Hot in Colombia! It was 104 degrees in Cartagena so we struggled with the heat but at least had a simple room with AC to sleep. No toilet seats but who cares when you have AC and can get a good night’s sleep! J The people were as warm and hospitable as the weather. One highlight was traveling by bus for the first time to Sincelejo on a road which had been controlled by the FARC guerrillas for years. There we (four Colombian national leaders, Mike Gunderson and I) encouraged the saints and ordained their church planter Guillermo.

Church Planting Advance in Colombia

The first time I tried to go to Colombia, Linda didn't want me to go. Crime and kidnappings were at an all time high. We checked with someone in the country and they said the day we planned to arrive was election day and trouble was expected. We postponed.

A few months later we went and we were restricted to the major cities. The only way to drive from Bogota to Cartagena was in a caravan with military escorts. We went to the cities.

This time (July 09) for the first time we could travel freely outisde the cities. One church plant in Sincelejo had not been visited in years. The plan was to visit, encourage the brothers and sisters and ordain the church planter. Three other goals had been set:

1. Help them with church planting plans and strategies using lay church planting teams


2. Encourage and advise all the workers


3. Introduce Mike my replacement as church planting coach for Latin America

It was so encouraging to find out that our Colombian friends didn’t wait for us to make their CPing plans. They chose three new sites in Monteria, Bogota and Baranquilla and had already discussed who would be interested in planting the churches. Most of the pastors would love to leave their pastoral ministry to evangelize and start a new church. One pastor has already made an exploratory trip to one of the new sites on his own. The real challenge we discussed was raising up new workers and pastors in the churches to replace the pastors who want to go out. Our colleague Omar Rodriguez will be going in a few weeks to launch a new Church Based Training ministry that comes from Spain. We see so clearly how Missions and Leadership Development must go hand in hand. Please pray for Omar’s ministry and the facilitators he will be training from each region.

picture 1: Carlos, Gene, Guillermo, Giovanni, Mike and Jhollman

picture 2: church plant that had 7 people 3 years ago when Guillermo arrived

picture 3: Giovanni the national leader prays for Guillermo

In Bogota

The last 2 ½ days were much cooler - about 65-70 during the day and cold at night. Bogota is a mile high and the people are more reserved and professional. There is less interest in church planting but the pastors we met want to plant a church together. Two of them feel God’s call to be missionaries one day. It is so encouraging to see how God is tugging at the hearts of Latin Americans to reach Post-Christian Europeans and Muslims.

Anoth highlight personally was spending the entire week (including flights) with Mike Gunderson who is replacing me as Latin America Church Planting Coach. He is a joy to work with and an able equipper and coach with 20 years of experience in Brazil. Please pray for Mike as he transitions to this role and builds on what God has already done to raise up church planting leaders and coaches.

Soon after I got home Orlando, one of the pastor who was away during our visit called me on skype. He asked about my new role. I assured him that roles change but friendships remain. Some relationships last for time and eternity. What a joy to work with these fine men.

Best Practices for New Church Strategy Development

Best Practices for Strategy Development

Strategy Development Cycle: Six P's

Do you have a viable, biblical, long-term church planting and multiplication strategy?

Another way to ask that question is: "Is the end product indigenous, self-supporting, health and reproducing churches?" Occasionally God plants a church with little or no planning. God can act as He chooses. We must also be aware that there are many tragic failures in church planting that could be avoided.

• One author calls church planting in the modern world "getting a church started in the face of insurmountable obstacles with limited resources in unlikely circumstances".
  
• Ramon Carmona of Colombia claims that the greatest obstacles to effective church planting are 1) the lack of a clear call, 2) the inability to work on a team and 3) the lack of an adequate strategy.
  
• John Worcester "Purpose Driven Church Planting" claims that 80% of church plants die within 5 years. The same percentage as business start-ups that fail (Klippenes 2001).
  
• Many church plants miss the target. They gather believers instead of reaching non-believers.
  
• Many church plants plateau at 65 people. They may never overcome the "100 people hurdle".
  
• Church plants that succeed and grow often do not multiply.
  
  Robert Logan says that in his opinion 80% of the problems in church planting come from problems of conception (Logan 1992).
  

These facts demonstrate that we can't rely on strategy but we must take it seriously. In Proverbs 24: 3-4 we read: "By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures." If it takes wisdom to build our physical homes, how much more to build the house of God! Please take time to respond to the Best Practices suggested below. Let us know what you think! We can learn together.

