Apostolic Church Planting by JD Payne ADAM’S NOTES INTRODUCTION See Acts 13-14; 1 Timothy 3; Titus 1 When the church is shocked at a biblical model, it reveals just how far away from the Scriptures we have moved in our missionary practices. Over six thousand people groups remain unreached (including three thousand unengaged-unreached). More of the same is not sufficient. WHAT IS CHURCH PLANTING? See Acts 17 & 1 Thessalonians 1! Nowhere in the Bible is the church commanded to plant churches…We are commanded to make disciples. Biblical church planting is evangelism that results in new churches. Another way to consider this concept is that it is evangelism that results in new disciples, who then gather together and self-identify as the local expression of the universal body of Christ. The four necessities for planting churches are sowers, seed, soil and the Spirit. Nothing fancy. Nothing flashy. Nothing slick. Nothing complex. The team evangelized! Church planters are to set an imitable model for the new believers. Church planting is a difficult ministry but not a complex one. The Father, Son & Holy Spirit did – and continue to do – the complicated and complex part. HOW’S YOUR ECCLESIOLOGY How your team defines church (local and universal) will affect everything you do in church planting. The definition will effect what your team is trying to plant. It will affect the strategy. It will effect available resources, methods, and who can pastor new churches. Ecclesiology is supremely important. It shapes everything. See Q & A in this chapter… Here is sample: When does the church come into existence? The church comes into existence when people repent of their sin and place their faith in

Jesus, are baptized, and agree to unite together (self-identify) as followers of Jesus in community with one another, as a local expression of his universal body. Planting churches with longtime believers ought to be the exception to the rule. There is a place for it…but it is not the regulative paradigm in the New Testament. Church planters must not only be good missiologists but also good theologians. Let the Word inform your definition of church and not cultural preferences. Plant the church that is and let them function as the church described in the Word. PRACTICES OF TEAM MEMBERS See Luke 10:1; Acts 13:2-3 Ministry has always been a team sport. Eight practices that should be present for each team member, regardless of their personal gifts. (Barnabas Factors) 1. Walks with the Lord. 2. Maintains an outstanding character. 3. Serves and sacrifices for the local church. 4. Remains faithful to the call…because there will be many days when it will be the only thing that keeps you on the field. 5. Shares the Gospel regularly. 6. Raises up leaders. 7. Encourages with speech and actions. 8. Responds appropriately to conflict. PATHWAY TO PLANTING See Acts 20; 1 Timothy 3; Titus 1 Acts 13-14… 1. The team enters the community and evangelizes. 2. Some people believe and some people do not believe. 3. The new believers are discipled and are gathered together as a new church. 4. The team works with the church to identify and appoint pastors to oversee the church.

5. The team repeats the process elsewhere but returns to visit or maintains communication with the churches and leaders for ongoing teaching, accountability, equipping and partnership in the mission. Where did the elders come from? Where did the churches in the cities come from? Where did the disciples in the cities come from? If we remember that the Christian community was necessary to determine whether a person manifested the qualifications for an elder, it should not come as a surprise that the pastors of the churches Paul planted came from the churches. The pastors all came into the kingdom at approximately the same time. The churches were very simple in structure and organization. THE REST OF THIS BOOK IS AN ATTEMPT TO OFFER A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO CHURCH PLANTING WITH THIS BIBLICAL PATHWAY AS OUR GUIDE. STAGES OF PLANTING 1. Pre-Entry Stage: What do we need to do before arriving on the field and how will we do it? 2. Entry Stage: How do we enter the field as outsiders? 3. Gospel Stage: How do we connect with people and share the Gospel? (Let people know that you are followers of Christ as quickly as possible. Pray with unbelievers. Ask unbelievers if they would be interested in studying the Bible in their homes. The strategy is to find “houses of peace” / Luke 10:5-6.) 4. Discipleship Stage: What is necessary for short-term and long-term discipleship? 5. Church Formation Stage: How will we lead the new believers to self-identify as a church and organize themselves for mission? 6. Leadership Stage: How will we model and teach leadership and work with new believers to appoint pastors/elders? The team should think of themselves as a scaffold – a temporary, supportive structure. PLANNED ROLE CHANGES & CHURCH MULTIPLICATION CYCLE As the team moves from stage to stage, their responsibilities and activities change. This is absolutely necessary as the new disciples move through the sanctification process. These planned role changes are: >Learner (learning all they can about themselves and the people they will serve, developing strategy) >Explorer (they scout the

