MISSIONAL CHURCH

INITIATIVE
EXTERNAL
Resources for Evangelism
and Church Planting
Eurasia Region

CONTENT
5

Momentum
7
Introduction
8
Theological and Foundational Principles
40
Practical Applications

55
57
58
60
63
67
78
82
84
88
95
97
98

Principles of Church Planting

Foreword

Introduction

Natural Church Planting

Becoming a Church Planter

Church Planting Models

Starting a New Congregation

Organizing the New Church

Development of Pastoral Qualities in a Church Planter

Responsibilities of the Pastor/Church Planter

What about the Church Planters Support?

Conclusion

Suggested Reading

101 Methods of Relational Evangelism

102
Each One win One
105
The big Brother/big Sister Plan
107
Sermon Outline
116
System of Prayer Cells / Small Group Plan
123
Evangelistic Campaigns
129

Treasure Chest of Love

MOMENTUM
Tools for Church Planting and Church Development
in the Post-Christian World
A Collection of Resources for the Church in Europe and the West

By MOMENTUM, UK Ltd.
A Church Development Partner of the Church of the Nazarene in Eurasia

Copyright MOMENTUM, UK Ltd, 2010

This edition translated and published by arrangement with MOMENTUM.
All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL
VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission.

MOMENTUM

INTRODUCTION
MOMENTUM UK Ltd is the result of a vision by its four founding Nazarene partners: British Isles North District, British Isles South District,
Eurasia Region, and Nazarene Theological College. MOMENTUM is
about MOVEMENT. Its heartbeat is to help create, foster and inspire
a new wave of Christian thinking and practice that will lead to a renewed focus on relevant and effective mission across the land. We pray
that through the dynamism of the Holy Spirit we may be a catalyst for
change, renewal, progress, and development.
There are five components to MOMENTUMs work:
To deliver training and education that equips students to be more
effective for mission in the 21st century.
To support and develop church planting. Demonstrating the importance of this component, MOMENTUM has planted a new church in
England based on the establishment of missional hubs.
To provide church health checking through curriculum, church
health checks, and tools.
To resource churches with practical tools through newsletters,
Toolkits for local churches and pastors, among other resources.
To develop partnerships both inside and outside the Nazarene
church.

SECTION I
THEOLOGICAL AND FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES
A THEOLOGY OF CHURCH GROWTH
Is there a need for theology in studying church growth?
Every aspect of the work and ministry of the church must have
a theological basis, rooted in an aspect of Gods own character
and work.
How does the desire to grow the church fit with Gods purposes?
Perhaps it is more accurate to speak of theological principles
that are foundational for the practice of church growth rather
than a theology per se.
QUESTION: What do we know about God and His work that leads us to
conclude that He is concerned about church growth?
A church growth theology written for the church growth movement
In the early 1980s, George W. Peters reacted to the criticism that church
growth was narrowly focused on getting people saved, numerical
growth, and methods for doing this well. He said that, for centuries,
theological principles underpinned the ministry of evangelism, and that
church growth writers merely implied these principles rather than explicitly
stating them. He reasoned that although there was no handbook called,
The Theological Basis of Church Growth, it was evident that there
was a strong theological basis leading to the formation, burden and
practice of the church growth movement. It was the same theological
church growth movement beliefs that led the church from its beginning
to reach out and win people for Christ. However he did acknowledge
that although this theology was implicit, it was never made explicit.
Therefore, Hutton extrapolates a theology of church growth from the
four pillars outlined in George Peters, A Theology of Church Growth as
foundational pillars for establishing church growth theory and practice1.
1
George Peters, A Theology of Church Growth, Zondervan, 1981. T. Hutton develops
these principles in his lecture: Has Church Growth theory a legitimate theological basis? Growing
Healthy Churches, Lecture 2. 2009.

MOMENTUM

1. God has created the world, and His creation is responsible to

Him.
2. Mankind has rebelled against God; all have become sinners and
are lost.
3. God works redemptively to make Israel His people and to be His
priestly nation to the world. A light to others.
4. God sends His Son into the world as the only Saviour for Israel
and all peoples.
5. Jesus Christ, through His life and death, provides the only way
to salvation.
6. Jesus commissions the apostles to preach this Gospel to all
nations .
7. The Holy Spirit is Gods mission agent, preparing people to
believe in Jesus Christ.
8. Those who hear and receive Jesus are adopted into Gods family
through His grace and are added to the church.
9. The church in every generation is commanded to continue
preaching the Gospel.
10. Church growth is evidence of Gods love and human response
to His Son.
These 10 principles expressed in varying forms by other church
growth theologians can be reduced to a few essential points:
God is the missionary God Who sets out to redeem His world
(Mission Dei).
He sends His Son into the world to save the world.
The Son sends His Spirit into the world to witness about the
Son.
The Spirit sends the church out on a mission to reach the lost.
This means that church growth is a direct corollary of Gods mission. A
key test for church growth theologians is John 20:21: As the Father has
sent me, I am sending you.
If Gods mission to reach the lost is successful, it will result in people
believing in Christ. The key text for church growth theologians is the
Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19-20: Therefore go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything

I have commanded you. People following Christ and joining with the
church is the evidence that Gods mission is being fulfilled. Church
growth theology presupposes Gods universal love, mans universal
sinfulness, and Gods universal redemption in Christ, as evidenced by
the lost being found and brought into the Church. This is the heart of a
church growth theology.
The importance of measuring growth
Connected to church growth and the unshakeable conviction that
the church should be growing as new people join Gods family is a
conviction that measuring that growth is justified theologically, biblically,
and scientifically.
Theological
Jesus Himself says that even in heaven there is rejoicing over one lost
sheep that returns. Is God counting? The theological point is that Gods
mission heart knows when lost people are being found. In Christ, God
reaches the masses as well as individuals; He knows them all. Likewise
the Holy Spirit has inspired the Bibles authors to record numerical growth
as an illustration and proof that Gods mission is being accomplished.

Biblical
The church growth movement points out that numerical records are a
significant feature of the growing church, particularly demonstrated in
Acts. In response to criticism that measuring new believers is unspiritual
at worst and minimalist at best, members of the movement note that
it wasnt unspiritual or minimalist for the New Testament writers to do
so. It was important not for numbers sake, but to know conclusively
that the Holy Spirit was achieving His mission to redeem people among
communities, cities and societies. Numbers evidenced the Holy Spirits
presence and activity.
Scientific
The church growth movement considered itself scientific, claiming
verifiable observations it considered normative for church growth.
These observations included the importance of recognising host
communities, factors to learn cultural relevancy and the importance of
contextualisation and indigenous leadership and practice. They also
advocated that collecting and analysing data was useful in drawing out

10

MOMENTUM

trends and observations. Statistics are numerical patterns that can be

used for helpful analysis and overview. Denominations and churches
that carefully collate and analyse numerical data can prayerfully draw
useful patterns for the church on a range of issues, such as church
growth, membership, new Christians, financial giving, and so on.
Though numbers do not say everything, they do say something. When
used carefully, they can help analyse both successes and failures and
raise questions that need to be addressed. However, there are many
that question whether the church growth movement can be properly
described as scientific; there are strong theological reasons as to why
certain aspects of their missiological observation, such as the famous
HUP (homogenous unit principle), should NOT be used to inform and
shape missional strategy. The observation that more people will become
Christians if they do not have to cross linguistic, racial and cultural
barriers may be inherently true as a sociological observation but may
not be deemed to be compatible with an intentional strategy of kingdom
building cross-cultural communities or multi-cultural communities. If
numerical growth is the only driving force then there is a danger that
those strategies that deliver growth can triumph at the expense of
kingdom virtues and values. The work, Evaluating the Church Growth
Movement: Five views, edited by G. L. McIntosh (Zondervan, 2004),
is an excellent discussion between missiologists on these and other
issues.
Theological issues the church growth movement has had to address
What is the nature of the Church (one holy, catholic, apostolic
church)?
What is the relationship between the Church and the kingdom?
What is the motivation or goal of church growth?
What does a growing healthy church look like biblically and
theologically?

11

SHIFTING PARADIGMS: FROM CHURCH GROWTH

TO CHURCH HEALTH
In the early 1990s, key writers and leaders within the church growth
movement began to question the prominence given to church growth
theory in the evangelical church. Voices from all denominations began
to call the Church to broaden its emphasis by rediscovering the
wider biblical ethos of the church. This call, prompted by many of the
criticisms we have just noted, and the changing contexts of mission,
has led to the present clamour for church health to be placed firmly
on the ecclesiological agenda.
How is this call different and what does it mean? It means:
the quality of the church is emphasised as much as the quantity
of the church.
the shape and ethos of the church is emphasised as much as
the ministry of the church.
the authenticity of the church community is as paramount as the
its activity.
that forming people through a transformational process is as
important as bringing people to faith.
that the agenda and mission of the kingdom is as vital as the
growth of the church.
that the spirituality of the church is as important as the work of
the church.
that the churchs development is as important as the
transformation of the world.
The emphasis on church health serves as a correction to the excesses
of the church growth movement. It is noted in church growth curricula,
books, conferences and strategies that developing healthy churches
is the key to growth. It reflects a new emphasis that, incidentally,
should fit well in a Wesleyan church, which at its heart is an evangelical
community preaching holiness (indeed wholeness/health). We are well
placed theologically to embrace this change and be leading agents of
health and transformation.

12

MOMENTUM

The challenge is for church leaders and church communities to rediscover

the importance of healthy churches characterized by holistic, balanced,
multi-faceted and, yes, growing communities. Growth is a result of
health. We know it is possible for a growing church to be unhealthy, but
a healthy church is unlikely to experience lack of growth.
Churches must reflect theologically and biblically about this challenge.
Various practical tools can help pastors learn how to develop healthy
churches.
Perhaps the next exercise, developed by MOMENTUM (really written by
the Apostle John) to help us learn to reflect on the Bible from a health
perspective, may be of assistance. This is one example that could be
applied to other New Testament passages, such as the letters to the
churches. In Revelation 2-3 we see how Christ is concerned for the
witness, shape, ethos and values of seven Christian communities. The
readers may start by looking at these churches with church health
glasses on, then fill in the grid supplied here by discussing it together.
Finally, ask: What lessons can we learn about church health from this
passage?

13

CHURCH

HEALTH/
ILLNESS OF
CHURCH

IS THERE A
REMEDY?

IS THERE A
PROMISE?

Church one
EPHESUS
Church Two
SMYRNA
Church Three
PERGAMUM
Church Four
THYATIRA
Church Five
SARDIS
Church Six
PHILADELPHIA
Church Seven
LAODICEA
Developing the healthy church is not just a new initiative, but a challenge
to the church to be balanced in its focus, ethos, and scope. It is a call
to discover and develop the critical characteristics that comprise what
the church is, and to continually develop and evaluate these in practical
ways. More of how this can be done is outlined in the next section. But
for now, let us end where we started, by quoting Paul who said this
about the church:
He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does
its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole
body is healthy and growing and full of love. (Ephesians 4:16 New
Living Translation)

14

MOMENTUM

HEALTHY CHURCH PLANTING

AND CHURCH HEALTH
Introduction
In the last 10 years, on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean there has been
a significant paradigm shift within the evangelical movement from a
church growth mandate to a church health mandate. As a consequence,
there has been a shift from planting churches (especially saturation
planting) to planting healthy, sustainable and reproducing churches.
The church growth movement, which has had such an influence on
church planting in the last 50 or more years, must be recognized as
bringing many good contributions to the kingdom of God and the Church.
Some of the most important contributions are worth mentioning.
Church growth is a concern to God; non-growth displeases

God. Disciples are tangible, identifiable, and countable people

who increase the church numerically.
Church growth shifted the authority and leadership in mission
churches to indigenous leadership and ministry.
It demonstrated that a surge in church planting is an effective
missionary strategy in and across cultural and class barriers.
It developed an evangelistic focus on receptivity among ethnic
and cultural groups.
It recognized identifiable barriers that inhibit church growth and
applied principles to overcome barriers and make mission more
effective.
The movement established the importance of contextualization
in missionary strategy.
It employed social science observations and research tools to
gain insight into society and people, as a critical component of
developing effective strategies.
The movement called the Church to make the Great Commission
the forefront of mission, particularly evangelism, conversion,
disciple-making and reproducing.

15

However, along with these contributions there have been some

unhealthy outcomes for the evangelical movement and evangelical
church planting.
Overemphasis on numbers and in particular numerical growth
(conversion).
The churchs size tends to be equated with the success and
health of the church.
Discipleship and follow-through is often weaker than evangelism.
Narrowly defining and practicing mission, when the call to
mission supersedes church growth.
The focus is church-centered more than kingdom-centered.
Stronger on pragmatism and weaker on Biblical and theological
perspectives of mission (i.e. the end justifies the means?).
Overreliance on social sciences.
Incessant comparison of churches.
Development of marketing and commercial strategies that
compromise the Gospel or make the church whatever users
want it to be.
The focus on church planting as the key evangelistic strategy
means that hundreds of churches were planted to win converts
but many of them closed only a few years later because they
started poorly and lacked health, sustainability, and good solid
foundations.
It is the last point in particular that focuses our mind today: the need to
plant healthy and sustainable churches.
Of course, church health and church growth are not necessarily mutually
exclusive philosophies, as Rick Warren noted almost a decade ago:
It is possible to have a growing church without being
healthy but not possible to have a healthy church without
growing. The issue for the 21st century church will not be
church growth but church health
However even Warren, trained at Fuller Theological Seminary and taught
by the movements fathers Donald McGavran and Peter Wagner,
places the emphasis on church health and not on church growth, which

16

MOMENTUM

is always consequential. Perhaps it is good to be reminded again of

how Paul prays for the church of God in his great Ephesians prayer:
He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each
part does its own special work, it helps the other parts
grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and
full of love. (Ephesians 4:16, New Living Translation)
Or in the words Charles Wesley wrote 270 years ago:
Jesus! the name that charms our fears,
That bids our sorrows cease,
Tis music in the sinners ears,
Tis life, and health, and peace.

[Church] is not just a dream of more and better individual Christians

standing like isolated statues in a museum. It is a dream of a community
vibrant with life, pulsating with forgiveness, loud with celebration, fruitful
in mission.2
a community vibrant with life,
pulsating with forgiveness,
loud with celebration,
fruitful in mission
Not bad values at all for guiding the planting of a healthy church!
There is no room in this documentnor is its purposeto describe
both the legacy and impact of the church growth movement on church
planting. However, it is important to note that the rediscovery of church
health and related issues is largely a reaction to the church growth
movement. This is beginning to have a profound effect upon current
church planting work in the United Kingdom and on the North American
continent. In the United Kingdom this rediscovery of health has also
come out of painful experiences in the 1990s during which many
churches were planted and failed through the combination of initiatives,
Challenge 2000 and the decade of Evangelism, among the most notable.
Today we reflect theologically and analyze these experiences.
2
Brian McLaren, The Church on the Other Side: Doing Ministry in a Postmodern Matrix,
Zondervan, 2000, (p 35).

17

In the 2003 booklet Church Planting: Past, Present and Future by George
Lings and Stuart Murray, and Planting Mission-Shaped churches Today
by Martin Robinson, the authors reflected on church planting practice
in the 1990s by noting several factors that all too often contributed to
unhealthy and unsuccessful church planting. To their notes I have added
other factors that need to be addressed if healthy church planting is to
occur.
Unhealthy Practice
Church planters often were not properly prepared for the task of
church planting.
The lead church planter (pioneer or team leader) was not
assessed or evaluated as to experience, suitability and gifting.
Many new plants lacked any strategic awareness and were
planted for many wrong reasons (usually pragmatic reactions).
Many new plants cloned existing models (the mother) and
therefore cloned much of the DNA of already failing churches.
Many new plants did not exegete the culture and context (among
the most vital things a church planter needs to do).
Many church plant leaders and church plant teams had no
church planting training or experience/exposure.
Many church plant leaders and teams had no accountability or
support mechanisms.
Many new plants were bogged down with structure, programme
and ecclesiology rather than birthing new mission.
Many new plants had no model of missional or incarnational
living, instead were based solely or primarily on attritional
models (i.e. the launch was what we worked for!).
Many sponsoring denominations fell into two extremes of
position that were unhelpful. They either put too many obstacles
in the way of the new church or put none. Both were irresponsible
and did not help the planter or the planting.
Many new plants did not consider what they were planting (what
type of church it would be) and whether it was culturally relevant
(many had no idea of how to be church other than how they
always were).
Many new churches had no strategy (not even a loose one)
of how to focus effort and activity. Many new churches did
not consider critical sustainability and discipleship issues for
ongoing health (conversion was the driving force).

18

MOMENTUM

The consequence is tangible.

The 1980s-90s could be summed up as:
Plant as many churches as you possibly can to win the
lost and add to the church.
So what is emerging in the 2000s?
Plant as many healthy churches as you can to extend
Gods kingdom and glorify God.
What does that mean to our current missional practice?
It means that much more careful attention is given to the church planting
process from the earliest stages to the formation of the fully-fledged
church, and that this is done intentionally. It means that more attention
is now given to the type of church that will be planted, its shape, its
ethos, its value, its DNA to ensure that healthy churches are born that
will survive and thrive and reproduce in the years ahead.
We need to ask the following in church planting: What are the key
foundational principles that address the issue of how to birth healthy
churches? These questions will be addressed in the following section.

