new churches as in Acts 13:1-3.
We could continue this list and add more reasons as I have done in my study, “The Biblical, Theological and Missiological Bases for Planting New Churches.” (available by e-mail on request).
But this still leaves us with the question of the relationship between discipleship and church planting. Do they fit together? How do they fit together? Why is it important that they fit together?
Let’s start with:
I. The Importance of Discipleship.
A. It is the great emphasis of the four Gospels where Jesus is the great disciple maker.
B. It is the great emphasis of the book of Acts where the result of evangelism is always the making of disciples.
II. The Failure of not Linking Discipleship to Church Planting.
A. One ends up with loose disciples floating around or, worse yet, professions of faith that do not result in the four qualities of Acts 2:42.
B. It is not the true biblical flow as seen in the Acts and Epistles.
C. In the TEAM France ministry area the work started with an emphasis on evangelism and discipleship but the local church vision was not clear. The result was shocking and had as a result work that had no fruit that continued with disciples developing in local churches.
D. It was in the light of this problem that Vernon Mortenson, General Director at that time, explains his counsel to the missionaries, “To them I stressed that missionary work should have as its prime focus the creation of churches in the New Testament patter. Art Johnston [acting field leader at that time] would later say that these conversations had greatly influenced the thinking of both Rod and himself. In these first years, however, the work did not have church planting as a clear overall goal.” (Mortenson 1994, 739)
III. The Failure of not Linking Church Planting to Discipleship.
A. One ends up with weak churches.
B. The result is pew-sitting instead of powerful change.
C. There is little transformation as disciple-making is limited to a few and the church as a whole does not grow in quality.
D. As Bob Roberts states in referring to emphasizing churches without true disciples being transformed is that we arrive at “the point where the primary things we ask of people is their money, attendance, and a few hours every quarter to help with a Sunday school project….We don’t make a difference because the gospel has not made us different as
God intended intended it to do. We are just more religious. We are more worried that our church is not growing than the fact that we are not growing in our walk with God.” (Roberts 2006, 14).
IV. The Beauty and Balance of Putting the Two Together.
A. A church becomes more vibrant.
B. The biblical church is a “disciple making church” which is the New Testament vision.
C. A church grows by “following” rather than “attracting by programs.”
D. There is a commitment not to a discipleship program but to discipleship as such as seen in such activities as small groups, life-transformation groups (see Cole 1999), and one-on-one discipleship.
E. As Diet Schindler, a church planter in Germany states, “Life change occurs where there is nearness, openness and accountability.” (Schindler 2008, 337)
F. Neil Cole, a proponent of more organic disciple-making churches, explains, “I have come to understand church as this: the presence of Jesus among His people called out as a spiritual family to pursue His mission on this planet.” (Cole 2008). In this Cole has put the DNA of Divine presence, Nurture of believers, and Apostolic mission.
When people are married we state, “Let not man put asunder what God has joined together.” Let us not do that in church planting but let us wed in beauty true discipleship and planting churches composed of these kind of disciples.
Questions for church planters:
• To what degree are the believers in your church plant growing in discipleship including the word, prayer, witnessing, and obedience out of love for Christ?
• Do those whom you are helping in discipleship really have a life commitment to others in the local church body?
• How can you keep this balance?
Reference List
Cole, Neil. 1999. Cultivating a Life for God. Carol Stream, IL: ChurchSmart Resources.
________. 2008. “A Dangerous Question and Organic Church.” www.CMAResources.org
(accessed Oct 13, 2008)
Hull, Bill. 1990. The Disciple Making Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Revell.
Mortenson, Vernon. 1994. God Made it Grow. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Press.
Roberts, Bob. 2006. Transformation: How Glocal Churches Transform Lives and the World.Grand Rapids: MI: Zondervan.
Schindler, Dietrich. 2008. “Good-to-Great Church Planting: The Road Less Traveled. Evangelical Missions Quarterly No. 44, 3 (July): 330-337.