land…observing people, marketplace, public transportation, recreation, way of life…) >Evangelist (sharing the Gospel a lot) >Teacher (short term discipleship like faith, repentance, baptism, Lord’s supper, fellowship, prayer, giving, mission…long term discipleship like how to study the Bible, how to hold one another accountable, doctrine, how to study through the books of the Bible, how to self-identify as a church…) >Developer (works with church to appoint elders), >Mentor/Partner (this final role is likely to last indefinitely, spending less time with church and more time equipping and mentoring elders) These role changes will not be cut and dry on the field but knowing the primary task for each role will give the team focus and direction. The goal is to continue these cycles until the Lord returns. METHODS We want to use simple evangelism and church planting methods that are transferable to the new believers and churches and are easily reproducible across their social networks. Methods should be biblical, reproducible, ethical, avoid paternalism (belief that the team knows best for the people...like forcing Western culture on an Eastern church), manifest Christ-sustained abilities (self: identifying, supporting, governing, propagating, expressing, teaching, theologizing). WHERE TO BEGIN? There are at least 360 unreached people groups in the United States and at least 180 in Canada. Over three thousand people groups in the world are considered both unreached and unengaged (less than 2% evangelical and no evangelicals are serving among them with a church planting strategy). Start here!!! The call to make disciples is a call with a results-oriented expectation. However, some teams will receive a specific leading by the Spirit to serve in resistant soil…with very few tangible results. If this is your calling, then your team must be faithful. It would be a sin to abandon such a mission and to serve among a more receptive people. In the history of church-planting movements, great awakenings and widespread multiplication of churches have often occurred only after decades of prayer, fasting and sowing the seed. PASTORAL DEVELOPMENT

Do not deviate from biblical expectations for those who oversee churches – Acts 20:2835; Ephesians 4:11-12; 1 Timothy 3:1-7; 5:17-19; Titus 1:5-9; 1 Peter 5:1-4. Deviate from cultural requirements for new elders. Manifest a missionary faith. In order for the Spirit to be in control, your team will have to relinquish control. See Acts 20… STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT To enter the field without a strategy is to plan for failure…Faithfulness without a strategy is foolishness…Strategy enables the missionary team to stay focused. It is a prayerfully discerned, Spirit-guided process of preparation, development, implementation, and evaluation of the necessary steps involved for church planting. It describes what the team believes the Lord would have them accomplish. ETHICAL GUIDELINES 1. Your team should begin its ministry among people with the greatest need and with a high level of receptivity to the gospel unless God reveals otherwise. 2. Your team should not model complex and highly technical methods for new believers and churches, implying such methods are required from churchplanting. 3. Your team should not prioritize transfer growth over conversion growth by designing ministries that will primarily attract long-term kingdom citizens. 4. Your team should work to maintain unity with other planters and pastors laboring among the same people group. 5. Your team should not end your ministry in your area just because your financial support ends. 6. A team approach, not solo-planting, should be a priority. 7. Your team should not neglect your families for the sake of church planting but should begin with a strategy for nurturing family life on the field. 8. Your team should not neglect their daily devotion time with the Lord or allow themselves to be distracted by the numerous tasks of ministry. 9. Your team should work hard toward contextualization, rather than presenting your preferred church traditions to the people as norms. 10. Your team should report only those numbers and descriptive details that are truly reflective of what the Holy Spirit is doing in your context.