19

Seven key foundational principles for planting healthy churches

1. A theological basis
Issue to address: How does church planting relate to our
understanding of God?
Church planting is not about empire building.
Church planting is not particularly about growing a denomination.
Church planting is not even primarily about church growth.
Church planting IS about joining God on His Mission to His
world. Denominations are an instrument of His mission.
All evangelism, including church planting, must be rooted and
flow from an understanding of the Missio Dei (the mission of God).
Everything God has done in this world flows from His outwardlooking heart.
Mission is defined, directed, energized and
accomplished by GodAll that the church does in
mission must be related to the missionary work of
God3
It is not the church of God that has a mission in the
world but the God of mission who has a church in the
world 4
Gods missionary purposes are cosmic in scope,
concerned with the restoration of all things, the
establishment of shalom, the renewal of creation and
the coming of the kingdom as well as the redemption
of fallen humanity and the building of the church.5
God is the missionary building His kingdom and we are to join God
on His kingdom mission. When new churches are not born out of
an understanding of Gods mission, they can easily degenerate into
nothing more than another church brand type where believers
come to be fed!
3
4
5

Stuart Murray, Church Planting: Laying Foundations, Herald Press, 2001, p. 39.
Mission-Shaped Church, Church House Publishing, 2004, p. 85.
Ibid.

20

MOMENTUM

Healthy new churches seize the missionary opportunities God is

creating for them as the Missionary God. Their primary motivation
must be a burden and love for people: For God so loved. . . that
he gave. . . Mission is not primarily about our programmes, our
models, or our ideas. It is about having the heart of Jesus, who was
moved with compassion when he saw the people were harassed
and lost and without a shepherd. When a church is birthed because
it shares the outward-looking heart of God, it is born for the right
reasons. What is the motivation for church planting?
2. A contextual awareness
Issue to address: How is church planting informed by a particular
context?
Church planting is not about planting preconceived churches.
Church planting is not about cloning.
Church planting is not about parachuting in predefined church
culture.
Church planting IS about planting a church informed by the
context.

It takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people.6

All church plants must therefore be informed by the context
in which the church plant will be born.
General context (Western Christianity):
A post-Christian context,
A postmodern context,
A post-community context, and
A post-European context.
Particular local context (local community):
Demographics,
Geographics,
Community analysis and research, and
Whether or not we are to plant a church in this place
(what is this place like).

6
Rick Warren, The Purpose-Driven Church: Growth without compromising your message and mission, Zondervan, 1995, p.61.

21

New church planters need to be experts in their communities. They

should be conducting every possible research to build a community
profile of what the target community is like and that information
should assist in helping the new church formulate its mission, model,
ministry and methods of planting. Contextualization is among the
most important things to get right in the new church plant. What will
work in this place? Failure to discern the appropriate context into
which the new church is to be born will almost inevitably lead to
difficulties -- difficulties that that may be irreversible. (MOMENTUM)
3. A cultural understanding
Issue to address: How does church planting relate to people and their
customs?
Church planting is not about imposing our culture on others.
Church planting is not about denouncing other cultures.
Church planting is not about dismissing important customs as
irrelevant.
Church planting IS about planting a church sensitive to its
surrounding culture.
Cultural sensitivity is, in some ways, an extension of
contextualizing except that it relates to the specific issue of how
the giver and receiver both identify their own and each others
underlying world views. It is also how they interpret the good news
of Jesus (itself culturally shaped) into a host culture sensitively.
Church planters must conduct two types of research of a potential
target area or people group:

Quantitative research (statistical information and hard facts)

Qualitative research (the story behind the statistics)
What are the people like?
What are the norms and customs of the people?
What traditions are sacred to the people?
What are the street cultures?
What are the taboos of the society?
Who are the key people?

22

MOMENTUM

Where are the key places of power and influence?

What is familiar and important to the people group?
Dr. Donald McGavern, a founder of the church planting movement, was
well known for his statement that people like to become Christians
without crossing racial, linguistic or class barriers.7 We have to
ensure that new churches become sensitive to the cultures they are to
penetrate and, in their shape and form, do not create an unfamiliar, alien
environment in which people are expected to come and be comfortable.
4. A strategic plan
Issue to address: How is the church planting process formed, grown,
launched, and developed?
Church planting is not born without careful planning.
Church planting must not be directionless.
Church planting is not about hit and miss.
Church planting IS about planting a church intentionally through
careful and strategic planning that includes the following stages:
1) Initial idea
2) Many conversations to share an idea
3) Ownership of the idea
4) Public owning of the informal conversation
5) The establishment of a launch group to pray and explore
6) Ownership/sponsorship by another church/group/district
7) Fact-finding on target group and community
8) Shape, ethos and model of church formulated
9) Plans for the official launch of the church
10) Team allocation of responsibilities
11) Training and equipping
12) Promotion and prayer
13) Further recruiting where necessary
14) Discussion about after-launch processes
15) Pre-launch events and publicity
16) Launch
17) Implementation of plans to develop church
7
Lausanne Committee for World Evangelism. (1978). LOP 1: The Pasadena Consultation
- Homogeneous Unit Principle ,Retrieved from http://www.lausanne.org/all-documents/lop-1.html

23

New churches should not be born prematurely. Carefully consider

the many important things that need to be in place to launch a
new church successfully. Strategic thinking is necessary from the
conception of an idea to the development and sustainability of the
new church. Vision, strategy, goals and implementation plans will
need to be formulated and delivered in specific time frames. Goals
need to be SMART.
5. A relevant model

Issue to address: What is the most appropriate model to use for

a new plant?

Church planting can be started in many different ways.

Not all church plants have to look the same.
Not all church plant models work equally well in every place.
Church planting IS about choosing the most appropriate way
to start the new church.

Range of models

Mother/daughter model
Multi-congregational model
Urban centre model
Pioneering model
Satellite model
Cell model
Targeted ethnic model

Replant model

Key issue: How are we best likely to reach our target people
or our target community?
Stuart Murray, a leading writer on postmodernity and post Christendom,
and mission consultant to several UK denominations says:
Since we live in a complex maze of cultures and
identities, we must not assume that one church
planting model will be appropriate in all circumstances.
. . Different social contexts will employ different
approaches. Different ecclesiastical structures will

24

MOMENTUM

employ different methods. Sociological analysis,

theological reflection, and prayer planning are all
needed. However we must remember that there are
many different ways of planting churches.8
6. A flexible structure
Issue to address: How is the new church going to be organised?
New churches need the minimal amount of structure.
Overladen structure can kill a new church.
Not every church will need to be organized in the same way.
Church planting IS about having structures to enable the
church to fulfill the mission.
Since new churches may be born through a new model, and in
response to a new or changing context, it is vital that the church
planters ensure the structures of a new church do not become fixed
too early. Indeed, there is both a need and an opportunity for new
churches to be creative in how they are organised. Many churches
that have been organized for a while struggle with overloaded
church organisation and structure. New churches need to keep
structures flexible to respond to new situations as they arise, even
when denominations expect to have set organisational forms.
7. A health and sustainability outlook
Issue to address: How is the new church going to be healthy and
develop?
New churches will not survive unless there is a church
development process/plan.
New churches need to establish healthy theory and practice to
survive.
Many new churches will fail to be in existence 5 years beyond
their birth unless careful thought is given to issues beyond
launch.
Church planting IS about establishing healthy, developing and
sustainable congregations.
A recent report, Healthy Churches Handbook, R. Warren for Anglican
churches in Durham, stated that churches that are going to become
8

Stuart Murray, Church Planting: Laying Foundations, Herald Press, 2001, p.259.

25

healthy need to embody a good understanding and practice of the key

marks of a growing, healthy church. When these seven principles are
applied, the churches that result are indeed healthy churches. These
churches are marked by the following indicators:
Inspiring corporate worship
Missional focus
Ongoing spiritual development
Effective leadership
Sense of community
Mobilized team ministry
Applied Biblical preaching and teaching
Flexible structures
Contextual relevancy
CONCLUSIONS
We know that God wants us to not only start churches, but start
healthy churches.
Healthy new churches must have:
Theological basis
Contextual awareness
Cultural understanding
Strategic plan
Relevant model
Flexible structure, and
A Health and Sustainability Outlook.

26

MOMENTUM

PLANTING HOLY AND HEALTHY CHURCHES

A Wesleyan approach to church planting and church development
in Europe
The cultural context (in Europe)
In presenting this argument, I would be on much safer ground to keep
to my own cultural context in Scotland. But talking about haggis and
bagpipes, the Bay City Rollers, Glasgow Rangers and William Wallace
may not connect very well with you. So, I have decided to approach
the context from a more general Western cultural perspective, which I
am only too aware gives a broad picture rather than the more localized
picture that is essential to the church planting task.
The contextualization of church planting is among the most critical
principles for church planting. It must be said from the outset:
Starting healthy new communities can only be successful if one takes
seriously the context in which the new church will be planted. Far too
often church planters and their models, methods, and strategies are
parachuted in from other contexts because it is assumed success
elsewhere will inevitably reproduce success in the next context. This is
not only dangerous (maybe even reckless) but is sure to fail if there are
not intentional and thorough strategies developed that take seriously
the targeted communitys individual context. Far too often, in our zeal to
plant a new church, we transplant people, cultures and models that are
not appropriate for the communities we are trying to reach.
Therefore, I am very conscious of the problems with setting a context
as wide and varied as Western Europe. However, it may be fair to say
in broad terms (so long as we keep context in mind) that there are a
number of trends that may accurately describe elements of the cultural
context of planting churches within Western Europe today. Of these,
briefly the following four cultural factors are:
Post-Christian context
There is a degree of consensus among church leaders, writers, Christian
denominations, and organizations that the church and Christian faith
are under threat in the West. Its influence and position are fast eroding
across the continent while other religious and spiritual forces are gaining

27

influence. Statistically the church in the West is in crisis, especially

across institutional and traditional churches. Certainly there is a new
and urgent call for Christians and churches to move from maintenance
to mission.
The missional theme is reflected in a surge of new writers and thinkers
in recent years. Contemporary Western movements such as Fresh
expressions of church and the Emergent Church are grappling, in part,
with how to respond to Western Europes post-Christian society. As
Murray says,
Much of western culture is experiencing a culture shift
from Christendom to post-Christendom. This is obvious
in Europe and Australasia and increasingly apparent in
many parts of North America. After centuries of cultural
dominance, the churches are now back on the social
margins where they were in the early centuries. Our story,
language and practices are becoming unfamiliar.9
In a paper I presented to a pastors conference I stated: What
is taking place is not merely the continued decline of organized
Christianity, but the death of the culture that formerly influenced
the West as a whole. The pace of decline is different in different
places but decline it is nonetheless. The culture of Christianity
in that sense is being eroded in Europe and being replaced by
new forms of spirituality. People are still interested in spirituality,
but whereas the church was the place to embrace spirituality,
it is now only a place, with many believing Christianity has had
its day. Even in what are regarded as traditional Christian
countries there are now second or third pagan generations
and we cannot simply work on the premise that all we have to
do to bring people to Christ is to ask them to remember their
long-held, traditional faith. Very many people have no residue of
Christian faith at all; its not just dormant; its non-existent; in so
many instances we have to go back to basics; we are in a critical
missionary situation.10
9
Stuart Murray, Post-Christendom: Church and Mission in a Strange New World, Paternoster Press, 2004, p.3.
10
Trevor Hutton. The world is not my parish but my network: emerging trends of context.

28

MOMENTUM

A postmodern context
Postmodern is a term that originated in art and literature and has created
a new framework of thinking that has permeated the popular mindset
at all levels. It has brought changing paradigms of thinking that has
identifiable broad-stroke themes.
Postmodernity is essentially a reaction to modernity, an age fostered
by the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution
in which reason and progress were held to be the keys to a successful
society. In contrast, postmodernism is suspicious of reason, progress,
objectivity, certainty, and individuality, and prefers to value open
spirituality, pluralism, the experiential, relativism, community, creativity,
the arts, environmentalism, global concerns, holistic approaches and
genuine authenticity.
The postmodernist says there is no single worldview that captures
reality, no overall master story that underlies humanity. Reason is to be
distrusted because there is no way to know which persons reason is
reliable. There is no such thing as true objectivity. There is no absolute
truth to appeal to for understanding history and culture. There are no
moral absolutes. There is no truth, only truths. There are no principles,
only preferences. There is no grand reason, only reasons. There is no
privileged civilization, only a sea of cultures, beliefs, periods, and styles.
There is no big story, just stories.
The recognition and understanding of such a philosophical mindset in
the West is critical to church planting and it should inform both the
principles and models that are employed in starting and developing
new Christian communities. In planting a church, serious and thoughtful
consideration must be given to how that church is defined, expressed,
and structured in reaching postmoderns. It will require new and fresh
approaches if that church is to be relevant and engage with both the
unchurched and the increasing number of de-churched people.
A post-community context
The Western world has been described as the New Network Society.
In a network society place is less important than flows. In other words,
it is the flowing of information, contacts, relationships, technology and
capital that shape society. The Internet is a classic example. From one

29

perspective it has no centre, no one place where choices are controlled.

Everywhere is linked to everywhere else. The only pilot is the search
engine. Networks of relationships are created through it (chat rooms,
blogging, etc.) and friendships are maintained electronically (usually
via e-mail or social network message). Information technology, the
Internet, technological revolutions in transport and telecommunications,
economics, growing global power and competitive markets have all
created the global village.
Networking has not replaced community but defined it. Communities
are mainly networks of communities within communities. As Ulrich Beck
says, To live in one place no longer means to live together, and living
together no longer means living in the same space.11 Martin Albow
echoes the same theme, It is so possible today for people living in
the same street to have a fleeting relationship with a neighbour but a
relationship with someone who lives on the other side of the world. 12
Geographical location alone can no longer be seen as the determining
basis of community. People instead define their community through
their leisure, work and friendships, i.e. their network. Locality, place and
territory do still have significance but rather than being the predominant
significant factor of community they form one layer of the complex
maze. People are more likely to belong to places rather than a place;
to networks rather than a community.
Church planting must take seriously the need to develop models of
planting that use relational networking as the key evangelistic tool. It
is not insignificant that in Britain the cell and house churches are the
fastest growing churches in the last ten years and the most prolific in
church planting. Perhaps our predominant Western model of the motherdaughter church plant needs to be complemented by other models that
focus on the new network society.
A post-European context
Europe has always been a multifaceted community made up of people,
language and cultural groups. Yet, arguably, with the globalizing
economy, transient people groups and populations, increasing migration
and immigration, and the continuing expansion of the European
11
12

Mission-Shaped Church, Church House Publishing, 2004, p. 6.

Ibid.

