SimpleChurch Journal

Strategic Words in Church Planting Movements

Since I am currently in Africa working with phenomenally fruitful leaders, I thought it would be good to share a few “key words” on church planting movements.  These words are adapted from Galen Currah who adapted them originally from David Watson.  Each “word” listed here has so much meaning and power when walked out.

1. Prayer: Prayer is the starting point for all ministries. Know the mind of God and join Him in His work.

2. Scripture: Scripture is foundational and the source of all teaching and preaching. Scripture → Principle → Practce

3. Disciples: Make Disciples, not converts. Converts focus on religion. Disciples focus on Jesus and obedience to His teachings.

4. Obedience: Teach Obedience to the Word, not doctrine. Doctrine is our church’s teaching from the Bible. It may be highly interpretive, and may not consider the full counsel of the Bible.

5. Churches: Communities of Believers. Form new believers into minimal bible practice groups that will become Communities of Believers (churches) who transform families and communities.

6. Authority: Authority of Scripture and the Holy Spirit are all that is needed to start. Church Planting is an act of God through His Spirit and His people who are obedient to the Word and the Spirit.

7. Persecution: Persecution is part of being a Christian. In pioneer work it is expected and response is trained.

8. Warfare: In areas where the Gospel has never been preached, or in areas where traditional religions have reigned for a significant amount of time, it is not unusual to find those engaging in CPM activities confronted by Spiritual Conflicts that range from annoying to life-threatening.

9. Plan: Act Intentionally: Plan your work & work your plan. Organic does not mean the same things as “accidental.”  Crops are grown through intentional sowing with wisdom.

10. Peace: Start with the Man of Peace or an existing relationship that will permit a Discovery Bible Study or Witness.

11. Household: Focus on households or families, not on individuals. Households include non-related individual living and relating together as family.

12. Evangelise: Evangelism is an intentional calling to a family to study the Word of God in order to move from not knowing God to falling in Love with Him through Jesus.

13. Reproduce: Reproducing disciples, leaders, groups and churches become a part of the group DNA.

14. Culture (Embrace the Local Culture): Do not import external culture, but redeem local culture by embracing all you biblically can in a culture and transforming or redeeming the rest.

Servant Man vs Leader Man

This is a great list highlighting the difference between Servant Leaders and Leader-Man Type Leaders.  This came from Brant Hansen via Keith Giles:

Servant Leader: Has something to say
LeaderMan: Wants a platform on which to say something

LeaderMan: Wants you to know he's a Leader
Servant Leader: You're not sure he knows he's a leader

LeaderMan: Loves the idea of the Gospel, and the idea of The Church
Servant Leader: Loves God and the actual individual people God brings across his path

LeaderMan: Helps you find where God is leading you in his organization
Servant Leader: Helps you find where God is leading you

LeaderMan: Gets together with you to talk about his vision
Servant Leader: Just gets together with you

LeaderMan: Wants the right people on the bus
Servant Leader: Wants to find the right bus for you, and sit next to you on it

LeaderMan: Invests time in you, if you are "key people"
Servant Leader: Wastes time with you

LeaderMan: Gives you things to do
Servant Leader: Gives you freedom

Choudhrie on Doing Away with the "Lazy Laity"

I often enjoy the way Victor Choudhrie tells it like it is.  In this one paragraph he addresses the importance of fully embracing the priesthood of all believers along with all of the ramifications of this key New Testament truth:

Change of Priesthood: He disenfranchised the monopoly of Levitical priesthood and franchised “Priesthood of all believers” to be a light to the Gentiles. Every follower of Christ is now a Royal priest to the nations. In the Old animal blood Covenant, God spoke only to the priests and prophets who acted as “go betweens” but now with Yeshua’s blood Covenant, He speaks to us directly and so do we. Both Jews and Gentiles need priests to mediate but not Christians. In the New Covenant we do not need a human priest (pastor) to mediate or pray for us as we now have a High Priest as our mediator with whom we can directly communicate boldly. Having a pastor as our priest violates our own priesthood as it leads to hierachization, compartmentalization and fragmentation and makes us lazy laity. Incredibly in the NT model there is no human person who is In-charge, just like the headless (Head office) and brainless (CEO) starfish, where the neural system is so decentralized that every severed member can replicate not only itself but a completely new starfish. Priests do not lead worship but the Body of Brethren (Body of men, women and even youth) minister to each other. Here every member of the Body functions as equal (Ephesians 4:16; 1 Corinthian 14:26- 31). This makes it chaotic but it is a fruitful creative chaos unlike the organized unfruitful controlling hierarchy in the traditional church. (1 Corinthians 12:25,27; Romans 12:4; Ephesians 4:7; 1Peter 4:10,11). This is a non-negotiable principle of the New Covenant. Priesthood is not an office or a title but a function. Yeshua forever changed the rules of the game. 1Peter 2:9; Revelation 5:9,10; Exodus 19:5,6; Hebrew 4:6;14; 7:22-28

From Global Trends, Concerns, Challenges: From the Cathedral Back to the House Church