Creation
May seem bizarre giving creation as the first reason why we must plant Churches, but it is a great reason! Job 12:7-8 says "ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. So we can learn much about life from creation! Gen 1:12 says The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
All things reproduce - we can see that from the phrase "with seed in it". The ability to reproduce is necessary for all creation. Although an individual rabbit doesn't need to reproduce to survive. Rabbits will only survive if they reproduce. The Fall means things die, so it is even more important that everything that survives reproduces.
The Apostle Paul speaks of the Church of the living God and so Churches are living organisms that are subject to the characteristics of life - they are born, they grow, they reproduce, they grow old, they die. We must plant Churches for the Church to survive!
Can someone shout out the Great Commission please?
Great Commission
The Great Commission was actually given at five different times in separate locations. On each occasion the Lord added to the previous command, and so we need to think about the total picture to understand the full implications of the Great Commission.
Please get into fours and look up the five great commissions and fill out the blanks!| Where | When | To whomWhat | Content | Key | ||
| 1 | John 20:21 | Upper room in Jerusalem | Resurrection | 10 disciples | I am sending you | Commission |
| 2 | Mark 16:15 | Upper room in Jerusalem | One week later | 11 disciples | Go to all the world and preach to every person | Recipients |
| 3 | Matt 28:19-20 | Upper room in Jerusalem | At least two weeks | 11 disciples | Disciple all peoples and baptise and teach | Strategy |
| 4 | Luke 24:46-48 | Mountain in Galilee | 40th day | 11 disciples | Preach repentance and forgiveness of sins based on the resurrection of Christ | Content |
| 5 | Acts 1:8 | Mt of Olives | 40th day | 11 disciples | Jerusalem to the uttermost part of the earth | Geography |
Note that the third giving of the Great Commission in Matt. 28 the familiar one, includes strategy. The first aspect is to go to every person and evangelize them individually. The second aspect implies evangelizing all peoples through planting churches where people can be baptized and continually be discipled and taught the Word of God. It is with this in mind that Virgil Gerber concludes that "the ultimate evangelistic goal in the New Testament, therefore, is twofold: (1) to make responsible, reproducing Christians , (and) (2) responsible, reproducing congregations."
The Great Commission in Matthew includes church planting because:
1. The command "to disciple" includes the beginning and the continuing ministry of discipling people. This was fulfilled in the church in the New Testament.
2. The command "to baptize" is a participle, meaning they were to keep on baptizing. Since this was carried out by churches in the New Testament, and baptism identifies a person with the church, then the result of evangelizing a new area was to plant a church so new believers could be baptized into it.
3. The command "teaching them to observe" is carried out in the New Testament church by "teaching the apostles doctrine:" (Acts 2:49) which was the basis of their growth and fellowship. Therefore, when new areas are evangelized, there must be new churches where new believers are taught these things.
Jesus told the disciples to wait in the city and that they will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. So the first Church would be established in Jerusalem and then in outlying region of Judea, to the neighbouring region of Samaria and then to ends of the earth.
Before the Spirit came at Pentecost there were around 120 believers, 3000 were saved at Pentecost and the Church numbered around 5000 by Acts 4:4. But no planting. It wasn't until Ananias and Sapphira's death that the rapid growth paused Acts5:13. But it took the martyrdom of Stephen and the resulting persecution to kick start the planting Acts 8:1.
So very briefly here is how they fulfilled the Great Commission by planting Churches
i) Acts 8:5-12 Philip plants a church in Samaria.
ii) Acts 9:1-2,19 Believers had planted a church in Damascus.
iii) Acts 9:31 By now there were churches throughout all Judea, Galilee and Samaria.
iv) Acts 9:32-35 A church was planted in Lydda.
v)Acts 10:24-48 Peter established a Gentile church in Caesarea.
vi) Acts 11:19-26 The persecuted believers planted churches in Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch.
vii) Acts 13:2 - 14:28 Paul's first missionary journey - the biggest single church planting venture up to that point.
viii) Acts 15:40 - 18:23 Paul's second missionary journey - all to do with church planting and strengthening existing churches.
ix) Acts 18:24 - 21:25 Paul's third missionary journey - again he planted new churches and strengthened established ones.
History tells us that each of the apostles were involved in church planting in various countries.
a. Peter went as far as Babylon.
b. John worked amongst churches in Asia Minor and Ephesus.
c. Andrew - Scythia, Greece and Asia Minor.
d. Philip - Phrygia.
e. Bartholomew - Armenia.
f. Thomas - Parthia, Persia and India.
g. Matthew - Ethiopia.
h. James (the younger) - Palestine and Egypt.
I. James (the older) - Jerusalem and Judea.
j. Jude - Assyria and Persia.
Some brief examples of Church planting movements throughout Church history show the efficacy of planting Churches.
