Church Growth and Church Planting

CHURCH GROWTH AND CHURCH PLANTING

Introduction

If reaching the lost is the chief imperative for the Church Growth Movement, what is the

most efficient way of reaching them? planting new churches. God’s plan for reconciling the world unto Himself is His church proclaiming His gospel to all people. Churches must multiply in order to fulfill the Great commission.

The Great Commission of Jesus—to show how it relates to church planting. This is the most challenging and work of every Christian and church! Every Christian and church must be equipped for a multiplication process. This is the theme of the Great Commission.

The Great Commission And Church Planting

Most people recognize that the Great Commission commands Christians to evangelize lost people. Few realize the implied method to carry out this commission. The Great Commission implies that church planting is the primary method to evangelize the world. To reach lost people in every culture of the world, a church must be established in every culture to communicate the gospel and nurture those who are saved. In a simplistic observation, one of the reasons why so much foreign missions work is fruitless is because great effort is spent on winning people to Christ apart from identifying them with a New Testament church. All methods of evangelism have their place: radio evangelism, television evangelism, medical evangelism, mass evangelism, personal evangelism, educational evangelism, presence evangelism. But God's primary method of evangelizing a new community is by planting a New Testament church to reach the area with the gospel. Many are ignorant of the role of church planting in evangelism. Others dissent because they do not really understand God's program of evangelism. They have never understood the role of church planting in the Great Commission. A careful study of the Great Commission reveals the complex and divergent nature under which the command was given and the difficult task that Jesus wanted accomplished.

The Great Commission was given at five different times in separate locations. On each occasion the Lord added to the previous command, and to understand the full implication of the Great Commission.

The Great Commission was initially given on the afternoon of the resurrection to ten disciples. Jesus said, "As the Father has sent Me, I also send you" (John 20:21, NKJV). Jesus was simply giving his perplexed disciples a commission to represent him. At this place the message, destination, and task were not given to them. Perhaps they were not ready to receive it. A week later in the upper room Thomas was present, making eleven disciples. Jesus told them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15).

Two aspects were added to the commission:

First, they were not just to minister to Israel but to the world, and second, they were to preach the gospel to every person in the world.

The next time the Great Commission was repeated was at least two weeks later. The disciples were no longer in Jerusalem but on a mountain in Galilee approximately one hundred miles away. He assumed they would eventually obey, for he used the participle "as you are going" (Matt. 28:19). This is based on the previous command to go and preach the gospel to every person. Here Jesus added two aspects to the Great Commission.

First, they were to disciple (imperative), which involves a command to get results. Secondly, they were to center on nations, ethne, "people groups." This concern with social groups has vast implications.

The fourth giving of the Great Commission (Luke 24:46-48) stated that the gospel

message must include repentance and belief. The last reiteration was given the same day at the

ascension. This included the power of the Holy Spirit to indwell them and also the geographical

scope: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts (Acts 1:8).

Strategy in Matthew 28:19, 20

The giving of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19, 20 includes strategy. The church is to go to different nations or groups of people and evangelize them. This is best done by planting indigenous churches where people can be saved, baptized, and continually discipled in the Word of God. It is with this in mind that Vergil Gerber concludes that "the ultimate evangelistic goal in the New Testament, therefore, is twofold: (1) to make responsible, reproducing Christians, (2) to make responsible, reproducing congregations."[1]

Matthew 28:19, 20 states: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them

in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all

things that I have commanded you." This Great Commission includes church planting for the

following reasons:

1. To "make disciples of" people in all nations is best fulfilled by an indigenous church

in every culture.

2. "Baptizing" identifies a new believer with Christ and with the church. The result of

baptizing is to plant a church to carry on this process.

3. The focus of discipline is ethne ("nations"), which has three meanings:

(1) ethnicgroups

(2) gentiles

(3) nations. In all three, the target is not individuals but groups of people.

The best means of evangelizing a group of people is through a ministering assembly of saved

people-the church.