30

MOMENTUM

community, Europe itself has become a mini-world market and a

multi-cultural phenomenon not paralleled in any point of its previous
history. The indigenous national peoples are increasingly scattered
and joined by many world people groups. In the past, the continent of
Europe could be described as a mixture of cultures and peoples. Now
individual European countries themselves grapple with the implications
of being multicultural, multi-ethic, and multi-faith in ways that are
unprecedented in any previous generation. Fluidity of movement across
the European Union is significantly changing the cultural identity of
nationhood. In setting the context for establishing new church plants,
we have to recognize and deal with this context, and which also means
new churches should be created to reflect the new society.
In brief: if we are to plant healthy new churches in Europe, they need to be
informed by context. The immediate local context is the most important,
but in a Western European context there are at least four cultural factors
that should inform and shape our understanding and practice of church
planting if we want to start relevant and strong churches. These cultural
factors are: the post-Christian context, the postmodern context, the
post-community context, and the post-European context.
The theological context (A Wesleyan approach)
I want to endorse all denominations that plant churches out of a missional
concern; I do not want to endorse any sectarian or exclusive mentality.
However, the question has been posed: Is there a Wesleyan approach
to planting healthy churches? I do not think there is a particularly
Wesleyan way, or even Nazarene way, of planting new churches. My
research across the topic has not identified anything unique in the
Wesleyan tradition that is not found in other theological circles in why
and how new churches are started.
Church planting is rooted in evangelistic and missional concern. Many
denominations share the Great Commission as the call, with missional
and theological concepts as the motivation and rationale for planting
churches. It is fair to say that only in the last 20 years has serious
theological reflection been an important part of church planting. I
welcome this. At the same time I am concerned that in our denomination
there is not enough balance between church planting practice and
theological reflection. Nazarenes or Wesleyans do not, in my view, have

31

a greater appreciation and understanding of the theological basis for

church planting than other churches.
It is also the case that there are no distinct Wesleyan models of church
planting. If we were to take the major models for church planting
(catalyst pioneer, mother-daughter, cell or house church, urban ministry
centre, new expressions of church, multi-congregational, etc.) we
would find most denominations have an expression of all these models,
and many of these models can also be found within Wesleyan circles.
There is no evidence to suggest, even with church planting models, that
there is a unique Wesleyan model because of theological doctrine and
persuasion.
Although Wesleyans do not have a distinct model or method for planting
a church, the ethos of the plant (i.e. its DNA) should reflect a Wesleyan
doctrinal core if we are Wesleyans. We should think about planting
Wesleyan churches rather than Wesleyan church planting.
What DNA ought to be a basic building component from the beginning
of a truly Wesleyan church plant? We cannot plant a truly Wesleyan
church unless it has from its conception at least the five following core
DNA components.
Integrity and transparency
A Wesleyan church will have an inherent desire to embody integrity and
transparency as a major ethos. Call this holiness unto the Lord or entire
sanctification or Christian perfection or perfect love or baptism of
the Spirit if you wish. A Wesleyan church will always want to create the
DNA of integrity and transparency as it aims to wholeheartedly reflect
the likeness of Christ in holy living. A new Nazarene church ought to
have a clear understanding of the need to emphasize and embody the
call of God for purity and consecration, for wholehearted devotion to
God and ones neighbours, emphasizing the dynamic power of the Holy
Spirit to birth, cleanse, assure, and empower a new community of faith.
Holy churches becoming healthy churches. A holy church is a healthy
church.
Universal value
A Wesleyan church will have an inherent desire to share the good news

32

MOMENTUM

about Jesus with all people regardless of age, creed, gender, race, social
status, etc. because the church fundamentally embraces the universality
of the Gospel and Jesus as the universal Savior. An instinctive heartbeat
in a new Nazarene church is the belief that God loves the entire world
and that all have an opportunity to come to know Jesus Christ. The
church will aim to show by proclamation and presence the good news
to all.
Social transformation
A Wesleyan church will have an inherent desire to bring social transformation
to its context and community. The new church, from its conception, will be
outward looking and involved in incarnational ministry that seeks to transform
its community. John Wesley said, The gospel of Christ knows no religion

but social; no holiness but social holiness13 -- and then exemplified

this conviction through his work on behalf of the poor, the enslaved,
the imprisoned, the unlearned, and the addicted. Wesleyans, at heart, are
those who minister holistically and challenge the social, cultural, economic, and
even political structures that create, manifest and aid sinfulness. A Wesleyan
church will want to act as an agent of transformation, ushering in the Kingdom
of God. Holiness is not just personal piety; it is not just communal piety. It is
nothing less than the creation of integrity and transparency within the very
social fabric of the wider community.
A place for the marginalized

When the Church of the Nazarene was founded, a key foundational

ethos of Nazarenes was and still is ministry to the marginalized
within society. Founder Phineas Bresee chose the name Nazarene to
emphasize the churchs solidarity with the urban poor. He said,
The first miracle after the baptism of the Holy Ghost was
wrought upon a beggar. It means that the first service
of a Holy Ghost-baptized church is to the poor; that its
ministry is to those who are lowest down; that its gifts
are for those who need them the most. As the Spirit was
upon Jesus to preach the gospel to the poor, so His Spirit
is upon His servants for the same purpose.14
13
Works, (Emory edition), VII, p. 593
14
Phineas Bresee, This is taken from the Messenger, September 12, 1901, as quoted in
Harold Ivan Smith, The Quotable Bresee, Beacon Hill Press, 1983, p. 167.

33

Whether we are in the city, in urban or rural or suburban contexts, the

DNA of a Wesleyan church will be to engage with the marginalized in
some way.
Optimism
A Wesleyan church remembers that Jesus works to prepare the ground
for receiving the Gospel. Nazarenes often call this prevenient grace.
New, healthy Nazarene churches will enter a community and context
confident that Jesus grace is already working in that community.
Rather than believing we are bringing the Gospel to a new community or
context, we must acknowledge that Jesus precedes us in each church
planting initiative. In this Wesleyan optimism of grace (as I like to call
it) we have faith and expectancy that God has prepared the way for His
work, His Church and His Gospel.
In conclusion, although there may not be a particularly Wesleyan way
to plant a church, or superior Wesleyan theological insight into church
planting, it is essential that the new churchs DNA includes integrity
and transparency, universal value, social transformation, a call to the
marginalized, and a belief in the optimism of grace. As stated previously,
we should think about planting Wesleyan churches rather than Wesleyan
church planting.

Biotic context (Planting healthy churches)

There is a huge difference between planting a church and planting a
healthy church, as reflected in the late Dr. Bill Sullivans book Planting
Churches, which has been reprinted under the title Starting Strong New
churches. I find it interesting that, in recent years, Saddleback Church in
Orange County, California, United States, and its leadership under Rick
Warren, have dropped church growth phraseology for church health
phraseology.Warren states: I believe the key issue for churches in the
twenty-first century will be church health, not church growth.15 I think
this is a significant theme emerging in denominations that signed -on
wholesale to church growth theory, and practice.
Perhaps in our European context, the work pioneered by Christian Swartz
in his movement and work Natural Church Development16 gives us one
15
Rick Warren, The Purpose-Driven Church: Growth without compromising your message and mission, Zondervan, 1995, p. 17.
16
Christian A. Schwartz, Natural Church Development, UK edition, BCGA, 1995

34

MOMENTUM

strategy for developing healthy communities. According to Swartz,

this will happen if we remove the barriers to health and embody key
characteristics and principles that stimulate health. Through extensive
research Swartz first identifies key characteristics of a healthy church
and names eight that he has identified as being present in a healthy
church.
1. Empowering leadership
2. Gift-oriented lay ministry
3. Passionate spirituality
4. Functional structures
5. Inspiring worship services
6. Holistic small groups
7. Need-oriented evangelism
8. Loving relationships
Recent research has added other health indicators which include:
9. Vision and direction
10. Sound Biblical doctrine
11. Engagement with youth and children
12. Accountability structures
13. Gentle but firm application of discipline
14. Cultural relevancy
15. Intentional equippingand training
16. Vibrant prayer
17. Intentional disciple-making
18. Leadership transition and development
When we come to speak about healthy churches, we need to consider
growth, development, maturity, the process of becoming, the ongoing
transformation, the journey into holiness, and wholeness. We need to
embrace its ongoing development into maturity as one of the necessary
DNA components. Healthy churches must develop and progress; every
church community is on an ever expanding journey of faith. This means
that healthy churches are constantly looking to the Spirit for renewal
and reformation; empowerment and change; to balance orthodoxy
with cultural relevancy; for courage to foster belonging without losing
believing and behaving; for involvement in reaching people where they
really are without becoming what they are; for developing a close-knit
community but not becoming inward focused; for being contextually

35

relevant without being market driven. Even if we do not like the Rick
Warren and Saddleback Church strategy and model, we can at least
appreciate his pioneering emphasis on establishing new churches that
intentionally balance all the main purposes of God. As Warren says, a
healthy church will:17
grow warmer though fellowship;
grow deeper though discipleship;
grow stronger through worship;
grow broader through ministry;
grow larger though evangelism.
Balancing Gods purposes for the church will create a healthy church.
In addition to naming eightquality characteristics (we have added ten
others), Schwarz identifies six other health development principles,
which he says are essential to a healthy church. His terms are listed,
followed by the Living Bible equivalent, listed in parenthesis, to help
clarify their meanings.
1. Interdependence (understanding how and why things work
together)
2. Multiplication (understanding how and why things need to
reproduce)
3. Energy Transformation (understanding how negatives can be
turned into positives)
4. Multi-usage (understanding how tasks can serve a number of
different purposes)
5. Symbiosis (understanding how diversity and unity can both be
accommodated)
6. Function (understanding if something actually works or not)
Though technically expressed, these principles help us identify issues
and tenets essential to health and development. The points that Schwarz
raises can be expressed in practical questions for both church planters
and pastors in existing churches:
17
Rick Warren, The Purpose-Driven Church: Growth without compromising your message
and mission, Zondervan, 1995, p. 48.

36

MOMENTUM

What are the principles that create and sustain life, and how do we
develop them in the living organism of the church? What are the barriers
that hinder health and development, and how are they to be dealt with
if a church is to develop into maturity? What can make a church ill, and
what is the remedy for that illness? What do we need to put in place
to develop people through a life process of maturity and growth, and
how is that to be done in a relevant, engaging and intentional way? The
questions can go on and on, but if we are to plant healthy churches, we
must seriously address the sustainability issues of the church. Indeed,
this should be an ongoing and exciting challenge that engages our
efforts, energies, and wills, and stretches our faith.

37

CONCLUSION
So what have we learned about A Wesleyan Approach to Church
Planting and church development in Europe? Let me suggest ten
practical pointes that put us on the right track for planting holy and
healthy churches:
10 PRACTICAL POINTERS
1. Healthy new Nazarene churches must be contextualized locally
at all times.
2. Healthy new Nazarene churches must have a theological and
missiological foundation.
3. Healthy new Nazarene churches must hold timeless principles,
but express them in timely ways.
4. Healthy new Nazarene churches must intentionally have a
Wesleyan DNA from the start.
5. Healthy new Nazarene churches must embrace both
proclamation and presence.
6. Healthy new Nazarene churches must be balanced in focusing
on all of Gods purposes.
7. Healthy new Nazarene churches must implement strategies for
church and people development.
8. Healthy new Nazarene churches must look to develop people
through a life process.
9. Healthy new Nazarene churches must intentionally be open to
renewal, reform, and change.
10. Healthy new Nazarene churches must recognize that although
some plant and some water

it is God who gives the growth!

38

MOMENTUM

SUMMARY STATEMENT
Basic assumptions as a background for church planting: Language
applications in the post-Christian context
1. God is always working missionally for the whole of His own
creation. His purposes and plans are for the reconciliation of all
things.
2. The Bible tells this BIG story but expresses it in a mosaic and
matrix of historical particulars and interlinked biblical stories.
3. The ongoing mission of God in the world calls the church in
every generation to identify with and respond to this mission.
4. Gods story is lived out and expressed in real contexts of
mission from generation to generation, nation to nation, culture
to culture, subculture to subculture, community to community,
people to people, and person to person.
5. We always work in the interface between Gods universal
purposes and our particular setting (context). Mission is always
an engagement with God, and for God, in real life situations and
settings.
6. We are one partner in Gods mission. We are not it but we are
an important part of it. Others are part of it, too!
7. There is no one single context of mission, but contexts within
contexts (multi-contexts).
8. This module will help us examine general and specific contexts
in which there must always be a relation to the universality of
Gods missional purposes.

39

SECTION II
PRACTICAL PROCESSES FOR
PLANTING NEW CHURCHES
DEVELOPING A NEW START INITIATIVE
Practical application for the Church of the Nazarene in the European
Context
Newstart Mission Statement
Newstart is an intentional effort to equip and resource the Church
of the Nazarene with New Testament strategy of starting strong new
churches to reach people for Christ. Newstart can empower established
churches to sponsor strong new ones. (International Church of the
Nazarene)
How a Newstart Ministry is Designated
A ministry is designated as Newstart through a process of formal
recognition by the district (and General Church of the Nazarene). This
process flows from the initial idea to the official establishment of a
new church, and involves the following key steps:
1. Newstart idea
2. Newstart formulated plan
3. Newstart district recognition (General church/CECD)
4. Newstart district support (i.e. finance, training, resourcing,
equipping)
5. Newstart development to a new church
6. Official organisation
How a Newstart Idea is Formulated for District Recognition
For a Newstart designation to be conferred by the district and therefore
be supported officially, a Newstart plan must be formulated and
presented to the District Evangelism Task Force (ETF). It should contain
the following items:
1. A proposal for a Newstart ministry
2. Initial support for the Newstart ministry (from people, or

40

MOMENTUM

sponsoring church)
3. Location for Newstart ministry
4. Initial demographical study of the target area
5. Profile of people being targeted in location
6. Study of existing churches and ministry in the location
7. Note of contacts or opportunities already in location area
8. Note of groups or people who have volunteered to help
9. Note about the enthusiasm of the sponsoring church/pastor
10. Short- and medium-term goals to birth the vision
11. Initial timescale plan detailing the significant steps towards the
project launch, including specific and measurable phases of
development
12. Plan of finances that may be needed to launch and sustain the
project, including any finances committed already or likely to be
received
13. Initial ministry programme that will initiate the Newstart, including
methods and tools to accomplish the desired outcomes
14. If the Newstart pastor is an already pastoring a church, include
how all parties understand issues of handover for both churches.
District recognition and support of Newstarts
Once a Newstart application has been received with the above
information in a report, and approved by the Evangelism Task Force (or
district superintendent), the ETF (or DS) should facilitate:
1. Any specific recommendations
2. Necessary assessment
3. Required training or equipping
4. Initial funding
5. Procedure for mentoring and encouraging
6. Procedure for on-going assessment and accountability
7. Other
Movement towards new churches
As the Newstart goals are achieved and the Newstart is born, so the
ETF and district are to move the church toward full organisation with
Manual requirements under the normal procedures.

41

CHURCH PLANTING: CONVICTIONS CONTEXT

AND CONSTRAINTS
What kind of church eventually emerges depends on the interaction of
three factors:
1. Convictions
2. Context
3. Constraints
Convictions
What vision do you have for a new church?
The diagram/picture of how your church might look (not the
building!!!).
What ethos will your church have?
What foundational values are absolutely essential?
Context:
What context do you envision your new church having?
How might you find out more about the context into which you
will plant?
What is the difference between church planting and church
cloning?
How and why might your context shape your new church?
Constraints:
What are your current constraints on starting a new church?
What are your personnel constraints?
What are the resources or financial constraints?
How might you address these? Or how might you begin to
address these?

42

MOMENTUM

Church planting brings together the interplay of context, convictions,

and constraints, and largely shapes what the new church will look like
and what it will do. It is vital for the planting team to determine all three
aspects and how they are going to integrate them. Do the convictions
relate to the context in which the church is planted? Does the context
place constraints on what can and cannot be done? Do constraints
impose on the convictions? The team should discuss these three
components in light of their vision, values, ethos and plans of action
BEFORE they start the church planting exercise.

43

How to discover your context?

There are five basic components of community research that help
identify the community you need to reach.
1. Observation
2. Conversation
3. Investigation
4. Interpretation
5. Application
Observation:
How might you go about observing your community?
What are some of the things you might observe?
Why is observation helpful?
Conversation:
Who might you hold conversations with in the community you
are going to plant in?
How might you conduct these conversations?
Investigation:
How might you go about practically investigating and researching
your target community?
What else might you like to research and why?
Interpretation:
Based on the information you have received, you need to build
a COMMUNITY PROFILE so that you have a snapshot of the
community you are going to reach.
What principles/ideas are you going to use to make sure your
interpretation is as accurate as possible?
Application:
Profiling should lead to action! What you do should relate to
what you have discovered! Use the case studies provided to
answer the question: What type of ministry might you deliver in
this context?

44

MOMENTUM

THE WAY FORWARD: A PRACTICAL CONCLUSION

10 useful pointers for the way ahead
As we think about developing new, relevant churches in our context, there are
several pointers to keep in mind.
1. Prayer and support.
The prayers of the church community are essential. The church that
is thinking of planting new relevant churches should commit itself
to pray and seek Gods direction about what it should do. Special
times of prayer should be called for those that want to take this
process forward. Guidance, direction and dependence on God are
necessary.
2. Other listening to God.
In addition to prayer, we should listen to what other people feel
God is saying to them. The church should call a new church plant
conversation (for those that are serious about this) to pray and
discuss with each other what is God saying to us? This is not
a planning or strategy meeting but a general soul sharing of what
God is saying to other people. Is God saying anything to us from
the Bible? Is God saying anything to us through the people in the
community? Has God put ideas or burdens on our hearts?
3. Connection
It is vital that new churches remain connected, committed, and
accountable to the wider Body of Christ. And it is vital that the wider
Body of Christ supports, resources, empowers and prays for these
fresh expressions. Whatever decision is made about what a church
might and should do, it is vital a decision is at the start that the
pioneers of change or leaders of the new churches are accountable
and part of the local church body.
4. Recognise two obvious dangers.
There is danger in thinking everything has to be new so that we
throw the baby out with the bath water. New ways are needed
but principles and practices that have stood the test of time have
something to teach us.

