As a pastor-teacher, I am devoting my life to serving the Lord via the local church; I can do no less.¹ This decision and God-given desire is not due to professional convenience (as some people think I only work Sundays), but due to personal conviction – based on the Word of God. ² I am absolutely convinced that as the saints are equipped through learning and applying God's truth, they are to do the work of ministry resulting in the edifying of the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12). Furthermore, I believe we do well today to hear and heed the Apostle Paul's instructions to Timothy:

Thus, it is my deep passion to see Gospel-preaching, Bible-teaching, grace-oriented local churches planted and built to the glory of Jesus Christ.

By God's grace, we have not only been privileged to observe the Spirit of God using the Word of God in our midst at D.B.C., but we have been honored to be involved in spreading the Gospel and planting local churches in other communities as well. ³

With a desire to do this in a biblical fashion, I began reading various books on church planting. Most were very disappointing as they involved church growth techniques and worldly gimmicks laced with an occasional scripture verse or proof text to appear credible. ⁴

Personal conversations with seasoned missionaries were encouraging, but I still lacked sufficient concrete biblical principles to sink my spiritual teeth into.

I eventually proceeded to read an amazing piece of literature that I should have prayerfully consulted at the very beginning of this process – the Word of God; and in particular, Acts chapters 13 & 14! I finally arrived at the conclusion, "Why not study the missionary journeys of Paul's church-planting teams and seek to draw out some biblical principles to provide divine direction for this endeavor?"

Dear readers, this article is the fruit of that exciting study.⁵

While the following principles are not intended to be an exhaustive list for church planting, they have served to grant us scriptural direction and parameters for planting three churches thus far. You may find these truths very simple and extremely basic – they are! More importantly, they are biblical; though the Holy Spirit must personally direct in the application of them in each particular situation.

1. When church planting, remember that God uses believers who are already growing and ministering for Him.

Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted… (Acts 13:1-2a)

From the prophetic-teaching ministry of the dynamic local church at Antioch, God would select two equipped believers to serve Him as missionaries – Barnabas and Saul. But this was ministry with maturation. By this time, Barnabas and Paul had been saved for at least twelve years. By the standards of some mission boards today, they would have been rejected for being "fossilized" in age (they were in their mid-40's) and theologically uneducated; thus they would be deemed unqualified and unwanted. Neither were graduates of a bible college or seminary, though both had been enrolled in God's School Of Spiritual Growth. Saul personally had taken upper graduate courses at the Arabian Desert Academy of Grace-Orientation for past legalistic, pharisaical individuals with previous criminal records.⁶ We must not forget that church planting (like all ministry) is a grace operation from beginning to end.

Please carefully note, "as they ministered to the Lord…" (13:2). When God has a job to do, He does not look to someone who is waiting around for a position in order to serve Jesus Christ. Instead, God uses someone who has a passion to serve as motivated by the love and grace of God and who humbly trembles at God's Word.

…but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. (Isaiah 66:2b)

Dear reader, no airplane trip ever prepared a believer to be a missionary, and no seminary ever gifted or matured a Christian to serve the Lord. And while the local church is designed to "equip" the saints for their work of ministry, only God in His grace can ultimately gift, mature, and use a believer in whatever field of service He individually determines. This certainly debunks the force-fed, fast-food, assembly-line attempts at spiritual preparation for ministry that dominate our modern approach to missions and ministry.⁷ I encourage you to start by focusing on your vertical walk of faith with the Lord in light of your position in Christ, and then be willing to serve Jesus Christ in whatever opportunities are right before you. As you concentrate on the depth of your spiritual growth, God will determine the breadth of your specific ministry.

2. The Holy Spirit must direct and enable you from the very beginning in order for church planting to be successful.

This biblical principle is crucial – it must not be overlooked or underemphasized. God does not bless the activities of the flesh religiously rampant. We need the direction and enablement of the Holy Spirit each step of the way. Since spiritual needs are great everywhere, a real sense of the Holy Spirit's leading to open doors and hungry hearts is essential. Also, you must be very careful where you begin a church plant, as it is very difficult and discouraging to pull out and leave once you have begun.

While in Acts 13:2 this divine guidance may have come through prophetic utterance (1 Cor. 13:8-10 nullifies that for us today), God still leads in answer to believing prayer (James 1:5-6), providential circumstances (2 Corinthians 1:15-18), personal peace (Col. 3:15), and always in accordance to God's Word. Normally fasting was accompanied by a diligent seeking of the Lord in prayer. Nehemiah did this before attempting the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.

When involved in church planting, do not forget the promise of Proverbs 3:5-6…

4. Church planters were confirmed by and sent out through the local church.

In this verse we see "ordination" in a true biblical sense. It is not the bestowal of some spiritual gift or powers, but simply the human recognition/ appointment or confirmation by the spiritual leaders of a local church regarding what God had already determined.⁸ Please notice that all of Acts 13:1-3 transpired in and through a local church. Where better to gain ministry experience to evangelize the lost, teach the saved, and to plant churches than in serving in your local church? And who better to oversee and confirm your giftedness, growth and ministry than the pastor and elders of your local church?

Although the local church is central to God's plan for evangelism and church planting, parachurch organizations have seemingly usurped this role (perhaps we have given it to them). Instead of missionaries being sent out by local churches, too often a mission board has become a spiritually-independent surrogate mother that steals the resources, man-power, and finances of the local church. Amazingly, the parachurch organization gives no account doctrinally or practically to any local church, and normally fails to even have one pastor on its executive committee or board. Does it not cause you to stop and wonder whether the parachurch has too often become a parasite instead of a partner to the local church?