4. "Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you" means instructing believers to obey the words of Christ (including the Great Commission). This command was carried out in the New Testament church by "teaching the apostles' doctrine" (Acts 2:49). The

continuous teaching in the church became the basis of the church's growth and fellowship. When

new areas were evangelized, the result was new churches with new believers who had to be

taught the words of Christ.

5. By illustration, the New Testament records stories of believers going everywhere establishing churches (see Acts 9:3 1). Wherever the gospel was successfully presented, a church

sprang into existence.

Beginning with the great dispersion of the Jerusalem believers (Acts 8: 1), the disciples

successfully multiplied congregations and planted additional churches. In fact "new congregations were planted in every pagan center of the then-known world in less than four decades."' As the believers were scattered, so was the seed of the gospel that would take root in various national soils. In Acts 9:31 a geographical broadening had taken place so that believers are placed "throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria" (as directed in Acts 1:8). Based on the

understanding of the eleven disciples and the success that resulted from their obedience, it is

evident that planting local churches throughout the world is God's plan.

The dynamic church-planting efforts of the Apostle Paul, Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, and

others who were all early disciples verifies the concept of local church expansion to which Jesus

Christ is committed. Surely they would have done no less than he commanded and no more than

he empowered.

6. By analogy each produces after its kind so a church sends out missionaries who should

plant churches like those that sent them out.

From the day God said to Adam and Eve, "Be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth," multiplication has been the secret of the growth of the human race, until this geometric progression has reached the staggering proportions of a population explosion.[2]

Even when we grasp the simple fact that multiplication is the secret of the growth of the church, we need to ask-a multiplication of what? Not committees, not high offices, not even individual believers as such. We must apply our secret at the level of the local church. To start rapid growth by multiplication, we must encourage our own local church (be we pastor, layman, or missionary) to reproduce itself in another part of the city or in a neighboring town or village.[3]

Engel and Norton believe that one believer winning another is not enough. They state

that “it is a demonstrated principle of church growth that Christianity gains in a society only to

the extent that the number of existing churches is multiplied. Multiplication of new congregations of believers, then, is the normal and expected output of a healthy body.”[4]

Several authors, including Weld, McGavran, Michael Green, Roland Allen, and others,

refer to the strategy that the Apostle Paul used in his church planting endeavors. The Apostle

Paul concentrated his efforts on cities, which were centers of communication, transportation, and

commerce. Paul planned to evangelize these areas by planting churches. He would often go to

the synagogue seeking first to win his Jewish countrymen (Acts 13:5, Salamis; Acts 13:14,

Pisidian Antioch; Acts 14: 1, Iconium; Acts 17: 1, Thessalonica; Acts 18:1, 4, Corinth). Paul

gained a hearing with the Jews who attended the synagogues and later continued with the gentiles (God-fearers) who also had heard of him and his message. As the Scripture indicates, before Paul reached Thessalonica he had been practicing his plan for starting churches to the point where Acts 17:2 records; "Paul, as was his custom, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths

reasoned with them from the Scriptures" (emphasis added).

Referring to the rapid and wide expansion of the early church, Roland Allen emphasizes

"spontaneous expansion," although he does explain the issue of organization as well.

The Church expanded simply by organizing these little groups of early disciples as they

were converted, handing on to them the organization which she had received from her first

founders. It was itself a unity composed for a multitude of little churches, any one of which

could propagate itself, and consequently the reception of any new group of Christians was a

simple matter. By a simple act the new group was brought into the unity of the Church, and

equipped, as its predecessors had been equipped, not only with all the spiritual power and

authority necessary for its own life as an organized unity, but also with all the authority needed to repeat the same process whenever one of its members might convert men in any new village or town.[5]