45

There is also danger in staying with the old, fossilizing the church. It
can end up as extinct as the dinosaurs. Resisting and rejecting new
things leads to extinction.
5. Get the process order right.
Five practical pointers are necessary for starting a new, relevant
church:
Discover what you already know. Take stock of where you are
right now.
Do some initial research. Set up a small task group (3-5 people)
to explore in more detail the conversations already begun and
possibilities for a new church.
Listen more deeply. This means the task force group should
meet with appropriate parties to talk about ideas, vision, and
possibilities. Prayer, reflection and wider consultations are taken.
Having come up with some ideas or vision, the task force needs
to listen to what others think.
Reflect and test Gods call. Begin to explore possible action,
perhaps by running a pilot and seeing how this goes. Testing out
some ideas without an absolute commitment to them, no matter
what, is useful and necessary.
Having tested the waters, act on what might be done as a course
of action over a more sustainable time, maybe the next year or
so.
6. Start at the fringe and not the center.
Dont begin by asking How can we attract new people to what we
do here? or How can we make this existing congregation change
to become renewed and relevant? New expressions of church
work best by starting at the fringe and birthing new things alongside
and out of existing church. The aim is to find a team of 3 to 5 people
who are given permission to experiment on the fringes to create a
new community of church. Birthing alongside what already exists is
a safer and more sensible strategy than trying to change everyone
to be the fresh expression. It wont work. Start at the fringe and not
the centre.
7. Get as many models and resources as possible.
This should include:

46

MOMENTUM

Acquiring new media and showing clips of them in your worship

regularly to show what it is about.
Get models and samples for the congregation.
Use the listed resources in this document.
Join the existing networks (where you can learn from other
stories in a learning community).
Train your potential church planters.
8. Primary commitment for some
Realize that all new births require commitment and time. If a new
expression of church is to be birthed, then it requires some people
to make this their primary church commitment and should not be
treated as another program in the church.
9. Use consultancy agencies to help shape and guide the process.
You do not have to do this on your own. Missional agencies such
as MOMENTUM Uk Ltd (an active church planting partner of the
Church of the Nazarene in Eurasia) can serve to help guide a church
through the process.
10. Have a go!
Dont be too overawed. Risk-taking is necessary if anything is to be
achieved. Guided by principles in this document and the wisdom
and experience of others, step out and give it a go. Dont get bogged
down in organizational structures and unnecessary red tape! Keep
it simple from the start. Go on, have a go! Good things happen when
you go for it! (Alan Webb)

47

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON CHURCH HEALTH

BOOKS
Anderson, Leith. Is This Body Healthy? Chap. in A Church for the 21st
Century. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 1992.
Barna, George. User Friendly Churches: What Christians Need to Know About
the Churches People Love to Go to. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1991.
________. The Habits of Highly Effective Churches. Ventura, CA: Issachar
Resources, 1999; reprint, Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1999.
Bowen, Murray. Family Therapy in Clinical Practice. Northvale, NJ: Jason
Aronson, 1994.
Campbell, Barry. Smaller Churches Healthy and Growing. Nashville, TN:
LifeWay Press, 1998.
Chaney, Charles L. and Ron S. Lewis. How to Diagnose the Growth Health of
Your Church. Chap. in Design for Church Growth. Nashville: Broadman Press,
1977.
Cook, Jerry and Stanley Baldwin. Love, Acceptance, and Forgiveness.
Glendale, CA: Regal Books, 1979.
Corey, Gerald. Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy, 6th
ed.Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2001.
Dever, Mark E. Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. Washington, DC: Center for
Church Reform, 1998.
Epp, Albert H. Discipleship Therapy: Healthy Christians, Healthy Churches.
Henderson, NE: Stairway Discipleship, 1993.
Flew, R. Newton. Jesus and His Church: A Study of the Idea of the Ecclesia in
the New Testament. London: Epwoth Press, 1938.

48

MOMENTUM

Folz, Howard L. Healthy Churches in a Sick World: Ministering to the Church

Body, Community, and Nations. Joplin, MO: Messenger Publishing House,
2002.
Friedman, Edwin H. Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and
Synagogue. New York, NY: The Guildford Press, 1985.
Furnish, Victor Paul. The Love Commandment in the New Testament.
Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1972.
Getz, Gene. The Measure of a Church. Glendale, CA: Regal Books, 1973.
Green, Hollis L. Why Churches Die: A Guide to Basic Evangelism and Church
Growth. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany Fellowship, 1972.
Guralnik, David B., ed. Websters New World Dictionary, 2d college ed. New
York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1984.
Hemphill, Ken. The Antioch Effect: 8 Characteristics of Highly Effective
Churches. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994.
Hewitt, Gerald Neal. A Prescription for Healthy Churches: Help for
Disintegrating Churches and Directionless Pastors. Winston-Salem, NC: GNH
Publishing, 2001.
Laird, Carlton, ed. Websters New World Thesaurus, rev. ed., updated by
William D. Lutz. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1971.
Logan, Robert E. Beyond Church Growth: Action Plans for Developing a
Dynamic Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell, 1989.
MacArthur, John. Marks of a Healthy Church. Panorama, CA: Grace to You,
1990.
________. The Masters Plan for the Church. Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1991.
Macchia, Stephen A. Becoming a Healthy Church: 10 Characteristics. Grand
Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999.

49

________. Becoming a Healthy Church Workbook: A Dialogue, Assessment,

and Planning Tool. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2001.
MacNair, Donald J. The Practices of a Healthy Church: Biblical Strategies for
Vibrant Church Life and Ministry. Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 1999.
Martin, Ralph P. The Family and the Fellowship. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans,
1980.
Masters, Peter. Do We Have a Policy for Church Health & Growth: Pauls Ten
Point Policy. London: The Wakeman Trust, 2002.
Mayhue, Richard. What Would Jesus Say About Your Church? Ross-shire,
Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 1995; reprint, 2002.
McGavran, Donald A. and Win Arn. How to Grow a Church: Conversations
about Church Growth. Glendale, CA: Regal Books, 1973.
Minear, Paul S. Images of the Church in the New Testament. Philadelphia, PA:
Westminster, 1970.
Ogden, Greg, The New Reformation. Grand Rapids: Harper & Row, 1979.
Olson, Melodie. Health and Illness. In Principles and Practice in Adult Health
Nursing, eds. Patricia Gauntlett Beare and Judith L. Myers, 4-26. St. Louis,
MO: The C. V. Mosby Co., 1990.
Pappas, Anthony G. Assessing Congregational Health. In Entering the World
of the Small Church. Bethesda, MD: The Alban Institute, 2000.
Richardson, Ronald. Creating a Healthier Church: Family Systems Theory,
Leadership, and Congregational Life. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1996.
Schalk, Christoph A. Organizational Diagnosis of Churches: The Statistical
Development of the Natural Church Development Survey and Its Relation to
Organizational Psychology. Wrzburg, Germany: Institute for Natural Church
Development, 1999.
Schwarz, Christian A. Natural Church Development: A Guide to Eight Essential

50

MOMENTUM

Qualities of Healthy Churches. Carol Stream, IL: Church Smart Resources,

1996.
________. Paradigm Shift in the Church: How Natural Church development
Can Transform Theological Thinking. Carol Stream, IL: Church Smart
Resources, 1999.
Shawchuck, Norman and Gustave Rath. Benchmarks of Quality in the Church:
21 Ways to Continuously Improve the Content of Your Ministry. Nashville, TN:
Abingdon Press, 1994.
Smith, David L. All Gods People: A Theology of the Church. Wheaton, IL: Victor
Books, 1996.
Spader, Dann and Gary Mayes. Growing a Healthy Church. Chicago, IL: Moody,
1991.
Steinke, Peter L. How Your Church Family Works. Bethesda, MD: Alban
Institute, 1993.
________. Healthy Congregations. Bethesda, MD: Alban Institute, 1996.
Stott, John R. W. What Christ Thinks of the Church. Grand Rapids, IL:
Eerdmans, 1972.
________. Gods New Society. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1979.
Towns, Elmer and Warren Bird. Get Help Becoming More Healthy. In Into
the Future: Turning Todays Trends into Tomorrows Opportunities. Grand
Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell, 2000.
Wagner, C. Peter. Your Church Can Grow: Seven Vital Signs of a Healthy
Church. Glendale, CA: Regal Books, 1976.
________. Leading Your Church to Grow: The Secret of Pastor/People
Partnership in Dynamic Church Growth. Glendale, CA: Regal Books, 1984.
________. The Healthy Church: Avoiding and Curing the 9 Diseases that Can
Afflict Any Church. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1996.

51

Warren, Rick. The Purpose Driven Church: Growth without Compromising Your
Message & Mission. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995.
Warren, William F., Jr., Interpreting New Testament Narrative: The Gospels
and Acts. In Biblical Hermeneutics: A Comprehensive Introduction to
Interpreting Scripture , ed. Bruce Corley, Steve W. Lemke, and Grant I Lovejoy,
316-30. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2002.
Zunkel, C. Wayne. Dare to Grow: Building Healthy Churches. Elgin, IL: David C.
Cook, 1993.
PERIODICALS
Burrage, Ralph. How Healthy Is Your Church? Proclaimer 4, no.7 (July 2002),
3.
Eclov, Lee. Jesus Surprising Definition. Leadership XVIII, no. 3 (Summer
1997): 40.
Ellas, John and Flavil Yeakley. Review of Natural Church Development by
Christian Schwarz, Journal of the American Society for Church Growth 10
(Spring 1999): 83-92.
________. Reply by Ellas and Yeakley. Journal of the American Society for
Church Growth 10 (Fall 1999): 89-90.
Jacobsen, Wayne. The Numbers Game: A Threat to Churches Large & Small.
Leadership IV, no. 1 (Winter 1983): 49-53.
Jordan, C. Ferris, Some Marks of a Healthy Church Family. The
Theological Educator: A 38
Journal of Theology and Ministry 50 (1994): 69-77.
MacDonald, Gordon. Ten Conditions for Church Health. Leadership
IV, no. 1 (Winter 1983): 44-8.

52

MOMENTUM

McManus, Erwin. The Cause-Driven Church. Leadership XVIII, no. 3

(Summer 1997): 40.
Neighbor, Ralph W. Its the Structure, Period. Leadership XVIII, no. 3
(Summer 1997): 36-7.
Patterson, Ben. Discipline: The Backbone of the Church. Leadership
IV, no. 1 (Winter 1983): 108-111.
Robertson, Paul E. Theology of the Healthy Church. The Theological
Educator: A Journal of Theology and Ministry 57 (Spring 1998): 45-52.
Schwarz, Christian A. Natural Church Development: A Guide to Eight
Essential Qualities of Healthy Churches: A Response. Journal of the
American Society for Church Growth 9 (Fall 1998): 71-8.
Simpson, Daniel. Review of Natural Church Development: A Guide
to Eight Essential Qualities of Healthy Churches. Journal of the
American Society for Church Growth 9 (Spring 1999): 83-92.
Steinke, Peter. Outbreak: How to Stop a Virus from Spreading in Your
Church. Leadership XVIII, no. 3 (Summer 1997): 36-9.
Trueblood, Elton. A Time for Holy Dissatisfaction. Interview by Dean
Merrill and Marshall Shelley. Leadership IV, no. 1 (Winter 1983): 18-27.
Wagner, C. Peter and Richard L. Gorsuch. The Quality Church (Part
1), Leadership IV, no. 1 (Winter 1983): 28-35.
Warren, Rick. Comprehensive Health Plan: To Lead a Healthy Church
Takes More Than Technique. Interview by Ed Rowell and Kevin Miller.
Leadership XVIII, no. 3 (Summer 1997): 23-9.
Wetzler, David. A Response to John Ellas and Flavil Yeakley. Journal
of the American Society for Church Growth 10 (Fall 1999): 83-7.
Wright, David F. How Do Churches Grow? Believing and Belonging.
[editorial] Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology 13 (1995): 93-6.

53

54

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

God can use You to plant a Church
By Louie Bustle and Gustavo Crocker

55

Originally published under the title:

The A B Cs of Church Planting: God Can Use You to Plant Churches.
Copyright for 1st Edition Louie E. Bustle, 1992.
Copyright for 2nd Edition Louie E. Bustle, Gustavo A. Crocker, 2010.
Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION.
Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.
Used by permission.

56

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

FOREWORD
Principles Of Church Planting is a long overdue book on a subject that
is close to my heart. Having been a church planter at the start of my fulltime ministry, I am quite aware of what its like for someone to pioneer a
new church with no people, no property and no money!
Louie Bustle and Gustavo Crocker are both visionaries who know how
to lead. Both of these authors are among the best strategic thinkers in
the church world today. They both have a worldview because of their
missionary service and understand how to plant a church in any area
of the world despite the challenges of culture, geography or the global
economy.
This book is a must read for those who feel the call to step into new
frontiers of ministry and plant a church. It is loaded with vital information on how to structure and build a strong local church. Its pages are
filled with ideas, plans, programs and methods for those who are willing
to step out on faith to build a great church. It also helps the reader find
various models and methods that work in different cultures and settings.
The genius of the book is its simplicity. Dr. Thom Rainer recently wrote
a book title, Simple Church. Principles of Church Planting is written on
a level that anyone can understand and identify with. With confidence
the authors tell us that God can use anyone to plant a church. In fact, all
God needs is your willingness!
As I read this book, I was once again reminded that church planting is
the best way for church denominations to grow and evangelize. New
churches assimilate better and reach more new people for Christ. As
church leaders, we must join with Louie Bustle and Gustavo Crocker in
a worldwide endeavor to plant more churches.
Stan Toler
General Superintendent, Church of the Nazarene
& Bestselling Author

57

INTRODUCTION
How can we build a church today, many are asking, when the cost is
so staggering? Peoples hearts are so hard; how can the Church win
them? How is it possible to evangelize the protected, high-rise apartment complexes or the busy centers of urban sprawl?
We are tricked into thinking the task is too big, even for our all-powerful
God and His Church. But God has answers for the impossible questions
we are asking, and He wants to build His Kingdom through His chosen
children around the world. In Ephesians 3:20, the apostle Paul declares,
Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or
imagine, according to His power that is at work within us (NIV).
The Church must dare to do the impossible. The key is that the Power
must be operating in us. We must learn to ask boldly and think big for
God. It is Satans desire to finish off the Church, but since he cannot, his
second best strategy is to slow it down and defeat its purpose. Satan
has confused Church leaders minds and has brought us to defeat with
negative questions.
But Jesus really expects us to win the world. He cannot be pleased with
a strategy that nets so few churches and so few new members. In the
New Testament, Jesus makes it convincingly clear He wants us to reach
the entire world for which He died. The Church must do a better job,
and it can. Planting new centers of hope and grace are part of the plan
and we must engage in such a plan.
Jesus explained in Acts 1:8. You will receive power when the Holy
Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in
all Judea and in all Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (NIV). He is
able to do more than we ask or think because His Power is operating in
us. This is the key. Today we need an increasing measure of Gods Holy
Spirit to be Christ in the world. We trust God will help us change our
mentality so He may do the impossible through us.
The church planting philosophy of the Church of the Nazarene has gone
through several changes. In many instances we have given the responsibility of starting new churches to the district superintendents. The
pastors responsibilities have been primarily in the local church. Some
have been taught that a small church is ugly and a big church is beauti-

58

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

ful. In reality we need beautiful churches of all sizes to share the hope of
Christ with the world. We are not in competition with each other. We are
in a race as a team to build the Kingdom of God before Jesus returns.
It is impossible for the district superintendents alone to start all the new
churches. This is a task for all believers!
More recently we have been awakened to the responsibility of all pastors duplicating themselves, every church starting a new church, and
every member winning new people to Jesus Christ. The New Testament
teaches us this responsibility.
Small churches that are springing up around the world will eventually
grow bigger if they are healthy churches. We have been deceived into
thinking that we do a better job if we do it slower. The truth is, God
wants to build the Kingdom fast enough so that nobody would perish.
The slower we are, the more souls we lose. Many new churches produce many new people, which means many new converts. We can also
grow big, healthy churches that will reach people in their communities
who would not otherwise be reached.
We have often asked pastors and leaders the typical question: How did
you get into the Church? Many of them were introduced to the Church
by people in whom they had confidence. Friends bringing friends to
Jesus is certainly a New Testament concept. Almost all of the rest said
they were saved in churches that were started close to their homes.
Most of them had lived within a 10-block radius of the church. They
were invited to a Church of the Nazarene, attended, accepted the Lord,
and made that church their home.
This is indicative of the way the Church operates. We are called to be
faithful witnesses, but we also need more cells and meeting places for
the Body of Christ around the world. Todays challenge is not only to
bring the people to the Church but also to take the Church to the people. We hope that in these few pages you will be challenged to be a
church planter.
More recently we have been awakened to the responsibility
of every pastor duplicating himself or herself, every church
starting a new church, and every member winning new people to Jesus Christ. The New Testament teaches us this responsibility.