Barnabas, Saul (Paul), and John Mark comprise this church planting team. In later missionary journeys, Paul would be accompanied and assisted by Silas (Acts 15:40), Timothy (Acts 16:1-3), Luke (Acts 16:10), Sopater of Berea, Aristarchus, Secundus, Gaius of Derbe, Tychicus, Trophimus (Acts 20:4), etc.

Having a team effort allows more hands to do the work of ministry; thus more can be done. Furthermore, each believer's spiritual gifts can compliment one another; they can mutually encourage and pray for one another; and what great opportunity for the younger (like Timothy) and more spiritually immature members (like John Mark) of the team. From our church-planting experience at D.B.C., we have observed first-hand the practical value of this team approach.⁹

6. Church planters need to preach the Gospel publicly and privately.

And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister.

(Acts 13:5)

Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. (Acts 13:12)

The objective of a church plant is not to steal sheep from another church or to undermine the ministry of another Bible-teaching pastor. It is first of all to reach the unsaved with the Gospel of God's grace. In this day of doctrinal confusion, it is difficult to hear a clear presentation of the saving message of the Gospel from the pulpits of our land. Therefore, instead of seeking to build an exciting program in order to attract the lost to the church meeting, believers need to go and proclaim the finished work of Christ to those who are perishing.

7. You need to expect opposition to the truths of God's Word, especially religious opposition.

And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus: Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? (Acts 13:6-10)

But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. (Acts 13:45)

But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts. (Acts 13:50)

This opposition to the Gospel is often times a severe reaction to people's religious beliefs and traditions being threatened and individual hearts being convicted. Wherever the Apostle Paul went, there was either a revival or a riot – so do not be surprised if this happens to you!

Sometimes this opposition will even come from other genuine believers who may like the clarity of your Bible teaching, but do not appreciate your stand on it (they fail to see that the two are connected).¹⁰ Perhaps they have been poorly or wrongly taught, or have embraced a sappy sentimentality with an ecumenical flavor that they semantically redefine as "love." Satan will gladly use either the unsaved or the saved to hinder or thwart the building of Christ's church.¹¹

8. Church planting may include a flexible but defined strategy.

If you carefully trace the three missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul, a specific strategy is discovered. His team targeted only large, metropolitan cities. Furthermore, he usually went to the synagogue where its open forum provided an excellent opportunity to reach fellow Jews. He also visited markets and other places where effective personal contact with the Gospel could be enjoyed. As people responded and a local church was formed, this assembly would act as a hub to reach out to smaller cities with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Though your strategy needs to be written in pencil (as God has a big sovereign eraser), it does serve to provide vision and perspective regarding where you believe God is leading.

9. The church planters utilized the chronological approach in their Bible teaching with a focus on the Gospel. (Acts 13:17-37)

If you read carefully Paul's sermon in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia, you will observe that he covers a brief history of the nation of Israel in order to preach Jesus Christ. If this was helpful to fellow Jews who were familiar with the Old Testament, would it not be even more imperative to do this with unsaved Gentiles – especially those whose loin cloth consists of a brand-name business suit?

In the next edition of the GFJ, we will consider several more principles from Acts 13 and 14.

Footnotes:

1. 1 Corinthians 9:16; 2 Corinthians 5:9-15
2. 1 Timothy 3:1
3. Duluth Bible Church has been privileged to not only send out a man to pastor a Bible church in Clarissa, MN, but also to plant churches and provide pastors in Minneapolis, MN, Grand Rapids, MN, and Milwaukee/Waukesha, WI.
4. Their primary approaches were efforts to attract the unchurched to church by beginning the church plant with an Easter Service, or by pumping in rock music to make them feel comfortable, etc.
5. Since I studied, taught, and sought to implement these principles from Acts 13 & 14, I came into contact with a book that intersects and confirms many of these convictions. It is titled, "Planting Churches Cross-Culturally" by David J. Hesselgrave – published by Baker Book House.
6. Compare Philippians 3:1-6; 1 Timothy 1:12-16; and 1 Corinthians 15:9-10.
7. C.A. Coates wisely writes, "It is a sad thing when service interferes with soul-prosperity. It is possible to be so engrossed with service that one's meditations are colored by it, one's prayers are full of it, and the Word of God becomes simply a quarry out of which material for sermons can be dug up. This is a serious loss to the soul and many are thereby hindered from making spiritual progress.

"Very often new believers who have not even peace with God are encouraged to take up service, and they become so occupied with what they are doing that they are not at leisure to learn or to take their place in the favor of the Father. Hence, so long as the service prospers, and they get on pretty well with it, they are happy. The service is their life! But when there is no success, and the whole thing seems to be a failure, their joy collapses. They have to discover how little they have really got, and in many cases to find that they are perfect strangers to the liberty and joy of acceptance."

8. For further study concerning the ordination/ appointment of elders or missionaries, write Duluth Bible Church for a taped bible study regarding this.
9. We have involved several individuals in each church-plant who have shared the teaching responsibilities, witnessing opportunities, prayer needs, ministry contacts, etc. In each case, a man from the team has emerged to oversee and pastor God's growing flock in each location.
10. Romans 16:17-18; 1 Timothy 6:20-21; 2 Tim. 2:15-21
11. 1 Timothy 1:18-20; 2 Timothy 4:10, 14-15
12. This may be obtained by contacting D & K Press (1-800-777-8839) or write them at P.O. Box 875, San Leandro, CA 94577.
13. This may be purchased through "Good Seed USA, Inc., P.O. Box 487, Roach, MO 65787-0487 (573) 317-0177.