Vajko, Robert. 2003. “The Biblical, Theological, and Missiological Bases for
Planting New Churches.” In Proclaiming Truth, Pastoring Hearts. Adelaide, S. Australia: ACM Press. Edited by R. Todd Stanton & Leslie J. Crawford.
By Robert J. Vajko, TEAM
What a shocker for one who believes in church planting—the Bible never says, “Go therefore and plant churches in all the nations.” If this is true, then why teach and preach church planting and why have a “Help for Planting and Multiplying Churches” bulletin? Nevertheless, there is no doubt in my mind that the Bible teaches the importance of planting churches since
1) This is the biblical way as seen in the book of Acts
2) Half of the New Testament letters were written to planted churches
3) The Apostle Paul spent his life planting new churches
4) When the Holy Spirit is at work in a church, leaders are sent out to plant new churches as in Acts 13:1-3.
We could continue this list and add more reasons as I have done in my study, “The Biblical, Theological and Missiological Bases for Planting New Churches.” (available by e-mail on request).
But this still leaves us with the question of the relationship between discipleship and church planting. Do they fit together? How do they fit together? Why is it important that they fit together?
Let’s start with:
I. The Importance of Discipleship.
A. It is the great emphasis of the four Gospels where Jesus is the great disciple maker.
B. It is the great emphasis of the book of Acts where the result of evangelism is always the making of disciples.
II. The Failure of not Linking Discipleship to Church Planting.
A. One ends up with loose disciples floating around or, worse yet, professions of faith that do not result in the four qualities of Acts 2:42.
B. It is not the true biblical flow as seen in the Acts and Epistles.
C. In the TEAM France ministry area the work started with an emphasis on evangelism and discipleship but the local church vision was not clear. The result was shocking and had as a result work that had no fruit that continued with disciples developing in local churches.
D. It was in the light of this problem that Vernon Mortenson, General Director at that time, explains his counsel to the missionaries, “To them I stressed that missionary work should have as its prime focus the creation of churches in the New Testament patter. Art Johnston [acting field leader at that time] would later say that these conversations had greatly influenced the thinking of both Rod and himself. In these first years, however, the work did not have church planting as a clear overall goal.” (Mortenson 1994, 739)
III. The Failure of not Linking Church Planting to Discipleship.
A. One ends up with weak churches.
B. The result is pew-sitting instead of powerful change.
C. There is little transformation as disciple-making is limited to a few and the church as a whole does not grow in quality.
D. As Bob Roberts states in referring to emphasizing churches without true disciples being transformed is that we arrive at “the point where the primary things we ask of people is their money, attendance, and a few hours every quarter to help with a Sunday school project….We don’t make a difference because the gospel has not made us different as
God intended intended it to do. We are just more religious. We are more worried that our church is not growing than the fact that we are not growing in our walk with God.” (Roberts 2006, 14).
IV. The Beauty and Balance of Putting the Two Together.
A. A church becomes more vibrant.
B. The biblical church is a “disciple making church” which is the New Testament vision.
C. A church grows by “following” rather than “attracting by programs.”
D. There is a commitment not to a discipleship program but to discipleship as such as seen in such activities as small groups, life-transformation groups (see Cole 1999), and one-on-one discipleship.
E. As Diet Schindler, a church planter in Germany states, “Life change occurs where there is nearness, openness and accountability.” (Schindler 2008, 337)
F. Neil Cole, a proponent of more organic disciple-making churches, explains, “I have come to understand church as this: the presence of Jesus among His people called out as a spiritual family to pursue His mission on this planet.” (Cole 2008). In this Cole has put the DNA of Divine presence, Nurture of believers, and Apostolic mission.
When people are married we state, “Let not man put asunder what God has joined together.” Let us not do that in church planting but let us wed in beauty true discipleship and planting churches composed of these kind of disciples.
Questions for church planters:
• To what degree are the believers in your church plant growing in discipleship including the word, prayer, witnessing, and obedience out of love for Christ?
• Do those whom you are helping in discipleship really have a life commitment to others in the local church body?