59

NATURAL CHURCH PLANTING

If Jesus is to reach the world through us, we have to realize that the
traditional concept of church growth must be changed. The worlds
population is growing faster than the Christian Church. Unfortunately,
many Christians believe that the only way to keep up with the population growth is by pouring large amounts of money into planting few,
expensive churches. Too many pastors have come to us saying, If I
had more money, I would have better growth! Such a mentality backs
them into a corner.
Is God dependent upon gifts of money from outside the local congregation? No! God relies on His Spirit-filled people, not money, to build the
Kingdom. That was the secret of the early church. When faced with the
question at the temples entrance, the apostles responded to the crippled man: We have neither gold nor silver, but what we have, we give
to you The power of the Holy Spirit is the gift that we exercise to give
hope to the crippled world around us.
To start a new church, we need leaders who will put their heart and soul
into the task of building the Kingdom of God, whatever the cost. The
church must be built upon the vision that humanity is lost and needs
God in their hearts. The desire for revival and the fire of the Holy Spirit
must fuel that vision and accompany the teaching and preaching of the
Word. More people are challenged by inspiration from the foolishness of
preaching than by any other method (I Corinthians 1:21).
As the church planter leads the new congregation and teaches them
about responsible community living and stewardship, its members will
assume financial responsibility for the new church. When God is in control and we have the challenge before us, the impossible becomes possible.
In one local church board meeting, the members were discussing calling a new pastor. One member said, We do not have a parsonage for
the new pastor to live in, so there is no way for us to call one. After
lengthy discussion, one of the board members said, I have an apartment that I will provide for the new pastor to live in. You should have
seen the surprise on the faces of the other board members. Not only

60

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

had they not asked, they had not believed. Sacrifice has always been
one of the greatest elements in building the Kingdom. God not only
requires it, He demands it of His people. Sacrifice is difficult for us to
understand, but it is necessary.
One of the distinctives of the Church of the Nazarene is holistic growth.
A leader said some time ago, We want the Church to grow, but not too
fast. The biblical pattern indicates that the Church cannot grow too
fast, but we do want good growth, on a solid base. We want supervision, but we do not want to control growth. A Church whose mission
is built on outward vision will grow. An egotistical, inward look stymies
growth.
The disciples did not fear growth; neither did Dr. Phineas F. Bresee,
founder of the Church of the Nazarene. He had a vision that included
the world, sending missionaries and pastors and starting churches everywhere possible. He also had a vision for building his Glory Barn
(a simple building that would make even the poor feel welcome) on
the local scene. We want growth without losing our identity. We want a
Church with a vision for winning the world for Jesus as we preach the
Holiness doctrine that the Word of God emphasizes. The holy, sanctified life is the growth dynamic.
The pastor sets the conditions, challenges the people, and establishes
a plan of growth for the local church, as well as for new churches. But
there must also be a mobilized laity.
God wants the Church to have a system of church growth and development such as the apostle Paul initiated. He sent people, called of God,
to minister in satellite churches, prayer cells, and celebration services.
They started small churches and prepared pastors. They took the seminary by extension to the people. Some pastors were full-time, some
were bi-vocational, and others were lay pastors who started congregations.
When will we begin to multiply the Church instead of just adding to it?
Growth is normal in the Church of Jesus Christ. Will you be an instrument, used of God, to fulfill His plan for building the Kingdom by planting churches?

61

Sacrifice has always been one of the greatest elements in

building the Kingdom. God not only required it, He demands
it of His people. Sacrifice is difficult for us to understand, but
it is necessary.
We want a Church with a vision for winning the world for Jesus as we preach the holiness doctrine that the Word of God
emphasizes. The holy, sanctified life is the growth dynamic.

62

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

BECOMING A CHURCH PLANTER

There are two types of church planters. One is the apostolic or catalytic
church planter called by God to start churches, but not to continue
to pastor after they are established. The other is the pioneer church
planter who lays the foundation and continues pastoring the congregation. Independent of the way we embrace our call, God is calling all of
us to be involved in this ministry in some way. It is true that God has
especially gifted certain people to pastor these new churches. He has
also called those to be catalytic church planters.
There was a time when the role of missionaries was to establish and
pastor one congregation at a time. The new mission realities, however,
demand missionaries on foreign fields to become facilitators of catalytic
church planting. Missionaries used to start a church and pastor it for
four years before going on home assignment. At that time they turned
it over to another pastor. This has not proven to be the best utilization
of mission funds. Therefore, we have put emphasis upon a missionary
being a catalytic church planter, supervising and training 5 to 10 pioneer
church planters to pastor. These men and women may have little or no
experience, but the day-to-day training with the catalytic church planter
equips them for the work to which God has called them. This church
planting method has yielded an impressive harvest in most mission areas outside of North America.
The catalytic church planter can also be effective in North America and
even other post-Christian parts of the world. Each church can start a
new church. The mother-church pastor is the catalytic church planter.
They use their home-church base to start new churches with men and
women who have been called to the ministry of church planting. This
enables them to maintain ministry in the sponsor church at the same
time.
During a two-year period Marcos Hatchett, in Santiago, Dominican Republic, started six new churches. Pastors for each of those churches
came from the mother church. At the same time, the mother church
provided several pastors for other churches on the district. While starting these new churches, the mother church grew in attendance from
around 80 to over 200 and became one of the strongest churches in
that country.

63

God honors a mission-minded church with growth when its people are
building the Kingdom. There is no need to give up a great number of
members to start daughter churches. A church and its pastor may want
to give a few members to a new congregation, plan for growth in the
mother church at the same time. On the other hand, the new pastor and
his family may be the only members needed to start the new congregation.
Jess Bernat from North Uruguay also caught that vision. His church
has experienced phenomenal growth in the process of starting several
daughter congregations. The men who pastored these churches were
called to preach from his local congregation. In that way, Brother Bernat
was able to influence Kingdom growth at a much faster rate.
In Bangladesh, the church of the Nazarene started with two congregations in 1994. By 2010, thanks to the leaders emphasis on catalytic
church planting and church mobilization, the church of the Nazarene
in Bangladesh reached 1,260 organized churches and more than 2,000
new works that were in the process of being developed and organized.
In Western Europe, where churches struggle amid postmodern, postChristian environments that claim little need for faith, Rev. Annemarie
Snijders is one of those catalytic leaders who is seeing her community being transformed. In Veenendaal, Netherlands, she felt called to
start a Nazarene church, emphasizing Gods grace and love. Services
began in 2004. Focused on building lasting relationships, the church
invites others to taste and see unconditional love. Annemarie rejoices
as people discover Christ, thankful for the community of faith she calls
vulnerable, vibrant and alive.
Throughout its history the Church of the Nazarene has had many pioneer church planters. This second type of church planter feels a call
to leave his/her comfortable position and move to new areas and start
new churches. Many pastors have spent their lives in pioneer church
planting. Miguel Pea was such a man. In his short ministry in Latin
America he established three excellent congregations, leaving an organized church and moving to a new area, one at a time.
God does call specific leaders to this ministry. One of the beautiful things

64

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

about being a pioneer church planter is that you do not need to have a
great amount of experience. This is especially true if there is a sponsoring church and a support network to help. All of us can be involved in
church planting. The New Testament structure of church planting was
multiplication of congregations and districts. Acts 2:46, 5:42, and Colossians 4:15 all speak of house churches. Acts 9:31 speaks of groups
of churches in various districts. The idea was to develop a movement
where the Word of God could perpetuate growth and churches could be
established in the faith and increase daily-Acts 16:5, 2:47.
Where does a church planter start? Usually, it is best to begin with contact persons, either through the local church or through the people who
requested that the church begin in their area. Another way to start might
be through a strategy and feasibility study of needs and possibilities
for starting a new church in a new area. A community survey is vitally
important wherever starting a new congregation. Mapping out the area,
noting where other churches are located, pinpointing the availability of
public transportation, utilities, and zoning are all involved in a total community survey. Of course, the receptivity of an area is of vital importance.
Some of the most receptive areas for new churches are the growing
edges of a city or town. When people move into new areas they are
more receptive because they have given up their friends and their established church and are looking for new friends and possibly a new
congregation. If they have not been attending church, they will be more
receptive at the time of their move or during a crisis period in their lives
than at any other time. That is when the church needs to be there to
help them establish their lives in Christ. Appropriate timing should not
be underestimated.
God does open doors in special ways. He leads and guides His people through open doors and by direct communication as they talk to
Him. Prayer is of vital importance in all aspects of the Church, including
planting. When Gods people pray, doors are opened in the community.
Church planters are those who see the lost state of their neighbors and
community through the eyes of Christ. They are moved to open their
homes and start a new church. God can call anyone to do this.

65

God honors a mission-minded church with growth when its

people are building the Kingdom.
Some of the most receptive areas for new churches are the
growing edges of a city or town they are looking for new
friends and possibly a new congregation
When Gods people pray, doors are opened in the community.
Church planters are those who see the lost state of their
neighbors and community through the eyes of Christ

66

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

CHURCH PLANTING MODELS

There is no single model that applies to all cultures, contexts, and ministry realities. The following list is a limited compilation of models that
we have observed work in various contexts of the world. Some of them
are more effective in pioneer areas while others are more effective in
areas where Christianity may have been in existence for a long time
but where the church is in a stage of decline. The recommendation is
to use the models that better fit the context and the ministry realities.
Prayer, consultation, and good missiology will be extremely helpful in
determining the best method to use. In addition, there may be cases in
which a pure method will not always be possible but a combination of
the models outlined below.
The Hub Model
The Church of the Nazarene in Razgrad, Bulgaria has been at work for
more than a decade. Since the very beginning, the local church, under
the leadership of Pastor Nikolaj, decided that they would reach out not
only to their urban community but also to the dozens of small villages
within driving distance of the town. To do so, the leadership team identified four leaders who have been trained in basic evangelism and church
planting. These leaders have been given the responsibility to reach a
minimum of four villages in the surrounding areas. So far, they have
planted five churches that connect monthly with the founding church,
the hub.
The principle of the hub model is simple: A local congregation becomes
the center of development for various simultaneous church plants in the
vicinity by providing leadership, ministry support, discipleship, and fellowship, until such a time that each of the church plants reaches a stage
of development that will allow it to become independent.
While there are variations of the model, most of the successful hubbased church plants follow these basic criteria:
The sponsoring church (hub) prayerfully commits to, nearly simultaneously, reach several towns, villages, city sectors, etc.,
according to need, access, contacts, strategic location, and
so on.

67

 The hub identifies catalytic leaders with potential for church

planting.
The pastor and the leadership of the hub church train these
leaders. They dont need to be professionally trained in ministry and/or church planting. These catalytic leaders are to grow
along with the new church plants.
The pastor joins the leaders to have initial visits to the various
communities where initial contacts, ministry potential, invitations, etc., are available. Normally, the church planters assess
the type of activity that is more appropriate to gather a group
of disciples. Small bible studies, coffee houses, cultural gatherings, film showings, and the like, are important to develop
the basic critical mass needed. The pastor rotates his visits
so that church planters continue being mentored.
These points of contact (or preaching points) meet during
the week and their meetings become increasingly regular
(from once every other week to weekly on a specific day of
the week).
The church planters go back to the hub congregation for normal ministry activities (weekend services, prayer times, and
training) and their own edification.
As the new church plants develop, they begin meeting regularly and leaders of the hub church visit them regularly to provide
the sense of fellowship.
At the beginning, and as distance and conditions avail, participants at the new church plants attend the hub church once a
month to experience a broader sense of celebration and fellowship.
The church plants could take two different leadership forms: a)
the church planter becomes the pastor and leads the congregation with a church planting mindset, or b) the church planter
identifies a local leader from the new church plant (the man or
woman of peace as identified in Luke 10:5-7) and equips him
or her as the local pastor.
The Daughter Church Model
Landivar Church of the Nazarene in Guatemala City, Guatemala, has a
long history of successful church planting. When one looks at the his-

68

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

tory of the local church, it may appear as if it has experienced spotty

growth and development; rather than growing steadily and moving from
one membership size to the next, the church, throughout its more than
fifty years of history shows ups and downs in membership. The same
is true for its finances. The reality behind these numbers, however, is
quite different. The Landivar church of the Nazarene has planted, funded, and resourced at least six daughter churches during its first organizational generation (between 40 and 50 years). All of these daughter
churches are today vibrant congregations that continue giving life to
new congregations with the same missional DNA of the mother church.
The Crocker family in El Milagro was at the center of one such church
plant. When the mother, a long-time Nazarene, suffered a stroke that
kept her from traveling across town by bus to join her church in Landivar, she and her husband, along with their oldest daughter, faced the
dilemma of fellowship versus identity. On the one hand, they needed
fellowship with the body of believers they knew, and unable to travel
to meet their local church, one option was to attend another evangelical church nearby. On the other hand, they were deeply rooted in the
doctrine of holiness that they had embraced and experienced with the
Church of the Nazarene. What does a shut-in family do when there is no
Nazarene church nearby? Simple: They plant one at home!
Familiarized with the church-planting DNA of the Landivar church, the
family invited the pastor and the mother church to sponsor a daughter
church in their home. Today, the El Milagro Church of the Nazarene
in Guatemala has more than 200 members, with their own pastor and
leadership team, and a beautiful building started by the members themselves. The founders are now with the Lord but the legacy of a grown
daughter church still continues.
The daughter church is one of the most natural church planting models.
The principle is that the mother church gives blood to start a daughter congregation and then nurtures it until it reaches adolescence and
eventual adulthood. The daughter church still has the mothers DNA but
it operates in full interdependency. Again, there may be multiple variations, but the experiences that we have observed help us identify at
least the following criteria:

69

 A daughter church generally starts because of particular conditions in the area:

A church family that moved to another part of town or
to another city.
A group of families that commute to the mother church
from a similar area of the city or town.
A burden by a group of believers in the mother church
about a particular location in the city or town. These
believers are willing to move their fellowship to that
location.
The mother church must be willing to give up some of its key
members in order to give life to a new congregation (hence the
term giving blood).
This group of members donated by the mother church becomes the core of the daughter church that will eventually
expand into the new church. The mother church supports
them during the initial stages of the church plant. It is important to note that the core group must have a welcoming mindset to allow new neighbors to join them as part of the new
congregation. Failed attempts to start a daughter church have
often been connected to the core being so tight (because of
their natural need of self-preservation and fellowship) that they
close themselves to new arrivals.
The mother church must commit to initial investments on behalf of the daughter church (key leaders, instruments, furniture, transportation, and even facilities, if possible). This is as
natural as the investment that parents have in their children
during their formative years.
The leadership of the mother church must walk alongside the
daughter church until such a time that the new church is ready
to walk on its own. Planting the church is not enough. The
mother church must help the daughter church during the first
steps towards maturity. Conversely, the mother church must
be willing to let go of the daughter church. The timely turnover
is key in the healthy life of the new congregation.

70

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

The Arrowhead Model

The church planting movement of the Church of the Nazarene in Bangladesh was originally established by using the arrowhead model. Using
evangelistic and community engagement tools such as the Jesus Film
and Child Development Centers, leaders of the church in Dhaka identified areas where there was potential for church planting. After several
months of contact with the poorest communities in the north of the
country, Santoj* came in contact with Prakash*, a Hindu community
leader with many networks and contacts in the entire zone. Even though
Prakash was antagonistic towards Christianity, to the point that he had
threatened to kill the leaders of the church, he soon became open to
Santojs witness because he was genuinely helping the neglected children in the village. Through this witness and because of Gods prevenient grace, Prakash received Christ, was the first person baptized in
the area, and became the catalytic leader for the establishment of the
church in one of the fastest growing areas of the world.
Even though the Bangladesh miracle cannot be tagged to one single
church planting model, the principle of the arrowhead was key in the
establishment and expansion of the church of the Nazarene in areas like
the north of the country. The idea of the arrowhead model is to find the
key local believers who will become the center for church planting in a
given area. Once these key believers are identified and discipled (the
arrowhead) the rest of the elements of the sponsoring church or organization are added in increasing measure until the church establishes root
in the community.
The arrowhead metaphor has been chosen to demonstrate the different
roles that key leaders can have to achieve the same goal of planting a
new congregation. There are at least five distinct roles that leaders and
congregations can play to plant churches using this model:
1. Identify the man or woman of peace in the target communityThe
church planters visit the community and, through prayer and interaction, they identify those who, thanks to Gods prevenient grace,
are ready to become His followers. When it is known that they have
become followers of Christ, these believers must be discipled. They
represent the tip of the arrowhead.

71

2. Send discipling disciplesSend a support team that will work with

the pioneer church planters to assist him or her with discipleship
and follow-up. These discipling disciples become the support core
of the soon-to-be a new church plant. They provide support but
they do not become part of the new church plant. They include local
laity who will eventually be trained as church planters themselves.
This support group is the area just beyond the arrowheads tip.
3. Equip teams of workersMost churches have more than one worship leader, musician, Sunday School teacher, etc. These local leaders join the support team in the new church plant and assist them
with the initial formal services and/or activities. While these teams
of workers start by doing the ministry themselves, they immediately
identify and train people in the new church plant to assume these
ministry roles in the new churchworship, discipleship, and so on.
The teams of workers remain part of the catalytic planting team and
not part of the new church. This leadership force represents the
middle of the arrowheads design.
4. Pastoral and congregational visitsThe sponsoring church or district maintains close contact with the new work during the initial
stages of its life. It is important for the pastor of the sponsoring
church or the district leadership (if the new plant has been started
by more than one congregation) to organize constant visits to the
new work with the purpose of sharing the Word of God, providing moral support, and giving the sense of connectedness. In some
cases, the sponsoring church(es) arrange visits to the new location
with the purpose of congregational exchange. These visits and exchanges add great thrust toward the end of the arrowhead.
5. Support networksNew church plants need all kinds of support
networks during their first months of life. The sponsoring congregation or organization provides these needed resourcesprayer, basic discipleship materials, music, and even basic furnishings, when
needed. In most cases, local groups grow to a point where they are
ready to move from a living room to a rental location or their own
building. While it is important for the new local congregation to take
ownership of the decisions about location and facilities, it is always
important for the extended Nazarene family to make itself available
and pool resources to help the new church plant access land, joint
construction projects, etc. These support networks help consolidate the new church plant as part of a larger, supportive family.