Donald McGavran, whose concern and interest is clearly the multiplication of new

churches, believes the sequence of the Great Commission to "make disciples of all nations" precedes "teaching them to observe all things." McGavran argues: Only churches which exist can be perfected. Only babies who have been born can be educated. Only where practicing Christians form sizable minorities of their societies can they expect their presence seriously to influence the social, economic, and political structures. The church must, indeed, "teach them all things," but first she must have at least some Christians and some congregations.[6]

Conclusion

Since the purpose of the Great Commission is finalized when a New Testament church is

planted, those church planters who establish a church are not doing something that is spectacular

or overwhelmingly unique. Great Commission churches have a global vission, of a biblical church evangelizing all people. They are simply carrying out the command of Jesus Christ. Also, church planters should not be thought of as divisive (sapping strength from existing churches) or selfish (wanting to control a church so they plant their own) nor independent (unwilling to take an existing pulpit). They should be thought of as those who are employing the most biblical methods to reach the developing areas of the world.

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[1]Vergil Gerber, God’s Way to Keep a Church Going and Growing (Glendale, California: Regal Books,

1973), 18

[2]Ibid., 17.

3Paul David, “Church Multiplication,” Church Growth Bulletin, Vol. 2 No.1 (September 1965), 92

4James E. Engel and H. Wilbert Norton. What’s Gone Wrong with the Harvest? A Communication Strategy

for the Church and World Evangelism (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975), 143,144.

[5]Roland Allen, The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church (Grand Rapids: Eerdsman, 1962), 143

[6]Donald A. McGavran, Understanding Church Growth (Grand Rapids: Eerdsman, 1970), 359.

Don't Hindren the Chirldren

Text : Mark 10:13-16

Topic: DON’T HINDER THE CHILDREN

I want to preach on the subject Don’t Hinder The Children. There is a Lesson About Service; A Lesson About Salvation; and A Lesson About The Savior. I want us to understand that Jesus has a special place in His heart and in His plans for the children.

I. A LESSON ABOUT SERVICE

This passage clearly reveals certain responsibilities that both the parent and the church have toward our children. Fulfilling these responsibilities is a form of service to our children.

A.We Serve Our Children By Evangelizing Them –

This passage nowhere implies that Jesus was saving these children. He was merely praying for them and pronouncing a blessing on their young lives. This scene teaches us that these parents cared enough about the spiritual condition of their children to bring to Jesus so that they might be blessed through His praying and His touch.

Parents should do everything in their power to ensure that their children are exposed to the Gospel. That means bringing them to church on a consistent basis. It means giving them the opportunity to be in Sunday School. It means praying for them and with them and opening the Bible with them at home. It means being open about your own faith. It means being consistent in your own life as a believer. It means teaching them that nothing in this world is more important than the Lord and His business.

B.We Serve Our Children By Educating Them –

By bringing their children to Jesus, these parents were telling their children that they saw something special in Him.

We are responsible for educating our children about the things of God. In Eph. 6:4, the word “nurture” refers to “the whole training and education” of a child. It is not the public school teacher’s responsibility to see that our children come to Jesus. It is our duty to bring them face to face with a saving Lord. If we make much of Jesus in front of them, they will be far more likely to come to Him at an early age and remain faithful to Him as they mature.

C.We Serve Our Children By Encouraging Them –

When these parents came to Jesus with their children they were encouraging them to approach Him as well. Christian parents are told in Eph. 6:4 to “bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” The word “admonition” has the idea of “encouragement”. Make the Bible a big part of their daily life. Pray with them. Bring them to Sunday School and preaching. Expose them to everything of a godly nature that is available.

One of the best things a mature believer can do for children is for them to be in love with Jesus Christ. When mature adults love Jesus with a sincere devotion, it encourages children to love Him too!

II. A LESSON ABOUT SALVATION

Parents responsibility to serve our children by helping them form a spiritual foundation, it also speaks about the matter of salvation.