Starting at the starting point

A strategy that God will use and bless is built on God's mandate, the Great Commission, and Biblical principles and precedents. It is bathed in prayer and builds on what God is already doing and revealing. First seek God's counsel then the counsel of wise advisors. Understanding the demographic make-up, the worldview, and the cultural-religious traditions of the ministry focus groups is also critical. For this reason plans should not be made in haste but be bathed in prayer and study.

Key questions regarding the MACRO or "movement" dimension:

1. How has God been at work and how can we fit into what he is already doing?

2. What do we know about the terrain (lay out of the land, major arteries and communication)?

3. How is God preparing this target group (demographics, people group profile, and worldview)?

4. Who is God bringing together to be part of the church planting team?

5. Who will partner with us in this new faith venture?


Does the strategy focus on people?


The main goal of church-planting teams is the multiplication of reproducing disciples and spiritual communities. Building and programs become a way to provide the movement a roof and wheels when they are needed. "It is easier to plant a seed than to transplant a tree. This is especially true of trees that have no root system. In the same way, it is easier to plant the essence of the church than to transplant a certain cultural expression of the church. In nature, seeds grow into plants that produce new seeds, that in turn are to be planted. In the same way, the church is planted in culture so that it can produce seeds that will insure its reproduction. We fulfill the Great Commission as we arc faithful in planting seeds that are capable of growing into reproducing churches." (David Guiles, GBIM)



Who puts it together?


David Garrison has said that the best means of contextualization is indigenization (Garrison 2004) – that means it is necessary to empower local practitioners to design and implement their own strategies. Where there are local indigenous church planters, they will have special insights into the people to be reached, felt needs, evangelistic and helping ministries and relevant ways to shape the church and its ministry for greater impact. In a pioneer setting the missionary team would have to take the initiative in consultation with cultural insiders.

Leadership roles also come into play. The church planting leader coordinates the research and strategic planning, delegating to team members according to their skills and insight into the culture. Then together they will be able to evaluate their progress and make adjustments to the strategy as they go along.



What are some best practices for the church planting strategy design?

One suggestion would be to work from the unchanging to the changing, from the principles to local applications.

Unchanging Elements

• Biblical Mandate
• Biblical Principles
• Biblical Precedents

Changing Elements

• Church Planting Terrain
• Church Planting Target (ministry focus group)
• Church Planting Team
  
  

What does that look like? Here are some specific building blocks.

Going from Macro to Micro: (see chart 6 Ps of an Integrated CP Strategy at beginning of this post)

An effective, integrated church planting strategy will answer the following 6 P's:


1) Purpose - What is the church planting vision God has given (regional and local vision)?
2) Place - Where is he calling us to begin (geographic or ethnographic)?
3) Person - Who is God setting apart to lead this effort (apostolic, pastoral or catalytic)?
4) Players - Who will be on the team (support team and church planting team)?
5) Plan - What will the churches look like and how will they be planted (design and steps)?
6) Provision -What resources are needed and how will we find them (human and financial)?

What Process and Best Practices could be used?

We have already talked about prayer, faithfulness to biblical foundations, reliance on indigenous principles and engagement in solid research as some of the building blocks. Here are some other practical things to consider:

1. When is the best time to develop this strategy? It could be done too early before there is sufficient understanding of the people to be reached? Should you wait for local disciples to be involved?

2. What should be included in the plan? The vision, ministry focus group, core values, and church planting approach should unquestionably be chosen early on. But how about evangelistic, disciple-making and leadership training plans? What else should be included?

3. Who should be involved in the process besides the team? We mentioned the role cultural insiders have to play. But should this plan be reviewed by the immediate supervision, national church leaders, and/or a church planting coach?

4. How often should the execution of the strategy be evaluated and the plan itself be reviewed? Monthly? Quarterly? Yearly?


What best practices do you suggest? Please respond so others can benefit.

Thanks


Gene Wilson

p.s. If you would like someone to review your church planting plans, I would be happy to do it or find someone better qualified to do it for you.

The Aquila and Pricilla Factor

Click on picture for a study of Barnabas

What do you think of first when I say "church planting?" The word association you probably made was "pastor," right? We often assume you need a pastor to plant a church. But in countries where a seminary-trained pastor is a luxury for established churches, let alone church plants. Sometimes our expectations can be our worst enemies.

Historically this extra-biblical Western expectation of having ordained clergy at the helm kept national churches from becoming indigenous, reproducing, and sending missionaries. How will we reach the 2 billion who haven't heard about Jesus and more than 3,000 unreached people groups who don't have a church to tell them about Him if we rely primarily on professionally trained workers?