72

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

The Corridor Model

When he was the regional director for the Church of the Nazarene in
South America, Dr. Bruno Radi had the vision to plant as many churches
in the towns that lay along the road that connected two major cities that
he continuously commuted to and from. The road between Pilar, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Bragado served as a 180 km corridor to dozens of small towns in that part of the country. Applying the gravity models and location theories that most retail stores use in North America to
locate their super-centers, Bruno implemented a unique and successful
church planting model that helped plant more than five churches in the
area.
Using seminary students and lay leaders from the local church as
church planters, the team mapped the key locations along the corridor
and identified five areas of potential church plants. Each of the leaders conducted a demographic study of their assigned location and its
surroundings. They determined age, religion, social dynamics, trends,
preferences, and potential tools to use in each location. Then, as the
time of the launch arrived, church planting teams were ready to connect the corridor.
Each weekend the teams left the local church in Pilar heading towards
Bragado. As they drove, teams were dropped off in five towns along the
road. These teams were left with evangelism and church planting tools,
plans, and specific instructions. Their responsibility over the weekend
was to implement the local plans they had previously devised (showing
the Jesus Film, conducting sport clinics, concerts, visiting the parks,
medical brigades, among others). As contacts emerged, the team
members followed up with them and organized them in groups according to the realities they faced. At the end of the weekend, the convoy
returned from Bragado to Pilar collecting the church planting teams and
getting ready for planning the next weeks response. The process was
repeated several times until a formal preaching point and/or mission
had been established in each town, local leaders had been identified,
and a formal church-planting plan was in place.
Two years later, the project resulted in five fully organized churches in
the identified locations. Each of these churches went on to start several

73

daughter churches and now the project has become one fully organized
district, the Buenos Aires West District of the Church of the Nazarene.
Even though the corridor model has not been widely implemented in
Christian church-planting movements, other religious groups and primarily commercial ventures have used it to maximize coverage in
connecting geographical areas. For church plants, the model requires
at least the following criteria:
There must be a leadership team that is committed to developing a geographical strategy and to investing in its implementation.
A sponsoring church or a district must be willing to set aside
human and financial resources to facilitate the initial months
of ministry.
Continuity and persistence are paramount for this model to
succeed.
Each location must have at least two workers assigned to the
church planting work (the Matthew 10 instructions are key for
these workers).
Eventually, these local church planters develop skills that can then be
used by the sponsoring church to plant daughter churches in its own
periphery.
The Small Group Model
People in post-Christian environments are somehow leery of churches
that meet in traditional church buildings. In places like Europe, North
America, and Australia (to mention a few), the average person has developed a disdain for anything that happens around the institutional
church. Yet, they are hungry for relationships, for fellowship, for meaning, for love. While the church building may not be relevant to them,
the church as a body is still Gods plan to bring them the redeeming
message of salvation in Christ. In such cases, small groups help establish the church as a springboard for Christian fellowship of new and old
believers alike.
In Cali, Colombia, the Church of the Nazarene has one of the largest

74

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

congregations in the world and this church has developed using the
small group model. Pastor Adalberto Herrera attributes the growth of
his 12,000+ member congregation to the hundreds of small groups that
gather every week for prayer, discipleship, and fellowship. These small
groups eventually feed into the mother church.
In North America, the small group model has also been proven successful as a church-planting tool. A small group is typically made up
of three or more people, under the leadership of a discipling disciple who meet regularly during the week to share about their lives, support one another, pray together, worship God, and study biblical truths.
Each group has a host and a leader (or one person may host and lead).
Groups meet in a number of different locations according to the social preferences of those who participatecoffee shops, restaurants,
sports gatherings, workplaces, and even a church room. However, the
preference is that these informal gatherings move to more formalized
meetings in homes.
As these groups develop, some of them become church plants themselves. Others become a referral point for unchurched people who
would, step-by-step, feel more comfortable with the idea of faith gatherings and would eventually join the sponsoring congregation. A successful small group plant model has the following characteristics:
It focuses on the outside outreach of the church. There are
also small groups that are designed to provide spiritual growth
and Bible study for believers in the congregation. These small
groups are not the small group plant model; a small group
plant must be designed for outreach.
It gathers in locations that meet the needs of the prospective
believers (homes, coffee shops, restaurants, etc.).
It builds and increasingly nurtures the sense of community.
It focuses on its own multiplication. A church plant can emerge
from either the growth of a small group or the gathering of several small groups into a fellowship of likeminded believers.
It fosters mutually supportive relationships and accountability.
It starts with a volunteer leader from the sponsoring church
but it normally develops its own leaders from within.
It strengthens the concept of corporate solidarity that results
from Christian conversion.

75

The House Church Model

Aziz* is the leader of a vibrant church planting ministry in an area of the
world that is violently hostile against Christians. Because of the risk and
prohibitions associated with planting official churches in these countries, Aziz and his team have used the house church model as the key
to reach thousands of people who, otherwise, would be lost in darkness
and oppression.
The methods of the house church plant vary according to the conditions of the spiritual soil, the cultural and religious restrictions in a given
location, and the levels of risk for the church planters and the hosts.
However, there are some principles that can be observed when planting
house churches in closed environments:
Find a reliable and trustworthy contact in the community who
will be the host of the house church. These point leaders are
normally identified by the local network of believers and not by
external entities.
Disciple the hosts first.
Train the host in personal evangelism and discipleship.
Emphasize the call for repentance and belief in Christ.
While hosts act as leaders of the church plant, church planters focus on training, discipleship, and the administration of
the sacraments (house church believers cannot attend open
congregations for the sake of the sacraments, for example).
Treat the house church as a church. Even with just two or three
people, it has the God-given potential to grow and reproduce!
The nucleus of the new church is forming.
Avoid the temptation of bringing the new believers into the
church planting team. The team serves as the catalyst, helping
birth an indigenous church.
Following the example of the early church, house church
movements begin as small gatherings meeting in natural settings, such as homes, open courtyards, under trees, etc., and
rather than growing into large gatherings, growth is channeled
into the multiplication of new churches.
The house church model, a variation of the small group model in the

76

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

West, has also proved to be effective in reaching cities and neighborhoods in North America, Europe, and Australia. In their study on house
churches, Towns, Stetzer, and Bird (Seven Characteristics of House
Churches), suggest that the house church is perhaps one of the most
appealing means to reach the cities in post-Christian environments because, when properly implemented, house churches are:

Communities of convictions.
Learning communities.
Faith-formation communities.
Value-formation communities.
Mentoring agencies.
Belonging communities.
Providers of self-identity.1

1 Towns, E., Stetzer, E., & Bird, W. (2008, April). Seven Characteristics of House Churches: And
why they are appealing to more and more believers. Retrieved from http://www.smallgroups.
com/ articles/2008/sevencharacteristicsofhousechurches.html

77

STARTING A NEW CONGREGATION

Alex Abraham, the CEO of Operation Agape in India, has contributed
the English 7 Es for successful missional outreach. These recommendations can also be applied for successful church planting:
End VisionBeginning with the end in mind answers the
question, How would one know that the church planting
goals for a given area had been reached?
Entry StrategyDifferent roles but the same goal. Identify
strategic doors of getting to the communities and neighborhoods to reach.
EvangelismUtilizing all creative means possible to reach
the people who do not know Christ.
Effective DiscipleshipMaking the best resources available
to move from addition to multiplication as fast as possible.
Establish ChurchesChurches have to be planted so the
gospel can continue to flourish for years to come.
Equip LeadersThese leaders are equipped by the sponsoring local churches and then sent out to various neighborhoods
and communities.
Evaluation and AccountabilityAn evaluation will be conducted at least annually and will be communicated to various
care leaders and ministry boards.
What kind of church do you plan to start? Each new church must establish an identity in the community where it is going to work. Several
things are of vital importance in forming a positive identity:
Include the name of the community where the church is located and choose a name for the group. This will give the group
a sense of initial identity.
Establish holiness as a biblical doctrine and as an evangelism
tool. This distinguishes the Church of the Nazarene from many
other churches.
Establish a church that is interested in church growth and missions. We are a dynamic church with a mission to the whole
world.
Emphasize love as a key element in the life of the church. Embracing everyone must be part of the DNA of the church.

78

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

Emphasize biblical worship that is informed by the core values

of the church.
If these things are established, the community will see the new church
as a positive influence.
What kind of church is needed? Paul Orjala, when teaching seminary
students in the principles of church planting, summarized the main
needs of a relevant church. To him, a church that is needed in the community is a church that would:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Bring a person to salvation and the assurance of that salvation.

Help solve personal problems.
Help solve community problems.
Change lives.
Give meaning to lives.
Provide fellowship for the lonely.
Provide a place of service.
Provide guidelines for living.

Getting started correctly is essential for growth. Even though persons

in a community are responsive, it is important to continually meet their
perceived needs. Our approach must appeal to their value system
and encourage their faith and trust in us. When we have become their
friends, the possibilities are much greater that they will accept the gospel we present. Pastors need to train their young people to be friends so
they can bring friends to the church and to Jesus Christ.
Where will services be held? It may be that you will want to rent a place
such as a school or a store building. Even shopping centers have been
used effectively for beginning congregations. You may want to start a
coffee shop or someone may offer his or her home or garage.
What kinds of gatherings will you have at the beginning? There are
many ways to begin a church. The Bible study is one of the most popular methods, but good beginnings have also evolved from prayer cells,
evangelistic campaigns, cultural gatherings, and knocking on doors in
neighborhoods.

79

Successful church planters have effectively used local church groups

to go door-to-door delivering invitations to special services in the new
church. There are many people who would be willing to assist in such
a way to start a new church. Many of the churches in South America,
for example, were started by using youth groups from nearby Nazarene
churches to visit and witness in the community. In the evening they sang
during the evangelistic services and had the opportunity to welcome
the same people. Usually several people came to know Jesus Christ
during the first week and formed the nucleus of a new congregation.
The pioneer church planter will want to develop exciting, spiritual services for the new congregation, which will include:
Attractive gatherings. People will want to go to church because there is something that draws them to worship and
serve the Lord.
The power of God. People need to sense the presence of
God in the services. Ritual alone will not be enough to keep
people attending regularly.
Involvement. Involve your people in all kinds of ministries. If
there is not a job for them to do, create a meaningful one.
Solid biblical, evangelistic preaching. People are hungry
for the kind of preaching that challenges and inspires them to
learn and do the will of God.
Worshipful music. A church without music is a church that
stifles growth. Where appropriate, find ways to develop the
musical ability of your people and to create a music atmosphere in which they will want to be involved. Try to find contextualized ways in which people worship and use these local
expressions as much as possible.
People inviting people. People must be friendly and want to
see the church grow. A church that expresses love will reach
people quickly.
Meaningful impact on the community. A church exists to
minister to both the spiritual and physical needs of the community where it is planted. Meaningful engagement in the
community ensures ongoing presence and vitality.

80

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

To establish the new congregation, leaders are essential. They are

needed in the Sunday School, the youth organization, the community
outreach, cell groups, and Bible studies. No person can be an entire
orchestra. Developing leaders and training new converts will be one of
your most important responsibilities in training and equipping people
for the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:12). Your responsibilities will
also include discipleship programs, which offer on-the-job-training.
One of the most important words in the vocabulary of the minister is
trust. Trusting people, particularly new converts, is one of the best
ways to train them for the work of the ministry. Delegating responsibility
and the authority to carry through helps lay people to understand and
accept their biblical role in the church.

81

ORGANIZING THE NEW CHURCH

In most cases, a district superintendent will welcome the announcement that a new work is being planted or sponsored and will enthusiastically give supervision to the project. In any event, he or she should be
apprised of the plans. Supervision of the project will continue to be his
or her responsibility. But district leaders, by their reluctance to release
control or give permission, can easily kill initiative for church planting.
The church planter(s) must be convinced of Gods direction so as not to
be easily deterred.
Regular reports to the district superintendent by the church planter and/
or sponsor pastor are, of course, a part of the program of the Church of
the Nazarene; authorization to organize the new work into a fully organized church must come from the district superintendent.
Contrary to the current theory that organizing a church is the easiest
way to kill it, it has been our experience that the timely organization of
a church can secure its longevity. Depending on the conditions, church
planting efforts usually plan for a church to become organized within
six months. Those who linger before organization need to not lose sight
of the importance to organize the church. Organization gives formation
to the group and makes them an integral part of a larger body such as
a district. Psychologically, it helps the people by making them responsible and serious about developing a vibrant church. People generally
want to be part of a moving organization, not a little group that may
dwindle and die as time goes on. We have seen many churches die
because they were not organized quickly enough.
The following guidelines are useful for pastors who strive to organize
new church plants:
1. To organize a church there is the need for approximately 15
stable members to form a solid leadership and ministry team
and carry on the full functions of a church. These need to be
tithing members. Tithing and stewardship are essential in the
ownership of the local church by the local believers.

82

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

2. A regular, consistent gathering place is necessary to allow

people to have a sense of stability and belonging. The gathering facility may be:
Rented
In a home with a long-term commitment
A building owned by the church
3. Services (of appropriate form) should be conducted regularly.
4. The church should learn to participate in the connectional
ministries of the Church by responsibly investing in district and
global mission financial responsibilities.
5. There should be maturity in evangelism.
6. The church should have a pastor, accepted by the leadership
and recognized as the leader of that congregation. This could
be one of the following:
An ordained elder
A licensed minister
A supply pastor
A lay pastor
Occasionally, for various reasons, the ideal does not emerge. This does
not necessarily connote failure. Perhaps it will be necessary to reevaluate and apply new measures and renewed perseverance. There are existing churches that might have been stillborn had they been organized prematurely without the essential ingredients for a viable church. It
is important to discern Gods timetable, still keeping the goal of organization alive.
Being open to the Lords leading and working with district leaders will
help to organize a new church as quickly as possible.

83

DEVELOPMENT OF PASTORAL QUALITIES

IN A CHURCH PLANTER
We are pastors in the making. After years of ministry we continue learning new things every day. Every pastor should be consistently developing new methods, growing, and maturing.
Dr. V. H. Lewis used to say, You would think with the beautifulness of
Heaven and the awfulness of hell, we Nazarenes could do something
for the Kingdom. With this motivation catalytic leaders develop certain
qualities in the pastors under their leadership. Some of the pastoral
qualities that are essential in a church-planting pastor are:
Develop common sense. This quality is at the top of the list.
Without the ability to reason sanely it is difficult to be an effective pastor. Every pastor should strive to develop his best
potential in this area.
Develop the ability to get along with people. Good relationships with people are of vital importance. I have often said
that if some missionaries and pastors did not have to work
with people, they would be great ministers. Of course that is
said with tongue-in-cheek, because, if you cannot work with
people, you will have no ministry at all.
Develop vision. A leader without vision cannot lead. The ability to see what can be done, even in adverse circumstances,
is a quality that is necessary for the development of a church,
Be filled with Gods Holy Spirit. The greatest preachers of
the doctrine of holiness are those whom God has filled with
His Holy Spirit in the cleansing, purifying work of grace. You
can know that God has done this work in you. He can do the
impossible through you because His Holy Spirit is operating,
giving you power to be a faithful pastor.
Develop the ability to preach. The ability to prepare messages and deliver them can be learned in a homiletics class;
the ability to organize words and to communicate increases
with practice. However, the message touches the hearts of the
people only as the Holy Spirit takes your words and anoints
them. His Power makes the difference between words and a
transforming message.