A.What It Implies –

The fact that children are invited to come to the Savior implies that children need a Savior. That is why parents and other concerned adults must do all they can to bring children face to face with the claims of the Gospel. It is not our duty to save them, but it is our duty to expose them to the Word of God. When children hear the Gospel preached, taught and lived out, they are far more likely to come to Jesus. Here is what Paul told Timothy about exposing children to the Word of God, “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus,” 2 Tim. 3:15.

B.What it involve-

Parents, just because your children are young, do not assume that they do not need to be saved. Children grow up quick these days and they need to know about Jesus Christ. When they are ready to receive Jesus, be careful that you point them to Him and allow them to come to Him by faith. In other words, do not put words into their mouths. You might help them to understand the kind of things they should pray about; things like confession of sin, expression of faith in the finished work of Christ, asking the Lord into their hearts, etc.

C.What It Illustrates –

Children coming to Jesus was used by our Lord to illustrate the way all believers must come to Him. Children are trusting, humble and dependent. They are so trusting, that they have to be warned not to talk to strangers. They are so dependent, that they simply rest in the ability and willingness of those around them to meet their needs. They don’t worry over food, clothing. Children simply accept profound things by faith. They just believe! This is the childlike qualities of trust, humility and dependence. This is the only way anyone ever receives salvation.

III. A LESSON ABOUT THE SAVIOR

This is not only about Service and Salvation, it also say about the Savior.

A.We Can See The Savior’s Heart –

The disciples thought Jesus was too busy for a bunch of children. Parents brought their children to Jesus so that He could pray for them and pronounce a blessing over them. When the disciples rebuked the parents Jesus was very angry with the disciples for trying to prevent children from coming to Him. Children hold a special place in our Lord’s heart!

This scene reveals a lot about Jesus. Children cannot serve Him like those who are older. They cannot contribute as much money as those who are older. Still, He loves them and reaches out to them in grace. This just reminds us that God is not interested in what we can do, what we can give or how old we are. He simply invited people to come to Him on the basis of pure grace! Jesus loves lost sinners and He invites them all to come to Him.

B.We Can See The Savior’s Hands –

verse 15 says “and He laid His hands on them”. This indicates that He placed took the time to bless each individual child that came before Him. Never think for an instant that Jesus doesn’t care about you. He loves you and He will not turn you away if you will come to Him. No matter where the path of life has taken you; no matter what you may have done; no matter how insignificant you may feel; Jesus Christ will save you and change your life if you will come to Him. He cares about your condition and He will take the time to touch your life if you will only come to Him by faith.

Conclusion

you are saved or lost, young or old, Jesus cares about you. If you have never been saved, regardless of your age, you need to come to Jesus today. He died on the cross to save you if you are lost. If sin has crept into your relationship with Jesus and is hindering your walk with Him, He can forgive that today. If you will come to Him, you will find that His grace will be sufficient for you.

The Work of God’s Grace-Salvation

Topic: The Work of God’s Grace-Salvation

Scripture text: Ephesians 2:8-10

Introduction

If a man wants to be saved, these verses tell him how to be saved. Salvation is the work of God, of God’s Grace and of God’s grace alone. It is not of man, not to any degree. Salvation is a free gift of God. It is by grace alone that man is saved. Man can do nothing whatsoever to save himself. He cannot earn, win, or merit salvation. All man can do is accept what the Lord says. Man must believe just what God says and accept His word, accept His free offer of salvation. When he accepts the fact that God says He will save him, God takes him and creates him into a new person, anew creation. (2 Cor 5:17).

A. We are saved by God grace and by Grace

(1)We are saved by God’s grace

Grace means the favor and kindness of God, but there I uniqueness about God’s favor and kindness. His favor and kindness are given despite the fact that it is undeserved and unmerited. Grace is giving, but it is giving to people who do not deserve the gift. What is the gift that God has given? Jesus Christ. God has given His son, Jesus Christ, to save men. God is full of mercy and love and kindness-by His very nature He is full of these glorious qualities. God is not off someplace in the distance, far removes from man, disinterested and unconcerned with man’s sufferings and death. God is gracious, full of mercy, love, and kindness for man; therefore, He has reached out through His son Jesus Christ to help man. How?

