8 Guidelines to a Biblical Church Planting Movement in Every People
Posted on Dec. 31, 2016 by Rick Wood - Original Article
This is an article from the January- February 2017 Issue: Nomads: The Challenge of Reaching People on the Move
This is an article from the January- February 2017 Issue: Nomads: The Challenge of Reaching People on the Move
So What Should a Biblical Church-Planting Movement in Every People Look Like?
Every Church-Planting Movement that is established within each people should practice these biblical principles. The methods that are developed in order to fulfill these principles will vary depending on the people group that someone is trying to reach and the specific cultural context within which you are working. But the foundational biblical principles should not change.
Every Church-Planting Movement that is established within each people should practice these biblical principles. The methods that are developed in order to fulfill these principles will vary depending on the people group that someone is trying to reach and the specific cultural context within which you are working. But the foundational biblical principles should not change.
1. You do not need a specifically dedicated building.
- Churches with healthy disciples will spring up in all sorts of places—homes, workplaces, parks, perhaps even on the backs of camels in the case of Nomads. You do not need a specifically dedicated building. Church planting is not about how many people we can get into a building for an event on Sunday. It is about how many disciple makers we can equip and send out to make more disciples and start new churches.
2. Disciple making must come first as our highest priority.
- Healthy disciples will go on to form healthy churches. But if we go out to first start a church or preaching point, then healthy disciples will not necessarily develop.
3. Equip, train, and apprentice.
- Every professed Jesus follower who is willing should be equipped, trained, and apprenticed for the work of ministry as a disciple maker and church planter. This is based on the methods that Jesus modeled and the Apostle Paul followed. This training should include being able to share their testimony of faith and the gospel in an effective way for the context in which they are living. This is a deliberate, intentional, and well-thought-out process of equipping and training.
4. Train church members to train others.
- Every church member should be able to train others in like manner to be disciple makers who are capable to leading others to discover truth from the Bible and lead them to maturity in Christ.
5. The "Great Commission" should be continually taught to every Jesus follower.
- Every believer should have their identity as people living on mission with God as outlined in Matt 28:18-20. This should be one of the first things taught to new believers. Every believer should also understand the global implications of Matt 28:18-20 in reaching the unreached peoples.
6. Pastors should not be largely "preachers of sermons" but equippers of willing believers.
- Pastors should not just teach people what to believe but to facilitate the discovery of truth by each member.
7. Involve all church members in training new disciples.
- As quickly as possible, each faithful and willing church member should be given responsibility to actively participate in the training of new disciples.
8. Obedience to revealed truth from the Bible must be the foundation of all training.
- We must be doers of the Word and not just hearers. Maturity comes by way of obedience to the truth.
