"Tribes"

An interesting video about the need for new churches among the different "Tribes" all around us.

Where Do We Start?

Does church planting just happen, or is there some deliberate preparation and planning involved? From the perspective of a church planting strategist, there are some specific first steps involved in church planting.


• Prayer and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit is where all church planting should begin. These put us in touch with the Father and help us see the needs around us through His eyes.


• Another important aspect is that of observation and investigation. This involves both the study of the local churches and who they are reaching, and the study of the community in order to see who is not being reached. For this particular aspect of church planting there must be demographic research and surveys of local churches. There should also be some “community leader” and “man on the street” questionnaires developed in order to understand the unreached people who are discovered through investigation and research.


• According to North American Mission Board’s Peoples Search, the questions you want to answer are: Who are the unreached peoples in this area? Where are they? Why are they unreached? How is God working among the unreached peoples in this area? What will it take to reach them? Answering these questions will help in the development of a strategy to reach people through planting a church.


• When unreached people are discovered, then there must be a world view analysis of the particular group or groups of people that the Lord lays on your heart. It is in this particular type of study that the Lord begins to give you a vision for a church plant among a particular group of people. To understand a specific segment of the overall population of an area, we must ask these questions: Why are they in this area? What is their daily life like? What is important to them? What do they believe? What are their needs? What is keeping them from coming to Christ? What can we do to help them come to Christ? This helps us to see bridges and barriers we have to work with.


• After gathering this information, we must analyze the results and develop the best strategy for reaching them and involving them in a new church start. When God gives us a vision and we come to understand the people he wants us to reach, we can use the developed strategy to reach them through their hearts. This is done by developing relationships and meeting needs, which is loving them in the name of Jesus.


• When the strategy is in place we share the vision and strategy with others in order to develop partners to help us in the church planting endeavor.

Submitted by Gary D. Fulton, Church Planter Strategist on the Missions Ministries Team of the ABSC.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of our church planters, prayer partners, sponsors, pastors, and likeminded missional thinkers. May the Lord of the universe who became flesh that first Christmas, bless you and yours this holiday season!

The Crossing church plant in Conway

Searcy Church Plant

WHO CAN START A CHURCH?

There are various ideas about who has the authority and responsibility to start New Testament churches. What does the Bible teach with regard to who can plant churches?

• Church planting is implied in the Great Commission. Everything mentioned in Matthew 28:19-20, including discipleship, teaching, baptism, and evangelism, are all responsibilities of the New Testament church. No churches were established at the time of the Lord's giving of the Great Commission, so churches had to be planted to carry out these responsibilities.

• God plants and builds his church. Jesus made it clear that he would build his church in Matthew 16:18. He, through his Spirit, plants churches. All church planting is a result of the missional heart of God. God does not need man, but has chosen to involve him in this significant work. His work is accomplished by his Spirit through God called Christians and the Lord's church.

• Churches plant churches. Ed Stetzer, in his book Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age, states that it is not a requirement that new churches be planted by existing churches, (Stetzer 2003, 75). This method is probably the preferred method, but it is not the only method. Dr. Daniel Sanchez, in his book Starting Reproducing Congregations, says there is no evidence that the Jerusalem church in the first century took action as a sponsoring church to send planters to start a mission or a daughter congregation, (Sanchez 2001, 33-34). Churches should be deliberate about starting new congregations as a method of church growth.

• Agencies, Denominations, and Associations plant churches. The Bible shows no opposition to individuals or churches collectively organizing to fulfill the Great Commission and to start new congregations. The International Mission Board is a good example of an agency of the Southern Baptist Convention starting churches. IMB missionaries abroad start churches on a daily basis, and many of these have no specific sponsoring or partnering churches. God-called missionaries from Agencies, Denominations, and Associations start churches.

• Individuals and Teams start churches. Phillip went to Samaria, and there is no evidence of anyone but the Holy Spirit sending him. He started a church with no help from a partner church. It is frequently noted in the New Testament that teams worked together to plant churches. This was an approach implemented by Paul, and yes, he was commissioned as a missionary by the church at Antioch, but this church was not a sponsoring church which deliberately planted daughter congregations as a missions strategy.

Who can start a church? God uses churches, associations, individuals, agencies, and teams to start churches. He can use you to help plant a church.

Submitted by Gary D. Fulton, Church Planter Strategist on the Missions Ministries Team of the ABSC.

Praying for Places

One of the things that every new church needs, just like any other church, is a place to meet.

New churches are continually having to find new facilities as they grow.

As you are praying this week, please pray for the many new church plants looking for places to meet.
Pray not only that they will find places, but that the Lord would match their personality and needs with His resources.
Pray specifically this week for:

City Church of Little Rock as their present lease runs out at the end of the year and they must find new facilities.

AND

Cross Bar C Cowboy Church in Benton as they have grown and need a new place to meet. Hear from Pastor Greg Spann


Thanks for joining together with us to reach this state with the Good News of Jesus Christ.