Do you want to see churches planted, but don’t have loads of money? Do it missionally. Here’s a basic outline by which anyone can plant a church.
1. Get a job, any job. But not a pastoral job, unless the church which employs you allows you to plant churches in the way outlined below (I’ve seen it happen, but it is very, very rare). In this way, you do not depend on the “church” for your income. You have no idea how liberating and freeing this is.
2. Develop and/or find a simple and easily reproducible way of making disciples. It should be something that anybody can learn to teach anyone else after seeing it only once or twice, and which is advanced enough for even the most knowledgeable Christian. It should also involve active service in the community. I highly recommend “Life Transformation Groups” by Church Multiplication Associates as talked about in Neil Cole’s book Organic Church.
3. Find a marginalized, fringe group that is rejected, neglected, outcast, condemned, criticized, and judged by the majority of society, especially by “religious” people.
4. Insert yourself into this group with one goal only: to make life-long friends with some of the people in this group. Your goal is to become friends with these people, even if they never accept your beliefs about Jesus and the Bible. Do not try to turn every conversation around to God and the Bible. Don’t have an agenda!
5. Live like Jesus among this group: Love, accept, forgive, serve. Laugh a lot. Have fun.
6. If/when someone becomes interested in your way of living and believing, invite them to join you in the discipleship process of step 2.
7. If/when they believe in Jesus for eternal life, invite them to remain in their community, practicing these seven steps among their friends and family.
This approach is not flashy, will take time, and will not help you gather huge crowds or construct big buildings. But disciples will be made, and that, after all, is what Jesus called us to do (Matt 28:19-20).
yeah, but didn’t Jesus just make it seem so easy? “Hey, you. Yeah, in the boat. Let’s go.” Boom – 1 disciple. The miracles probably helped.
Bullet,
You always make me laugh!
Jesus did have a few props that seemed to have helped…I guess this is why “Pentecostalism” is the fastest growing brand of Christianity right now, because they try to reproduce the same miracles. A lot of us, however, view what they are doing as just a big show, similar to Steve Martin’s “Leap of Faith” movie.
Of course, the big red flag for me is the mansions and Cadillacs all the leaders of those churches own. That seems decidedly “unJesus” to me.
Anyway, enough finger pointing for now…
Hey Great comments Jeremy. I agree with the radical proposals… sounds like missions to me. Although ‘bullet’ has a point. To imitate Jesus we have to take on the whole package. That means to not only try and live the lifestye of Jesus but also to recognise the model of ministry is to be our model also. Not that which is simply said by Jesus (forgiveness, love and so on), but that which is also done by Jesus (deliverence, power encounters and so on). The movement of the Holy Spirit is key. The explosion of the Third world Church in India, China, Africa can mainly be put down to the explosion of Pentecostal/charismatic movements. 0 to 600 million people in 100 years is the current reality. Many people who are interested in Church planting movements tend to ignore this reality. To throw up the excesses of the West (and of course some in the Non-West) to discredit what you describe as a ‘few props’ is wrong. Let Jesus in all said as well as all that he did continue to challenge us in all we do! Keep being radical bro… Dave
Dave,
Thanks for the comments and the reminder. I come from a Cessationist/Dispensational background, and so have trouble changing some of the things I’ve been taught. However, I am surrounding myself with books and people which are challenging my thinking on these issues. We’ll see what happens…I’m in process too!
Hey Jeremy…we are all in process. I think that I know less today than I did five years ago! Especially with questions like ‘what is Church’ and a myraid of other issues… It seems that our back grounds form a lot of our traditions and beliefs. As a good friend of mine says… it all depends on who got to you first :-). Anyway… I have a post on the Holy Spirit coming out tomorrow. Check in to have a look then.
Dave
Dave,
I agree with you. I hardly recognize the “me” of today. One of the areas I am severely deficient in is the area of the Holy Spirit. I’m seeking!