Churches Start Churches
God's institution for changing the world is the local church, and one sign of a healthy church is that it helps start another. Church planting is how the Gospel puts down roots in a new place.
The work of winning people to Christ in a place, baptizing and teaching them, and gathering them into a new, self-governing New Testament church.
Paul was a missionary church planter. He and Barnabas were sent out from Antioch (Acts 13:1–3), and the journey that followed shows the pattern. They preached the gospel to that city, taught many, went back Confirming the souls of the disciples, and ordained them elders in every church (Acts 14:21–23). Paul chose places where the Gospel was not being preached and established local churches there.
“Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation: But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand.”ROMANS 15:20–21 · KJV
Why plant a church in a place that already has some? Many people still have no Gospel-preaching church within reach. A new church often reaches people an older one does not. And reaching a city and the world is more than the work of one church. Trailblazing Gospel work flows from spiritually healthy churches that are willing to send.
This study speaks in general terms to a man who is considering this work, to the church that might send him, and to the members who might go with him.
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For Deeper Study
- Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or Ours?Amazon Roland AllenA classic study of how Paul planted churches and trusted them to stand. Allen was an Anglican missionary, and we differ on church order and baptism.
- Church Planting Is for WimpsAmazon Mike McKinleyAn honest, encouraging account from a Baptist pastor. He writes as a Calvinist, where we differ.
- Planting Churches Cross-CulturallyAmazon David J. HesselgraveA longer textbook on starting churches across cultures, from a broadly evangelical missions teacher.
- To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram JudsonAmazon Courtney AndersonA full biography of the Baptist missionary whose patience in Burma still instructs.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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Training and Sending
A healthy church reproduces itself: it disciples its people, trains and ordains qualified men, and sends missionaries from the local church with prayer, money, and lasting care, so that the Gospel outlives every generation.
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