84

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

Develop the desire to work for the Lord. There is no room

for lazy pastors in the Kingdom of God. Time for study, counseling, visitation and all of the other responsibilities of a pastor
must be organized into a regular schedule. Visitation is especially important. The more visits made by pastor and people,
the more contacts the church has for growth.
Develop the ability to inspire your people to build the Kingdom of God. This requires that you trust your congregation in
building the Kingdom. I have come to believe that one of the
greatest responsibilities in leadership is to inspire people to do
the impossible for the Kingdom.
Develop evangelism as the center of your ministry and
your church. Many times we get so involved in building the
church that we forget about evangelism. We have known of
churches that raised two million dollars in a years time but
only won 10 to 15 new people to Jesus during that year. The
emphases are not prioritized correctly when this happens.
Develop intentional worship experiences in the local
church. You may not have music ability but you can find people who do. Delegate this responsibility and give supervision
to creating the right atmosphere in the gatherings through music that is culturally relevant and biblically centered.
Engage in lively gatherings. Your gatherings should attract
rather than repel people. God does not often reveal himself in
dead, dragging church gatherings. Where God is, there is life.
The Church of the Nazarene believes that church gatherings
must appeal to people who are looking for something real.
Develop your congregations gifts. The more people you
can involve in the life of the church, the more you will win for
the Kingdom. The more your people are visiting and working
for the Lord, the more they will love the church.
Develop humility concerning your position. A pastor who
has an ego problem fights for his position and wants to receive
the credit for building a great church. That kind of person is
not a Kingdom builder.
Develop the ability to preach the doctrine of holiness in a
dynamic way. Holiness is not something that is tagged on to
the Gospel. Holiness is the center of the Gospel. We are all
saved to live holy lives. Through the experience of sanctifica-

85

tion God enables us to live without a civil war within our own
hearts. The presentation of holiness will turn your congregation into a New Testament, biblical church.
Make each gathering special. There is no such thing as a
normal church service. Every time your new church gathers,
there must be an expectation from the congregation, and from
you, that God is going to do something special in that gathering.
Take risks. Calculated risks are part of entrepreneurship. Pastors must be entrepreneurs. If there are no risks involved, there
are no gains made. This means trusting people and trying new
programs. It means being willing to fail in order to succeed.
However, your risks must be calculated, so you will know how
to work your plan and plan your work.
Develop the ability to organize. We are convinced that this
is one of the most important aspects of the pastors responsibility and his or her example. The ability to organize time is
of major importance, as is the ability to organize people to do
the work of the Kingdom. Pastors can develop organizational
abilities if they have the desire and the concern to do so.
Develop the ability to set goals. Pastors with vision will set
challenging goals for themselves and for their church. Some
churches are like automobiles without drivers. They have no
goals, nor anyone to guide them. The goals of a congregation
should be:

1. Definite - Calculated goals that take faith to reach, but

not so high that they are impossible to reach even with
a miracle of God.
2. Precise -- Many times we talk about growing the church
when we should be talking about how.
3. Clear
4. Reachable
5. Faith-full
6. God-given
Many times a pastor is afraid to set goals for fear he or she will not be
able to reach them. This fear is caused by a lack of confidence in him or
herself and his or her abilities. Proper self-esteem will overcome these
fears. We challenge you to find some good books on how to set goals

86

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

and how to reach them. It will help in this new adventure of starting a
new church.
Reproduce yourself. The last challenge is to reproduce yourself as a church planter and pastor. This is a biblical principle
we find throughout Scripture. God wants us to build the Kingdom through reproduction. As we begin to look for new people
for the ministry, we will be able to develop new pastors for the
Kingdom.
Any pastor plus God is a majority. The pastor must strive to be all that
God wants him or her to be so he or she can lead his or her people to
be all God wants them to be.
Every pastor should be consistently developing new methods, growing, and maturing.
You would think with the beautifulness of Heaven and the
awfulness of hell, we... could do something for the Kingdom.

87

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PASTOR/CHURCH PLANTER

The pastor who is a good administrator sets the stage for growth in the
church. It is not enough to go through the motions of conducting services. Some administrative responsibilities that may help in this church
planting adventure are outlined here.
Promote. Promotion is very important for a salesperson or leader, even
in the secular world. We have the responsibility to keep the challenge
of the Great Commission before our people. This does not mean giving
long announcements, but rather promoting and giving importance to
the churchs priorities you want to see accomplished within your congregation.
Manage your time. The responsibilities of a pastor are many and varied. It would be wonderful if you could do as the apostles in Acts 6,
spending all your time in prayer and in proclaiming the Word. You cannot. But you will be able to delegate some responsibilities, allowing you
to organize your time to have prayer and study. These are the most important priorities of your pastoral activities. Without them, your church
will not grow.
Make the most of every day. As you organize your time and your church,
you will accomplish much for the Kingdom. God helps us as we strive
to do as much as possible for Him.
The following outline suggests a plan for organization of your varied
responsibilities within the church.
Office work
Prayer
Bible study
Personal
Sermon preparationremember that you need
to develop seed thoughts for future messages as
well.
Develop a filing system to organize documents for Sunday
School, church services, visitation. etc.
Prepare reports for the district superintendent and/or the over-

88

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

seeing pastor who is helping you to start this church, and for
the district assembly.
Organization of the Church
Training of teachers and leaders
Missionary Society
Youth organization
Prayer cells
Bible studies
Ushers
Other responsibilities:
Oversee by delegating the maintenance of the building.
Oversee the visitation program.
Oversee the altar workers, teaching them how to guide
people in praying for salvation and sanctification and
how to give counsel at the altar.
Oversee the organization of church services, putting as
many people to work as possible in each service.
Prepare a membership class. I would suggest you conduct a membership class every week, possibly during
Sunday School, consisting of four to eight sessions. I
have used four lessons covering:
History of the Church of the Nazarene
Organization
General and special rules
Doctrine
Set a membership Sunday every month if possible, or at
least every three months. Make that an important day in
the life of your church and promote it.
Receiving members will be a major aspect of your responsibilities.
Plan to receive members. Set your dates, and work toward that goal.
Of course, you will have to prepare them to be received as members.
Evangelize. Mass evangelism in the local church as well as personal
evangelism by you and your members in homes and businesses will
bring in new members and help them grow and reproduce.
Disciple. Within three months of a persons conversion he or she should

89

be discipled and ready for reception into membership. If people are not
ready for membership, establish another time period so they will be
working toward that goal. Continue to work with them until they have
completed the membership class and can meet the requirements for
membership.
Pray for members. Not only the pastor, but the church also, needs to
be praying that God will give new members for the church.
Use contextualized, effective involvement programs. Get your people involved in winning others. God saves us not to sit on the benches
but to receive power to become witnesses (Acts 1:8).
Retain members. Acts l4:2l-22 explains the importance of strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith.
Utilize them:
Involve them in decisions.
Make the church their church.
Equip them according to Ephesians 4:12.
Feed them through good preaching.
Help them to grow.
By developing good habits
By studying the Word of God
By learning discipline
By public testimony
Make sure they have a real experience of transformation in
Christ.
By encouraging them to seek the infilling of the Holy
Spirit
By motivating them
Love them
Through fellowship
Through encouragement
By being there when they need you
Teach them to lead others to Christ.
At the altar
Outside the church

90

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

Keep a good up-to-date list of your members and a record of

their walk with Christ.
Some important requirements for members are:
Belief in the doctrine of the Church of the Nazarene.
Faithful attendance.
Faithful giving in tithes and offerings.
Reading the Manual of the church carefully.
Train your members to:
Manage the general business of the church.
Manage the money of the church completely.
Receive the monthly report of the pastor, which will give
the state of the church, its direction, and its goals.
Receive the report of the treasurer
Become responsible for the pastor and his salary.
Serve on committees. (At the beginning, the pastor will
probably want to use the regular board because of lack
of personnel. However, he or she should not be afraid to
use new people on the board.)
Visit. Visiting is one of the most important responsibilities of
the pastor. These days we are hearing pastors say that it does
not pay to visit. That is not true, and such advice should not
be taken seriously. Certainly it is easier not to visit, but your
church will not grow unless someone is visiting newcomers.
It is true that as the church grows larger, the pastor will have
less and less contact with established members. However,
the members of longer standing, equipped for ministry themselves, will by that time be ready to share the responsibilities
of ministry. They will also have a mature attitude about sharing
the minister with those who need him most.
What constitutes a visit? The visit does not have to be
long. You may even want to call ahead and make an
appointment in these busy days. You can make many
contacts, inviting people and dealing with their spiritual
needs.
What do you talk about?
Their family
Their activities
The activities of the church
Possibly even yourself and your family

91

 Especially their spiritual needs.

Try to get to their hearts through personal evangelism
in the home. Certainly make them aware of their need.
Remember that you will need to win them to yourself
before you can win them to Jesus.
Read the Bible.
Pray with them before you leave their home.
Invite them to church.
Continue to visit or delegate visitation. Remember that
developing the follow-up program is of utmost importance, not only with new people you have visited, but
especially with people who have visited the church.
Develop your services to meet the need where you are. If most
of your visitors come to the weekend morning service, you probably
should prepare to meet the evangelistic needs of the congregation then,
rather than on the evening services and vice-versa. All of the services
should be prepared with the special needs of your people in mind.
Be ready spiritually. You are the preacher, Gods ambassador to appeal to others with the message of reconciliation. You are the instrument
of the Holy Spirit to deliver the message of God. Be ready spiritually to
deliver not only a message, but your soul and heart as you represent an
all-powerful God.
Keep your personal life without spot or blemish as an example of
holiness, if you expect people to follow you to a Holy God. Live
what you preach, and preach what you live. First and foremost, you are
called and dedicated to the ministry as you live to serve the God who
continues to call.
Prepare for evangelism. Build the awareness in your church that humanity is lost and without God. It is the churchs responsibility to lead
people to a forgiving, life-changing God.
Preach until your people carry a burden for the lost state of
man.
Transfer your vision to your people.
Change your strategy from a Come structure to a Go

92

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

structure for the church. Many times men have built a sanctuary or started a church, put up a beautiful sign, sat back, and
prayed, God send them in. That mentality must be changed
to, Church, lets go, as the Great Commission bids us, into all
the world and preach the gospel.
Challenge your people to pray and carry a burden for each
worship service and for other members of the Body of Christ.
Prepare yourself well for preaching.
Study much. A person is what he or she reads. Set apart
some funds monthly for purchasing books that will help you in
your ministry and build your library.
Be a friendly pastor.

The pastor as evangelist. The greatest evangelist you will have in your
church is you. Certainly, you will want to invite evangelists to come and
hold revival services in your church. However, Sunday by Sunday, you
are the evangelist. I have heard many pastors say, We have so much
to do, and God has called us to pastor. We do not have the ability to be
evangelists as well. That is true. But, you can develop a style of evangelistic preaching that will build your church much faster and make you
a better preacher of the Word. The following things may help you:
Preach with powerdevelop the style that God can use the
most.
Preach solid doctrineholiness never misses.
Communicate the message.
Convince the people that the gospel is important.
Preach for a decision.
Preach with the unction of the Holy Spirit.
Make an appealing invitation to people to come to Christ. Nazarenes have used the altar effectively for many years. More recently, people are less and less reluctant to use the altar because more churches
are introducing the open altar approach. We need to develop the idea
that the altar is the church familys central meeting place with God.
Prepare the atmosphere for an altar call. That may mean musical ensembles, solos, congregational singing. Music should
be well prepared and suited to the message. Give the people

93

time to think, pray, and search their hearts.

Do not force the invitation. Make the people feel comfortable,
and give the Holy Spirit time to deal with their hearts.
Make your intentions clear. Let people know what the altar
is for. Help people feel that coming there to kneel is the right
decision.
Permit the Holy Spirit to work.
Have your altar workers prepared and ready, and have all of
your people praying with or for the seekers, helping them to
find victory.
Preach Holiness as the central message of the gospel. It is, of course,
one of the most important messages you will preach. Remember that
Holiness is not just another theme of the Church of the Nazarene, or of
the Bible. It will bring conviction for sin that has been committed, but it
will also lift your sanctified people to a higher level in Christ and a closer
relationship with Him. Lead your people to the place where they not
only receive the Holy Spirit, but are able to give a definite testimony of
Gods sanctifying grace.
The pastor who is a good administrator sets the stage for
growth in the church.
Keep your personal life without spot or blemish as an example of holiness, if you expect people to follow you to a Holy
God.

94

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

WHAT ABOUT THE CHURCH PLANTERS SUPPORT?

For the last several years many of our church planters have had a builtin dependence on districts and district finance. If we are to win the
world for Jesus, the church must change this philosophy. The newly
formed group must accept support of itself and its pastor. A few new
churches will have pastors who are supported for a while by the district
or by sponsoring local churches. However, most new churches will have
to be pastored by bi-vocational pastors or lay pastors who are willing to
sacrifice their time and energy for the sake of Gods kingdom.
As pastor you are an employee of the local church, not the district. If the
district or mother church is able to help with finances it should be for a
limited time, then cut back in stages with a deadline for final cut off. This
helps the new pastor to challenge the new congregation to faithfully
give their tithes and offerings to support their church.
A good book on stewardship would be a good investment. As part of
a discipleship course a pastor can teach that stewardship begins with
the giving of time, but also includes the giving of tithes and offerings
for the building of the Kingdom. This is Gods chosen way to build His
Church around the world. Giving is an integral part of our life in Christ
and should be done joyfully. He has given us 90% to spend wisely. Ten
percent goes back to Him, along with love offerings as God enables and
the Holy Spirit prompts.
The church is always built by faith and sacrifice of men and women with
a burning desire to see the Kingdom of God go forward. God will build
His Church through great stewards for the Kingdoms sake. We should
not be against a minister receiving a decent wage: we want our pastors
to receive as much as possible. On the other hand, pastors must be
willing to live at the basic level of the people they are serving.
Bi-vocational pastors have been used of God in wonderful ways to build
His Kingdom. Some of the greatest days of the Church of the Nazarene happened when people would move, get a job, and begin a new
church. Many of the old timers even pitched tents and gave their time
to start Churches of the Nazarene in new areas.

95

Once again the Church of the Nazarene is changing its concept and
emphasis, using more and more lay pastors or bi-vocational pastors.
This is a system that is challenging to people and will help the church
fulfill the Great Commission.
Of course, if God has called someone to a full-time pastorate, he must
not settle down to working a full-time secular job and pastoring on the
side. Pastoring must become the most important responsibility he has;
only supporting that ministry through secular work. As soon as the
church is able to pay an adequate salary, he or she needs to cut loose
from his or her secular job and work full-time for the Kingdom.
Many who read this booklet will be bi-vocational men or women. If you
can be successful in the secular world, you will almost always be a success in the church world. Being successful at a job responsibility will
give you confidence. That self-esteem and confidence will reveal itself
in church growth and success in planting new churches.

96

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

CONCLUSION
Suppose you want to plant a new church. What steps do you need to
take? I cannot give you all the answers in a few sentences, but I can
give you some basic principles, most of which would be valid in many
situations.
1. Contact your local pastor and tell him or her of your desire to
plant a new church. See if he or she will sponsor you and help
you make the contacts for planting a new congregation.
2. Work with your leadership for permission and legitimacy. Get
their guidance concerning where, when, and how you could
start a church on that district. Tell them of your plans and desires and why you think there is a need for this church-planting
venture. The leadership can possibly help you in some way,
even financially, to begin that church.
3. Make your plans, once you have permission. Begin to make
contacts and find a place to gather. Begin with the type of
gathering you feel is most appropriate for that particular place
and situation. Sometimes we make it too hard, or at least
much harder than it really is, to begin a new church.
4. Secure people to pray for you in your new adventure. Prayer
is one of the most important factors in building the Kingdom.
5. Remember, God is on your side, and He has promised never
to leave you or forsake you.
As you plant this church, look to future possibilities for sponsoring another when your congregation becomes stable and self-supporting. Its
a great way to build the Kingdom and fulfill the Great Commission. May
Gods richest blessings be upon you as you do His will.

97

SUGGESTED READING
Bustle, Louie E. Keys For Church Growth, Kansas City, Missouri: Beacon Hill Press, 1990.
Calguy, R. The Principles and Practice of Indigenous Church Planting.
Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman Press, 1981.
Estep, Michael R., ed. Great Commission Church Planting Sourcebook.
Kansas City, Missouri: Nazarene Publishing House and Church Growth.
Inc., 1989.
Estep. Michael R., ed. Great Commission Church Planting Strategy.
Kansas City, Missouri: Nazarene Publishing House, 1988.
Hesselgrave, David J. Planting Churches Cross-Culturally. A Guide
for Home and Foreign Missions. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book
House, n.d.
Hodges, Melvin. Growing Young Churches. Chicago: Moody Press,
1970.
Jones, Ezra Earl. Strategies for New Churches. New York: Harper &
Row Publishers, 1987.
Maner, Robert E. Making the Small Groups Within the Church. Kansas
City, Missouri: Beacon Hill Press, 1980.

98

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH PLANTING

99

METHODS OF RELATIONAL EVANGELISM

By Louie Bustle and Bruno Radi

Copyright Louie E. Bustle & Bruno Radi, 1992

101

EACH ONE WIN ONE

In this study we will explain one possibility for discipleship. We begin
with EACH ONE WIN ONE followed by the supporting program of the
Big Brother/Sister Plan. Then we will take an in-depth look at prayer
cells, evangelistic campaigns, and the multiplication of churches and
pastors.
The Holy Spirit wants to build His church around the world. Would it not
be a blessing to transform your community by winning many people to
Christ through you? Would it not be wonderful for you to begin sending
pastors from your church, and to begin new churches?
METHODOLOGY OF EACH ONE WIN ONE
With the program EACH ONE WIN ONE, we have returned to the biblical
principle that everyone is called. We believe that even lay people have
a call from God and are responsible to advance the Kingdom of God.
When Jesus sent His followers to the upper room (Luke 24:49), He was
saying that all sanctified believers should be witnesses (see Acts 1:8).
Of course, this is exactly what happened after Pentecost.
They accepted their responsibility to live as people of Christ. They felt
their call and fulfilled their responsibility of building the Kingdom.
The priesthood of all believers means all believers have a responsibility.
The purpose of the plan EACH ONE WIN ONE is to encourage believers
to accept that responsibility, and to help them be accountable. The Big
Brother plan is a tool to help them fulfill their responsibility. In the following pages, we explain how you can use these plans to help create a
movement in your church, district and country.
Beginning the program
Preaching a dedication service. The pastor or leader needs to prepare a
special sermon for the dedication service. A good biblical message can
be prepared from one of the following passages: Matthew 5:15; Matthew 10:32; Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 4:21; Mark 5:19; Luke 4:18-19;
Luke 8; Luke 12:8-9; John 4:28-42; John 8:32; John 15; Acts 1:8; Acts

102

METHODS OF RELATIONAL EVANGELISM

4:18-20; Acts 5:20; Acts 10:36; Acts 20:24; Romans 1:16; Romans
10; Romans 16:25-26; I Corinthians 9:16-18; II Corinthians 4:13-14;
Ephesians 3:8-11; Ephesians 6:15-20; Philippians 3:7-14; I Timothy 6:
12-13; II Timothy 1:8; Hebrews 2; I Peter 3:15; Revelation 12:11. These
passages help explain our philosophy and our methodology.
The message should create enthusiasm and encourage the people to a
total commitment. At the end of the message, the pastor should explain
the program EACH ONE WIN ONE in as much detail as possible, and
in an inspiring way. He or she will explain how more persons can be
won for the Lord, and describe the responsibility of the church for each
person who is won.
The moment of dedication (the conclusion of the sermon). The pastor
or leader will invite volunteers to come forward. Each one will sign his
or her name in the left-hand column of the poster, promising that with
Gods help: he or she is willing to win a person to Christ during the year;
he or she will pray that God will help in this endeavor; he or she will list
persons for whom he or she will pray; he or she is willing to disciple.
They agree to disciple by: teaching a basic course that covers tithing
and faithfulness to the church; encouraging him or her to seek the infilling of the Holy Spirit; preparing for baptism; and finally encouraging attendance in a membership class, standing by his or her side and teaching him or her to be a soul-winner.
Continued promotion. After starting the plan, it must be promoted every
Sunday. Speak about how this plan is working in the church. Introduce
new believers to the congregation. Schedule workers to testify how
God is helping them.
Prepare certificates of recognition for those who win others. Present a
certificate or give a plaque. This may be done during a service or in a
fellowship meeting. Anything that creates enthusiasm and incentive for
the church members will help.
Schedule prayer meetings. It is important to schedule meetings to pray,
not only for the converts, but also for the workers. This needs to be constantly emphasized. Assign or ask members to be special intercessors.