By giving His Son to die for man. When Jesus Christ hung upon the cross, He was taking our sins upon Himself and bearing the punishment for our sins. We had committed high treason against God: rejected and rebelled against Him. The penalty for high treason is death; we are condemned to die. But Christ took our penalty and condemnation upon Himself. He died for us-in our place, in our stead, as our substitute. This is what Scripture means when it says that Christ died for us. (Rom 5:6, 8, 10)

This is the grace of God-God grace that showered itself upon sinful men who were lost and condemned-God grace that gave the greatest gift possible to men- the gift of His Son to save the world.

(2)We are saved through faith

What does it mean to be saved through faith? Simply this: Jesus Christ die for us. He bore our sin and punishment upon the cross. When we believe, really believe that Jesus Christ died for us, God does a wonderful thing. God takes our faith and counts it as the death of Jesus Christ for us. That is when we honor God’s dear Son by believing in Him so much that we give all we are and have to Him, God takes the death of Jesus Christ and applies it to us. It is our faith that causes God to look upon us as having been in Christ when He died. It is our faith that causes God credit us with salvation. Jesus Christ is God’s gift to us. Salvation through Christ has been wrapped up as a gift and God hands it over to us. This is what is meant by faith. If you believe, really believe that Jesus Christ died for you; you will reach out and receive the gift of God’s grace. (John 3:16, 5:24, 20:31)

(3) We are not saved in and of ourselves

Man is not perfect; therefore, he can never live in God’s presence-not in and of himself. Even if man could be good enough and do enough good to become perfect (he cannot, but even if he could) he would not be acceptable to God. Why? Because he has already transgressed and become imperfect. He already stands imperfect, corruptible, aging, dying, and decaying. If man is ever to be acceptable to God-if he is ever to be perfected and have his past wipe clean-it will not be by his own hands. He cannot save himself. Salvation is not of man. ( 2 Cor. 10:12, Gal 6:3, Titus 3:5, Prov 28:26 )

(4) The reason salvation is by grace and not by works is to prevent men from ever boasting

God is the supreme and Majestic being of the universe. He is the Creator of all that is in heaven and earth. God is the one who dwells in the ultimate of light and holu of eternity. The honor and glory and glory due His name are not to be shared with anyone. If man was saved by some effort of his own, he would be due some credit, some boast, some honor. This God cannot allow. His very nature forbids it. As God, He is to receive the supreme glory-that is, all glory and praise. His Supremacy-His being God-demands it. (Rom 3:19,27)

B. We are God’s workmanship

(1) We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus

The believer experiences two creations, both a natural birth and a spiritual birth. The spiritual birth is the point of this verse. When a man believes in Jesus Christ, God creates him in Christ. What does this mean? It means that God quickens the spirit of the believer and makes his spirit alive. Whereas the believer’s spirit was dead to God, God creates it anew and makes it alive to God.

(2) We are created to do good works

God saves man for good works not by good works. The believer is God’s workmanship, God’s work of art, God’s masterpiece. God fashions man and creates a masterpiece. God’s workmanship is always a work of art. The believer does not create the beauty, the art that shows in the canvas of his life. The believer just shows that he is God’s workmanship by life he lives and displays. Works are an evidence of salvation. God has prepared in advance for us to walk in good works. Doing good works is not an option for the believer; it is the very nature of the believer. If a man has been created in Christ-if God has truly worked in him-the man does good works. He is a new creation created to do good works.

Conclusion

Man can do nothing whatsoever to save himself. Salvation is a free gift of God. God has given His son, Jesus Christ, to save men. When Jesus Christ hung up upon the cross, He was taking our sins upon Himself and bearing the punishment for our sins. He died for us in our place. When we believe, really believe that Jesus Christ died for us, God does a wonderful thing. It is by grace along that man is saved. We are saved by His grace and by faith not by works.