• How can you keep this balance?
Reference List
Cole, Neil. 1999. Cultivating a Life for God. Carol Stream, IL: ChurchSmart Resources.
________. 2008. “A Dangerous Question and Organic Church.” www.CMAResources.org
(accessed Oct 13, 2008)
Hull, Bill. 1990. The Disciple Making Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Revell.
Mortenson, Vernon. 1994. God Made it Grow. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Press.
Roberts, Bob. 2006. Transformation: How Glocal Churches Transform Lives and the World.Grand Rapids: MI: Zondervan.
Schindler, Dietrich. 2008. “Good-to-Great Church Planting: The Road Less Traveled. Evangelical Missions Quarterly No. 44, 3 (July): 330-337.
Vajko, Robert. 2003. “The Biblical, Theological, and Missiological Bases for
Planting New Churches.” In Proclaiming Truth, Pastoring Hearts. Adelaide, S. Australia: ACM Press. Edited by R. Todd Stanton & Leslie J. Crawford.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
God and the Theology of Church Planting
God and the Theology of Church Planting
The church planter needs to have two major strands in his ministry. They are the two strands of theology and missiology. A missiological vision without a vision of God is a warped vision. So I want to briefly share how we are to keep God as the center of our vision in church planting.
We need to ask why we want to plant new churches. Church planting can have various motivations such as the desire to start new churches in order to win more people to Christ –which tends to happen in newly-planted churches as over against older churches. Another motivation can be the desire for innovation, especially when we see older and more traditional churches stuck in a rut of tradition which can hinder creativity. Other motivations are an understanding that our denomination or fellowship of churches will plateau and not grow if we do not plant new churches.
But although these motivations are not necessarily wrong they lack the main motivation and that is to plant churches in obedience to Christ and for the glory of God. Let’s look together at these two motivations.
First, our motivation must be obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ who has said, “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." (Matthew 28:19-20 ESV). We see the results of this in the book of Acts where, although not always cognizant of our Lord’s command, believers went out empowered by the Holy Spirit and disciples made disciples. The result was the need for new churches to be established everywhere people came to Christ. This evangelism was both spontaneous as believers were scattered out from Jerusalem and structured as Paul and his church planting colleagues won disciples and planted churches with these new believers in strategic cities of the Roman Empire.
Second, our motivation must be the glory of God. How much more meaningful church-planting becomes as we see new bodies of new believers gathered in new assemblies to live for and worship the Lord God of hosts. As my wife and I look back at church-planting that we have been privileged to participate in, the greatest joy is seeing lost people changed into worshippers in various parts of the world. Jesus said this when he said, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship ahim. (John 4:23 ESV)
Is there a greater motivation theologically than to see churches filled with worshippers who previously worshipped something other than God? What a mission that we have to plant churches filled with lost people who are now people who love God!
And then we see God at work developing these believers in relationship to one another. But it is God who always needs to get the glory. These words need to be engraved on the heart of every church planter: “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. (1 Cor. 3:5-7 ESV)
If a church is planted, grows, and multiplies in the true biblical sense, it must be because God is giving the growth. Yes, we do something but unless accompanied by the working of God, it will come to nothing. Is this one of the reasons that church plants do not survive—that we are trying to do it in our own strength without the power of God at work. God forbid!
Two corollaries for church planters are that the power comes from God and so the praise should go to God when a church is planted, grows, and multiplies.
The church planter needs to have two major strands in his ministry. They are the two strands of theology and missiology. A missiological vision without a vision of God is a warped vision. So I want to briefly share how we are to keep God as the center of our vision in church planting.
We need to ask why we want to plant new churches. Church planting can have various motivations such as the desire to start new churches in order to win more people to Christ –which tends to happen in newly-planted churches as over against older churches. Another motivation can be the desire for innovation, especially when we see older and more traditional churches stuck in a rut of tradition which can hinder creativity. Other motivations are an understanding that our denomination or fellowship of churches will plateau and not grow if we do not plant new churches.