The apostle Paul was a credentialed rabbi but the rest of the apostles – both the 12 and Paul's companions – were lay leaders, as far as we know. I could have called this the Barnabas, Apollos or Epaphras Factor. Paul's credentials as a rabbi got him into Diaspora synagogues but that is not where they saw the greatest fruit. Historian Michael Green points out that the outward expansion of the church was primarily through the witness of lay believers and evangelists as they moved to other regions. Since then movements of church extension have primarily been lay-driven evangelistic movements. One of Garrison's Ten Commandments for CPMs is to train all believers to evangelize, disciple and start churches. "There are no passengers in Church Planting Movements; everyone is crew and expected to work."

What if God's plan A all along was that churches should not only be led by lay teams with diverse gifts, but also planted by lay teams with diverse gifts? Isn't that the model Paul left and describes in 1 Cor. 3:5-6, 9? "What, after all is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe – as the Lord assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow… For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building". Do you not see TEAM all over this passage?

A common conception is that these lay workers were mere assistants. But a closer look suggests they were church planters in their own right. Barnabas (called an apostle in Acts 14:4, 14 and 1 Cor. 9:6) led the mission to Cyprus and returned with John Mark. Aquila and Pricilla preceded Paul in Corinth (Acts 18:1-3) and Rome (Rom. 16:3-5). In Ephesus they did most of the ground work making disciples and training Apollos while Paul was away (Acts 18:19-21, 24-26). Epaphras seems to have started churches in the Lycia valley (Col. 4:12-13). This diagram by the North American Baptists gives us a visual picture of the potential of multiplication when lay people are the ground troops in church planting and the theologically-trained are the equippers of the saints for the work of the ministry.

Is Lay Church Planting God's plan A for this generation? Dr. Henry T. Blackaby believes that it is our best strategy to reach North America for Christ: "It is time to release God's people as the Holy Spirit directs them and to encourage them to do what they did in the New Testament: proclaim God's Good News to all whom He will send them and in all places He will lead them; to believe and to look for God to draw those being saved and add them together, forming them into new churches. The spiritual culture of our day does not lead God's people to expect this process to be happening to them or among them. We must let God return us to His perfect plan to touch the entire nation and world with His Good News. If the "laypeople" ever catch God's pattern for using them in church planting, the nation and world could come to hear God's Good News in our generation!"

I experienced the motivating power of lay church planting first hand. When preparing to go to Quebec for our first church planting assignment, still wet behind the ears with my Missions degree from TEDS, we were invited to a Bible study by dear family friends. Before we shared our vision they mentioned, in passing, that they knew how hard it would be because they had planted a church in the area. He was an engineer at Bethlehem Steel and she was a librarian but they had started a church! What an encouragement that was!

While I don't suggest Lay Church Planting is THE answer, here are some questions I have. Can we make the shift to church multiplication if we don't make the shift to Lay Church Planting as plan A? What must we sacrifice to recover Lay Church Planting? Lay Church Planting sounds like a great idea you may say, but what will it take? Here are some seed thoughts:

• A paradigm shift: return to priesthood, gifting and ministry of all believers – what one historian calls "the Cinderella of all Protestant doctrines" – for church planting as well as church growth. Expect resistance. There are entrenched expectations of ministerial professionalism and member consumerism.
  


• Strategic Partnerships: How can lay church planters work in strategic partnerships with theologically trained pastor-equippers?
  


• Catalytic churches like the Ephesus in Acts 19: We need some brave missional leaders and churches to showcase this.
  


• Different Training Efforts: Consider ministry internships in the mother church, mentoring by a retired church planter or missionary, on-the job training and coaching of several CPing teams by a church planting coach.
  


• Different Assessment: Assessment will be just as important but it will look both at the leadership strengths of the leading couple and the gift and competency-mix of the team rather than just focusing on one person.
  


• Coaching: This must be part of the training and deployment of the team. We need to recruit coaches BEFORE we put together CPing teams.
  


• Recruitment: If they are convinced they will receive adequate training, support and coaching there will be volunteers. People love to be on a team with a clear Mission.
  


• Resourcing: Launch funds should be gathered ahead of time. Stewardship commitments must be strong on the initial team and passed on to all.
  

Please add you comment and tell us what you think. Have you seen any positive models of lay church planting? What is the biggest obstacle to a lay church planting movement in your area? What other obstacles should be anticipated? What would help?
Please reply with a comment if you like.

For more information on Lay Church Planting check out these websites:

Saturation Church Planting @ United Word Mission - http://www.uwm.org/mski-SCP.htm

North American Baptist Convention http://www.churchplantingvillage.net/site/c.iiJTKZPEJpH/b.886067/

Coach Gene