Church Planting

Every great leader has a vision for God’s work. Noah had a vision of how to escape impending judgment by building an ark. Abraham had a vision of a land and a people that would please God. Moses had a vision for the people of God to escape from the slavery of Egypt.

When it comes to planting churches, I think we romanticize the spiritual condition of our nation. Do you wonder how many Americans actually believe the Bible is accurate? Do you wonder which cities most need a gospel-preaching church?

You are probably familiar with the famous saying, “Nothing ventured nothing gained.” In other words, it is better to try something that fails than to do nothing when failure is guaranteed. In church planting this is especially true. Timidly sitting back waiting on people to come is not a good plan for success.

Missions is church planting. Whether a man starts a church in America or overseas the goal is the same; start local New Testament Baptist Churches. Missions should begin at the local church and spread to the neighboring communities, throughout the state, then all of America, and finally to all the world in the regions beyond.

When I believed God was burdening my heart to plant a church in my hometown, many people laughed or just shook their heads. You see, I am from Las Vegas, Nevada. In 1977, I planned to graduate on May 11, get married ten days later, and assist my pastor in building a recent successful church plant in Burlington, North Carolina. That year, however, God changed my direction towards planting a church in Las Vegas.

On July 11, 1982, my wife Josselyn and our four-year-old son Peter drove the last few kilometers of the Trans-Canada Highway into the vast metropolitan area known as Vancouver, British Columbia. We arrived rather naive, certainly ill prepared, lacking in training, and vastly underfunded.

A crisis is certain to occur eventually in every new church. New churches often face tragedy in their infancy while they are still weak. It is important to remember that we are in a spiritual battle against principalities and powers. Satan tries to destroy new churches before they even get established.

Beware of the leaving disease! When it hits your church it can be devastating to a young preacher. Losing people you love and in whom you have invested your life affects the preacher and his family personally. All the effort of winning and reaching people can seem futile when the leaving disease hits.

Several years ago I was in downtown Iloilo City. After doing what I needed to do, I got in a taxi. The driver asked where I wanted to go and I told him to go to Iloilo Baptist Church in Jaro. Most taxi drivers know our place, so I did not think much about it and began to work on some paperwork. After about 20 minutes, the taxi stopped. I had not been paying attention to where he was going, because of my work. Then I looked up, there I was inside the compound of the largest Roman Catholic Church in our region of the country, the Jaro Cathedral.

Church planters are commonly asked, “How many are you running?” Supporting churches want to be informed of your progress, and preacher friends are curious about your results. Even though there are many measurements of success, the easiest to measure is your Sunday morning attendance. It can be an awkward moment to report to those interested in your success while trying to properly answer the question.

Adoption is a wonderful word. People have been known to adopt a pet, a highway, a soldier, and of course a child. The adoption of a child provides an opportunity to change the future of the child and enrich the lives of the adoptive parents. Parents provide love, correction, training, and hope.

When a church has a temporary meeting place it is often required to set up the chairs prior to each service. This task can and should involve new members of the church family as much as possible. This is a simple way to get people involved and accept some responsibility for the church.

I believe the best advice I could give one who has answered the call from God to plant a church is three-fold: 1) Communicate with your pastor; 2) Listen to your pastor’s advice; and, 3) Don’t leave until your pastor believes you are ready. As difficult as this may be to understand, our pastors know us better than we do.

In a year’s time (especially the first year of planting a church), the pastor and his family become very attached to members of the congregation. When one of the sheep strays from the flock it is a source of much pain. When members who have helped you start the church fall to the wayside it brings grief to the preacher and his wife.

Where are new churches needed? Just about everywhere. The 2010 U.S. Religion Census revealed a county-by-county study of every denomination. While most counties in the south are dominated by 25–50 percent or more of Baptists, that is not the case for the rest of the nation.

If it is reasonable to expect both the mother and the father to be present at the birth of their child, why should not the local New Testament church be able to witness and attend the birth of a brand new church birthed by their own local church?

Finding the right location to start a church is extremely important. Assuming that God has led you to start a church, and assuming that your pastor has given you his blessing, you must determine where God wants you to start this new church.

Organization and administration are important aspects of starting a church. However, it must be understood that church building is a spiritual process. Many church leadership seminars, which include slick marketing and technology, may leave God completely out of the process.

The need for young men to start churches is greater than any time in history since the beginning of the first church at Jerusalem.

The church at Antioch in Acts 13 sent out men who were called, qualified, and capable. They were not looking for somewhere to send someone to be “an encouragement” to them. They were not looking for a place of service elsewhere for those who could not or would not serve effectively in their own local church.