But although these motivations are not necessarily wrong they lack the main motivation and that is to plant churches in obedience to Christ and for the glory of God. Let’s look together at these two motivations.
First, our motivation must be obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ who has said, “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." (Matthew 28:19-20 ESV). We see the results of this in the book of Acts where, although not always cognizant of our Lord’s command, believers went out empowered by the Holy Spirit and disciples made disciples. The result was the need for new churches to be established everywhere people came to Christ. This evangelism was both spontaneous as believers were scattered out from Jerusalem and structured as Paul and his church planting colleagues won disciples and planted churches with these new believers in strategic cities of the Roman Empire.
Second, our motivation must be the glory of God. How much more meaningful church-planting becomes as we see new bodies of new believers gathered in new assemblies to live for and worship the Lord God of hosts. As my wife and I look back at church-planting that we have been privileged to participate in, the greatest joy is seeing lost people changed into worshippers in various parts of the world. Jesus said this when he said, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship ahim. (John 4:23 ESV)
Is there a greater motivation theologically than to see churches filled with worshippers who previously worshipped something other than God? What a mission that we have to plant churches filled with lost people who are now people who love God!
And then we see God at work developing these believers in relationship to one another. But it is God who always needs to get the glory. These words need to be engraved on the heart of every church planter: “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. (1 Cor. 3:5-7 ESV)
If a church is planted, grows, and multiplies in the true biblical sense, it must be because God is giving the growth. Yes, we do something but unless accompanied by the working of God, it will come to nothing. Is this one of the reasons that church plants do not survive—that we are trying to do it in our own strength without the power of God at work. God forbid!
Two corollaries for church planters are that the power comes from God and so the praise should go to God when a church is planted, grows, and multiplies.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Summary, Lessons, & Questions about Hungary Ministry
Summary:
1. This has been the most profitable trip to Hungary so far we feel.
2. We have had amazing doors opened up to us because of the fact that the planned European Conference did not take place for a number of regions. The result was that we were asked to go to train in outlying regions rather than having church planters come to Budapest as last year. This was hardest on us but gave us the greatest exposure to many church planters.
3. So after Budapest, we went to Debrecen which is the 2nd largest city in Hungary (pop. 211,000) with ministry with Sandor (Alexander) Toth’s church. This church has sent a team to Szeged to plant a church and wants to plant a church in France as you will remember from the e-mail I sent you. The result of decentralization was contact with all his leaders and then in the evening sessions with participation of leaders from 6 other Baptist Churches and the pastor of the Pentecostal Church).
Then we went to Szeged (3rd largest city in Hungary, population 156,000) from Debrecen and had evening services in the largest Baptist Church in the City (fairly traditional) with the participants from 7 churches in Szeged and suburbs. We visited a church in Kubekhaza planted by Gabor Szasz that meets in the social center and the mayor attends. This city is right on the border of Serbia and Romania and we saw those two countries from there. We were concerned about some of the teaching which did not fit the more traditional church but we got an e-mail from Mark Sipos who is church planting among students there stating: “Your ministry in Szeged was very powerful and activated the churches. Somebody from the 'first' Baptist Church said, "We need more meetings, like this."
4. Then we returned to the Budapest area and visited a very traditional country church in Feltsöpetény north of Budapest. This church wants to plant a church in a village but it is very difficult. We need someone who is more experienced with church planting in small villages to give them help.
5. On Saturday we had an amazing opportunity at the Logos Bible School in Miskolc (3rd largest city in Hungary – 184,000). There we had some 80 participants from a number of areas. This was, in our thinking, the most dynamic. They had translated our power points on church planting and multiplication (see above) into Hungarian. There was the best participation in this time for a number of reasons.
6. On Sunday, we were at the Rock Church pastured by Istvan Durko, the head of the church planting commission of the Baptist Union. Afterwards we met with his leaders and he shared their vision of a daughter church in another area.
