Church Planting

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.

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?

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.

I am an independent Baptist not only by my heritage but also by personal conviction. I am thankful for the godly men who led a great surge of the independent movement in the 1940s and 50s.

I remember when people began to call me pastor for the very first time. It was a title that I had to adjust to; I wasn’t accustomed to being called anything other than my name. It didn’t, however, take me long to realize that there was a great difference between the mere title of pastor and the fulfillment of the position.

After twenty centuries of church history, the words of Jesus in Matthew 9:37 are still applicable, “The laborers are few.” Only a few pastors, evangelists and churches are really soul conscious.

I salute every man involved in Baptist church planting across America today. We need churches with that youthful feel and that fire for the Lord that sometimes older churches lose.

A question I heard for the first time that night but have heard many times since was, “Where do we get the pastors for these new churches?”

If church planting were easy, everybody would be doing it. While church planting is not rocket science, it is a lot of old-fashioned hard work.

Most if not all church planters have heard the word scaffolding used by preachers to describe many of the people who were attracted to their church plants during their early days.

Many pastors asked me what planning and preparation were involved before I started Hermosillo Baptist Church, and I thank God for those questions. A vision without a strategic plan will be just another dream.

I do not want to discourage you about finances because God can provide them. But you must answer this question before you go forward.

While I was on deputation, I took advantage of the extra time I had to read. There are many good books on church planting, and I was able to read about ten of them before starting Hermosillo Baptist Church.

God intends for church planting work to begin in our Jerusalem and continue systematically outward to our Judaea, our Samaria and then finally to the uttermost parts of the earth.

A church plant is an awesome adventure, an important calling, a needed endeavor, and much more. However, for all the things church planting is, there are many things that it’s not.

For many years pastors and mission boards have seen the wisdom of sending first term missionaries to the ministry of an established missionary who already has been working in that country.

In Acts 13:1–5 it’s interesting to note the spiritual activity and priorities the early church at Antioch possessed before starting the first of three recorded “church planting journeys.” We see the following spiritual activity preceding the activity of the Holy Spirit:

Most people do not think of Joshua as a church planter, but there are many good principles that can be gleaned from his life that will help the church planter.