Carl wrote an excellent post on church planting God’s way.
Ken and I have looked at a couple of books on church planting, read a lot more blogs about it, and devoured a couple of websites. MUCH of what I’ve seen not only hasn’t impressed me, it hasn’t answered my questions. Their advice seems to be to turn the pastor into a cheerleader/controversy-maker instead of a gospel preacher. Don’t get me wrong – a good pastor WILL encourage his/her flock, incite them to be stirred up, and the Gospel is certainly controversial… but do we really need churches with sex billboards out there? Sure, they entice some folks to come to church to see what it’s about. And sure, the church should teach about sex and holiness along the way. But do we need those pews filled? Or do we need disciples made?
Check out Carl’s post – it’s good… and honest.
Thanks for the link love. Jesus is alive and anointed with the Holy Ghost and Power to save!
I recently heard something concerning church planting that applies to other situations as well. Following a pattern that worked for someone else isn’t necessarily the way to go. It’s like giving away your car because the Lord told someone else to and God supernaturally provided them with a new car.
I totally agree. We need to be more concerned about raising up true disciples of Christ than filling our church pews.
It’s about quality, not quantity. Millions of uncommitted Christians will never change the world, but a few true followers of Christ have the potential to.
Matt, our old pastor used to say that if just one person got a full revelation of the Word of God and a willingness to apply it, that one person would set the world afire in God’s glory.
Kathi, thats why we are growing our church one soul at time. Bring them to their full potential in the Lord and then work on others so they can do the same as new people are added. The head count that only makes a difference are the ones added to the book of life not the church roll down here