In 422 Patrick went to Ireland and in less than 30 years, he baptized over 100,00 converts and planted scores of churches. He became known as: The man who found Ireland all heathen and left it all Christian
John Wesley and George Whitfield were both great men of God. George Whitfield was by far the greater orator and drew the larger crowds. But John Wesley is by far the most remembered because he used the strategy of church planting which resulted in the Methodist Movement.
William Booth and the Salvation Army became a powerful force because of Church Planting. He once said give me 100 men all out for God and I will change the world in 50 years and he did. The Salvation Army was worldwide in 50 years.
1st Generation - pioneers
The 1st generation of a Church or movement are the pioneers. They start and initiate – they are often rough and uncouth, but they get the job done!
The 2nd generation - builders
The next generation often take the foundation that has been established by the first generation and build good strong works. They are often more polished but they still make a strong stand for the vision and for the Lord. Although interestingly forget the reason for some of the battles that the 1st generation fought, with baptism in the Spirit and body ministry being a great examples
3rd generation - maintainers
These guys are often more interested in hanging on to what they have. Convictions waver, the vision looses its fire. The spiritual strength and vitality wane.
4th generation - hangers on
Movements die at this point unless they have started again by planting
We keep fresh by planting and or sending
Statistics Church growth - Whilst 25% of Churches grew; 67% static, 8% declining in 80s Thankfully people have woken up to th need for Church planting. Some 654 Churches were planted in the UK in the 70’s, 1724 in the 80s and 1867 in the 90s. Our movement has planted something like 70 churches in the UK this decade and who knows how many worldwide - it is fast!
The AofG in Australia attributes its phenomenal growth to the fact that a Church is being planted every 6 days!
Peter Wagner one of the Church Growth guys wrote this in one of his books "I begin this book with a categorical statement that will seem bold and brash to some at first sight, even though it has been well substantiated by research over the past two or three decades: The single most effective evangelistic methodology under heaven is planting new churches."
I think the reason for that is that 20 people are hungrier to grow than 200. They know the need, they know why they are there and if they have moved to plant, they are desperate to make new friends!
One church in a community is not enough to capture the harvest. The effective mega-churches are rare and consequently the average size church of 85 people isn't realistically able to impact its community.
Tony Thompson reckons there is room for a live Church for every major supermarket in a town. So if a town has a Tesco and a Sainsburs - then there is room for 2 growing Churches. That's based on the sociology of community. People will travel to a supermarket and so you can have that many Churches too!
Attendance at traditional Church services has consistently declined from 3,862,000 in 1979 to 2357600 in 1998. That is 2893 people each Sunday who decided to lie in rather than go to a traditional Church. Between 1970 and 2000 1598 Churches closed their doors. The statistics are depressing, but it is new Church plants that are growing. The Bridge Church grew from 36 in January 2001 to 130 this year. So far 12 of those were converts and there is a smattering of those who were lost to the Church. The rest moved area or from churches that have no charismatic life.
Twenty to twenty nine year olds are the most godless generation in England today. At a time when their numbers have risen by nearly a million in ten years, a hundred thousand fewer attend Church.
So Church plants must take on the mantle!
Church plants are fresh, positive and hungry for growth. So many established churches have settled down into what they consider to be comfortable and the effort to reach out to new people slows down dramatically. Our Church plant got the reputation in the area for being welcoming and friendly and that was mainly because we were desperate for growth! And because we are friendly people!
There are no passengers in Church plants. Everyone is needed to get involved in the work of the ministry. So more people are using their gifts and more people are in leadership. It would be very easy to sit on your bottom and consume in a large Church but impossible in a Church plant situation. Paul would like everyone to contribute to Church gatherings (1 Cor 14:26) that is only possible in a cell or a Church plant!
When we arrived in town, one Church felt threatened that we would steal their sheep, which we weren't interested in. But what has happened is that their passion for the mission has been revived and they are beginning to go for it again where they had lost faith and vision.
If your plant is coming out of a mother Church, the gaps stimulate people to step up to serve, but the empty seats are soon filled to!
Within 6 months most mother Churches report that their giving and attendance back up!Churches will be planted by Sacrificial obedience
The cost of Church planting is high - moving house, job, security, loosing friends and loneliness. The cost for previous generations was higher. In one year 1882, 669 Salvation Army officers were knocked down or brutally assaulted. When Salvationists dedicated their children in the 188s, they confessed their willingness that their children be despised, hated, cursed beaten, kicked, imprisoned or killed for Christ's sake
PJ Smyth "Every one of our original 1,000 people has been involved in a church plant over the last five months. Every blade of grass has moved in the breeze. Many on the fringe are now at the core. Many followers are now leaders. We may not look as solid as we used to when we were en masse as one large 'reservoir' church, but God seems to be more into movements than masses. "