Lessons from our international partners

If you listen to a pastor from a country such as India or the Philippines telling about his vision for ministry, you will most likely hear him assert, “I plan to reproduce this church through church planting.” Our international brothers seem to be, as one seminary professor of church ministry described, “stamped with the DNA of church planting.” They possess the underlying belief that a church’s obligation is not only to evangelize but to multiply churches.

Our international colleagues do not seem to view church multiplication as a complicated process, requiring layers of bureaucratic strategic planning. Instead these pastors describe church reproduction in a disarmingly simplistic manner that sees the task in terms as basic as, “There’s a town nearby that needs a church, so I travel there once a week and have a Bible study.” Their vision doesn’t end with a nearby town. They will tell you of another town beyond and an additional town in another direction that need churches.

In a rather doubtful manner I might ask our international brothers, “Where do you expect to get the pastors for these churches?” To which they will respond, “We’ve started a Bible institute to train pastors.” After listening to these responses, I can’t help but wonder, Why does church planting seem so hard and complicated for us?

I am not naive enough to think that church planting is a breeze or that every attempt to plant a church will succeed. However, I am realizing that these men, who are determined to make things happen by God’s enabling, can teach us foundational church-planting lessons that we may have overlooked in our complexity and sophistication. I have observed the following traits among many of our international friends:

Ownership—International pastors assume ownership of the task of church planting rather than passing that responsibility to a mission organization. A mission serves a valuable role in assisting churches, but a mission is not meant to replace the frontline work that God designed the church to accomplish. We may be thinking that if another organization will plant churches, then let them. Also we may be falling victim to the “expert syndrome,” which fosters the mind-set that someone else can plant churches better. Pastor or church leader, can you lead a Bible study? Then why not start leading a Bible study in the next town!

Initiative—Do you remember how the parable of the sower begins? “Behold, a sower went out to sow.” As obvious as it may seem, the sower had to go and sow, or nothing would grow. Church planting doesn’t take place through rhetoric about church planting; church planting occurs when somebody does it. Our international friends are making things happen because they view church planting as part of their job.

Ingenuity—We may be able to think of all kinds of reasons why we can’t be successful in church planting. As long as that is our focus, we will never begin planting. But if we begin to creatively think how we could plant a church, we are far more likely to give it a try. Our international friends have come up with exceptionally creative means to achieve church plants. They refuse to let limited resources, governmental restrictions, the absence of facilities, or a lack of trained professionals derail their vision. They are remarkably resourceful in finding ways to accomplish church planting, ways that we have not even considered.

Faith—The Lord made it clear that faith is essential to exponential church multiplication. When the men Jesus was training to become His church planters recognized the deficiency of their faith, Jesus bolstered their confidence by telling them, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” I am humbled by the faith of our international friends. It is no wonder they are seeing great things happen. Their attitude is, “God can do this!”

Churches planting churches is God’s way.

This “Active in Church Planting” challenge originates from John Greening’s ACTS vision for GARBC churches, presented at the 2006 Annual Conference