7. Things to think through:
• They want us to return next year and Gabor Rabatin wants us to go to Romania where their church has envisaged the planting of new churches among the Hungarians in Romania.
• The Rákoskeresztúr Church has planted a church in London and we talked about helping with this church next year when we hope to attend the Society of Biblical Literature’s annual meeting in London in July.
• There is a need to help these churches and pastors in their vision to reach out here in Hungary. There is a vision of a number of churches to plant a church in the center of Budapest.
• But they are reaching out to new areas such as the Ukraine, Romania, the UK, and now a possibility in France.
What is exciting about this is that all this is done by Hungarians. However, they need a want missionary input to help them in multiplication and missions vision.
Questions:
1. What should we do?
2. How can we get involved more and in what way?
3. How can we profit from their outreach to join them and reach new areas?
4. How can we introduce ourselves in this context so as to help them without hindering spontaneity?
5. How can missionaries do more of mobilizing nationals rather than doing the work?
1. This has been the most profitable trip to Hungary so far we feel.
2. We have had amazing doors opened up to us because of the fact that the planned European Conference did not take place for a number of regions. The result was that we were asked to go to train in outlying regions rather than having church planters come to Budapest as last year. This was hardest on us but gave us the greatest exposure to many church planters.
3. So after Budapest, we went to Debrecen which is the 2nd largest city in Hungary (pop. 211,000) with ministry with Sandor (Alexander) Toth’s church. This church has sent a team to Szeged to plant a church and wants to plant a church in France as you will remember from the e-mail I sent you. The result of decentralization was contact with all his leaders and then in the evening sessions with participation of leaders from 6 other Baptist Churches and the pastor of the Pentecostal Church).
Then we went to Szeged (3rd largest city in Hungary, population 156,000) from Debrecen and had evening services in the largest Baptist Church in the City (fairly traditional) with the participants from 7 churches in Szeged and suburbs. We visited a church in Kubekhaza planted by Gabor Szasz that meets in the social center and the mayor attends. This city is right on the border of Serbia and Romania and we saw those two countries from there. We were concerned about some of the teaching which did not fit the more traditional church but we got an e-mail from Mark Sipos who is church planting among students there stating: “Your ministry in Szeged was very powerful and activated the churches. Somebody from the 'first' Baptist Church said, "We need more meetings, like this."
4. Then we returned to the Budapest area and visited a very traditional country church in Feltsöpetény north of Budapest. This church wants to plant a church in a village but it is very difficult. We need someone who is more experienced with church planting in small villages to give them help.
5. On Saturday we had an amazing opportunity at the Logos Bible School in Miskolc (3rd largest city in Hungary – 184,000). There we had some 80 participants from a number of areas. This was, in our thinking, the most dynamic. They had translated our power points on church planting and multiplication (see above) into Hungarian. There was the best participation in this time for a number of reasons.
6. On Sunday, we were at the Rock Church pastured by Istvan Durko, the head of the church planting commission of the Baptist Union. Afterwards we met with his leaders and he shared their vision of a daughter church in another area.
7. Things to think through:
• They want us to return next year and Gabor Rabatin wants us to go to Romania where their church has envisaged the planting of new churches among the Hungarians in Romania.
• The Rákoskeresztúr Church has planted a church in London and we talked about helping with this church next year when we hope to attend the Society of Biblical Literature’s annual meeting in London in July.
• There is a need to help these churches and pastors in their vision to reach out here in Hungary. There is a vision of a number of churches to plant a church in the center of Budapest.
• But they are reaching out to new areas such as the Ukraine, Romania, the UK, and now a possibility in France.
What is exciting about this is that all this is done by Hungarians. However, they need a want missionary input to help them in multiplication and missions vision.
Questions:
1. What should we do?
2. How can we get involved more and in what way?
3. How can we profit from their outreach to join them and reach new areas?
4. How can we introduce ourselves in this context so as to help them without hindering spontaneity?
5. How can missionaries do more of mobilizing nationals rather than doing the work?
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
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.
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.
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