103

Drawing the net, receiving new members

Many pastors wait several months until they have a group of persons
to receive as members. It is better to receive members each month. If a
pastor is constantly emphasizing the reception of new members, people will begin to believe that it is important to be a member and will help
others become a part of the church.
Set a certain date for publicly taking in new members each month. If
there is a fixed date, there can be a goal.
The service in which members are received needs to be well promoted
and structured as a special service. The service also ought to emphasize how the plan EACH ONE WIN ONE works.
Receiving new members. The pastor should take two important steps:
First, he or she should be sure that a member is responsible for each
convert, and that the members have the tools and training they need to
disciple new converts.
Overcoming common obstacles. The main reason Christians do not
share their faith is fear. Yet, we have been promised power to testify.
With His last words, Jesus sent us to be witnesses. One of the purposes
of the experience of entire sanctification is to empower us to testify of
the fullness of the Spirit that we have. We are often afraid to share our
faith because we are afraid we will be rejected. We need to get beyond
this barrier, realizing that it is our responsibility to tell what God has
done for us. The Spirit of God in us produces the desire to take the seed
of the Gospel and plant it everywhere.
Another barrier to testifying is that we do not feel qualified. We emphasize that persons need to be prepared in Scriptural knowledge to
lead others to Christ. However, everybody has the gift of telling about
their personal experience with Jesus Christ to a friend, a neighbor or
an acquaintance. The simple BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER plan is a tremendous help in overcoming these obstacles. It provides methods in
which persons who do not have much training, or who are timid, can
lead others to Christ. One of the important jobs of a pastor is to develop
a series of plans and tools that can be used by those who are involved
in EACH ONE WIN ONE.

104

METHODS OF RELATIONAL EVANGELISM

THE BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER PLAN

The BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER program1 provides a simple yet extremely effective system for lay people to fulfill their commitment to lead
others to Christ.
It is a well-known statistic among evangelicals that of every 100 believers, 95 have never led anyone to Christ. All too often, when someone is
led to the Lord, they do not receive adequate discipling and fall away.
With the BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER program, we are not only involving that 95 percent in the experience of sharing their faith, but are also
enabling them to disciple the new believers.
The BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER plan is begun with a sermon that informs and generates enthusiasm in the congregation, and is followed
by an opportunity for them to be consecrated as BIG BROTHERS/BIG
SISTERS. The three basic steps are: 1) Praying for 10 unsaved friends
over a two-month period; 2) Inviting and bringing those for whom they
have been praying to an evangelistic campaign, 3) Discipling, possibly
for several years, those who accept Christ.
Presentation: It is recommended that the consecration service be held
two or three months before the evangelistic campaign. An outline for
the presentation of the BIG BROTHERS/BIG SISTERS plan in the consecration service is offered below. This may be adapted to make it appropriate for individual church contexts.

1 This plan was used by Dr. Luis Palaus team. Originally the plan came from the mind of Rev.

John McWilliams. We thank them for this important contribution to the Kingdom of God.
We are using it with permission from Dr. Luis Palaus organization, along with the plan EACH ONE
WIN ONE.

105

Each One
Win One
Proverbs 11:30
Church: _______________________________________
Year:
________________
BIG
SISTER

BROTHER/ LITTLE BROTHER/ SISTER

1.

1.

2.

2.

3.

3.

4.

4.

5.

5.

6.

6.

7.

7.

8.

8.

106

METHODS OF RELATIONAL EVANGELISM

THE BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER (SERMON OUTLINE)

Bible reading: Acts 9:1-19
Introduction: This is a night of consecration.
I. BIBLICAL EXAMPLE Of A BIG BROTHER

A. Jesus encounters Saul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3-7)

B. Jesus speaks to Ananias in a vision (Acts 9:10-16)
1. Jesus calls him by name: Ananias! The Lord is interested
in everybody and knows their names. The BIG BROTHER/
BIG SISTER has the names of 10 persons who dont know
Jesus Christ, and for whom he or she is praying. God
knows them.
2. The Lord gives him Sauls decision card.
3. Ananias is afraid; he does not want to go. (Explain the story, apply it to the fear the congregation may feel.)
Saul of Tarsus Decision Card

CAMPAIGN DECISION CARD

Name: Saul of Tarsus
Child ( )
Address: Straight Street, Judas House
Youth (x)
City: Damascus
Adult ( )
Date: 35 A.D.
Big Brother/Big Sister: Ananias
Salvation(x)

Reconciliation( )

C. Ananias meets Saul in person (Acts 9:17-18).

1. Ananias enters the house.

2. He puts his hands upon him.

3. He tells him the Lord has sent me:

a. That you may see.

b. That you may be filled with the Holy Spirit (he was

converted when he met Jesus).

c. He was baptized (the external sign of his conversion).

d. He was with the disciples (receiving the basics of dis

cipleship).

107

II. QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER

A. Who is a BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER?

1. A committed and obedient follower of Jesus Christ.

2. A member of the local church.

3. Someone who desires to lead others to Christ.

4. It may be someone who has never won another and

does not know how. This is the opportunity.

B. Why do we call him or her BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER?

1. It plants the idea that the lay person should care for a

little brother/sister.

2. We are all equal before God. God does not have

grandchildren.

3. In Gods sight, we are brothers and sisters with our

earthly parents, children and other family members.

4. To be a BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER is a commitment

to care for others who need help. It is not an ecclesi-

astical title.

5. Those who receive Christ are the younger brothers/

sisters that we have been expecting in the family.

C. How does one become a BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER?
1. Have a little brother/sister. Example: In a family, it occurs when a little brother/sister is born. In the church,
there needs to be a consciousness of new births.
2. We need to await the arrival of our little brother/sister.
3. We should list the names of 10 people who dont
know Christ: neighbors, friends, family members, etc.
4. This produces enthusiasm in the team of BIG BROTHERS/BIG SISTERS in the local church.

D. When does one begin to be a BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER?
1. Right now within two months a little brother/sister will
be born.
2. Aim at a goal. Begin asking God, Give me a little
brother/sister. Help me to be expectant.
a. It is the responsibility of each BIG BROTHER/
BIG SISTER to care for the little brother/sister. It
is not the pastor who should care for them but
rather each BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER.
b. Remember to pray each day for your brother/
sister. God answers this kind of prayer when we

108

METHODS OF RELATIONAL EVANGELISM

are interested in our neighbor. We love the world

as God loves the world.
c. When you visit your little brother/sister, you can
say, I have been praying for you every day for two
months.
E. What is the responsibility of the BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER?
To consecrate oneself as a BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER today.
1. To prepare oneself mentally and spiritually before the
campaign through discipleship classes.
2. To care for the fruit of evangelism in the Body of Christ
in the local church.
F. Conclusion
1. This is the Biblical process of BIG BROTHERS/BIG
SISTERS.
2. We cannot give water if our container is empty.
3. Each time God uses someone, it requires a consecration.
4. When you meet your little brother/sister, you will remember this day of consecration.
5. The example of Jesus shows us that before selecting
His first disciples, He spent 40 days in prayer and
fasting.
6. We will pray every day until God gives us a little brother/sister.

III. AFTER THE CONSECRATION

A. Plan to have a meeting immediately following the service with
those who have committed themselves as BIG BROTHERS/BIG
SISTERS.
B. Explain clearly what is involved in the BIG BROTHER/BIG
SISTER program.

C. Begin with prayer.
D. Ask each person to take a BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER form.
Read together II Timothy 2:2.
E. Ask each person to think of 10 people for whom they will pray
and write their names on the provided form within 24 hours.
They must live close enough to the city so they can attend an
evangelistic campaign that the church will host in two months.

109

F. Explain what the BIG BROTHERS/BIG SISTERS are to do

during the period before the campaign.
1. Pray for the salvation of the persons by name each day.
Mark the square that corresponds to the date each day.
2. This means that they are knocking on the door of heaven 60 days before they actually knock on the door of the
person for whom they are praying.
3. When you have prayed for the 60 days, mark an x following the name of the person in the column headed
prayed.
4. You can now have the assurance that you, along with Jesus, have knocked on the door of the Heavenly Father.
You may now visit the 10 persons and invite them to the
evangelistic campaign.
5. Now you can mark an x after the names of the persons
that you have invited.

110

METHODS OF RELATIONAL EVANGELISM

Big Brother/Sister Prayer List

II Timothy 2:2
After praying and reading the text, list
TEN NAMES.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Mark an X in the blocks that you have fulfilled
before, during and after the campaign. For
example, when you pray for them, put an X in the
square. When you visit them, or they attend, put an
X in the proper square.

111

Mark an X in the box the day you are consecrated as a BIG BROTHER/SISTER.
Begin to pray for your Little Brothers/Sisters each day. Mark the corresponding box.

Baptize
d

During
Visited

Accept
ed

Attende
d

Invited

Prayed

Before
After

112

31

30

29

28

27

26

25

24

23

22

21

20

19

18

17

16

15

14

13

12

11

10

METHODS OF RELATIONAL EVANGELISM

Explain to the workers what they will do during the campaign.

1. Mark an x when the persons your workers have prayed
for attend the evangelistic campaign.
2. Help the younger brothers/sisters make a decision for
Christ.
G. Explain the work of the BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER following
the campaign. This stage has to do with discipleshipto see
that the fruit is conserved.
1. Visit the persons for whom you have been praying, whether or not they have been converted.
2. Take this person to the local church. Guide the persons
towards baptism. When they are baptized, mark it on the
form.
3. Invite them to attend courses in preparation for membership.
IV. CHARACTERISTICS OF A BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER
A. Prayer is the foundation of the BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER
plan. Those who do not have the desire to pray for others cannot be a BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER. The basis of this program
is not personal ability to win others through persuasion, studies
or intellect. The BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER loves.
B. BIG BROTHERS/BIG SISTERS are members of the local
church who desire to share their faith and to lead others to
Christ. In every congregation there are those who are not involved in any ministry, but are interested in learning how they
can minister. They can participate in the BIG BROTHER/BIG
SISTER program. All that is required of them is a willingness to
learn.
C. BIG BROTHERS/BIG SISTERS are faithful to the Lord and the
Church. They are interested in obeying the Lord and in growing
spiritually. Before they can share with others, they must be an
example of what they want to share.
D. They are willing to go, disciple, and teach. God provides the
power necessary to carry out this task through the fullness of
the Holy Spirit. Although they may be afraid as Ananias was,
they are still willing to say, Here I am Lord and to go where
the Lord sends them.

113

E. The BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER tends to the fruit so it will

last. Each is responsible for the fruit in the local church. The BIG
BROTHER/BIG SISTER learns how to disciple, and also prepares oneself spiritually in prayer.
THE BIG BROTHER/SISTER PLAN
WHO

WHAT

WHEN

All church members The pastor preaches on

who are willing to prom- the need to lead others
ise to pray for unsaved to Christ.
friends.
Everyone is encouraged
In most churches there to sign the Each One
are 20 percent who Win One poster.
are active in ministries.
About half of the other Following a sermon
80 percent are interest- on the plan, the pastor
ed in being involved and invites the congregation
have a positive attitude. to make a commitment
We should especially to pray for 10 unseek to involve these.
churched friends daily
for two months.
Those who have no
special training or ex- At the end of this time
perience, those who they are to invite these
have never led anyone friends to an evangelisto Christ, and those tic campaign.
who have always been
too timid to witness will BIG BROTHERS/ BIG
discover that this plan SISTERS receive traingives them the oppor- ing on how to disciple
tunity to lead others to new converts.
Christ.
BIG BROTHERS/
SISTERS disciple their
friends who accepted
Christ in the campaign.

114

BIG BROTHERS/ BIG

SISTERS are consecrated in a Sunday
service, two months
prior to the evangelistic
campaign.
The pastor trains them
how to disciple during
these two months.
One week before the
campaign, they invite
their 10 friends to attend.
Following the campaign, BIG BROTHERS/BIG SISTERS are
responsible to disciple
their friends who accepted Christ. They
should continue to work
with them until they are
baptized, have completed the Basic Bible
Studies, and are faithful
members.

METHODS OF RELATIONAL EVANGELISM

WHERE

HOW

WHY

The BIG BROTHERS/

Through the power of
BIG SISTERS are
intercessory prayer.
consecrated in the local
church.
Through the work of the
Holy Spirit convicting
The plan is promoted in people of their need for
all services prior to the God.
campaign.
Through the most efThe BIG BROTHERS/
fective way to reach the
BIG SISTERS pray for
unchurched: a personal
their 10 unchurched
invitation from a friend.
friends in their private
prayer times each day.

It is a simple way for all

church members to win
others to the Lord.
It involves those who
have not yet been given
a responsibility in the
church.
It brings many unsaved
people to the evangelistic campaign.
When all Christians are
winning others, we can
evangelize our entire
community, country,
and world.
It revives the church
when all members are
winning others.
It builds the local
church with a fast yet
solid growth.
The new believers at an
evangelistic campaign
have natural followup through their BIG
BROTHERS/BIG SISTERS who have been
praying for them.

115

SYSTEM OF PRAYER CELLS

SMALL GROUP PLAN
Our goal is a healthy, growing church that extends itself by planting new
churches. In fact, the only way we will transform the world and fulfill the
Great Commission is by planting new churches. People accept Christ,
new leaders begin training, local church leaders answer a call to preach,
and new churches start, all through a simple system of prayer cells.
Prayer cells are designed to enable and encourage natural church
growth. The pastor of the local church continues to build his church
while he trains leaders to reach out into the community through prayer
cells, and then through new churches. These new churches are selfsupporting from the start, so there is no limit to this type of natural
growth.
The purpose and results of prayer cells
The purpose of prayer cells is, of course, to receive petitions from and
to pray especially for the needs of the unchurched. As God answers the
prayers and meets the needs in their lives, they will be much more open
to the gospel and the church. The result is that through the manifestations of Gods power, the church experiences two kinds of growth. First,
the mother church grows by training leaders, creating a support system
and fellowship for believers, and bringing new believers into the church.
Second, the prayer cells develop naturally into organized churches, giving the mother church a chance to decentralize and multiply its ministry.
The biblical basis for prayer cells
We turn to the example of the churches in Acts for the plans basis. In
Acts 2:46, we find that small groups met in believers homes. The Lord
added to the church daily those who were being saved. This was all
possible through small groups spreading the church and starting new
congregations in the Spirits power. The power of the movement that is
taking place here comes exclusively from prayer. The first great evangelistic service in the church was occasioned by prayer (Acts 1:14-2:47).
Strategies for starting prayer cells
Before a pastor begins looking for homes in which prayer cells can
meet, he should answer three questions. How many cells should we

116

METHODS OF RELATIONAL EVANGELISM

begin? In what types of homes should we start cells? Where should we

start prayer cells?
How many cells should we begin? It is best to begin with three or four
prayer cells. If a church begins with only one cell and that cell doesnt
succeed, it looks as if the whole plan has failed. The goal should be to
reach a point where there is a prayer cell for every 10 members.
In what types of homes should we begin prayer cells? In the beginning,
it is advisable to start prayer cells in homes where believers live. The
time will come, however, when the cells multiply. Then we will have to
go to homes where only 50% of the family are believers, or where there
is only one believer in the family.
Where should we start prayer cells? It is best to locate the cells in a
place where a new church could prosper; large enough for several families, and in the home of a family willing to make a long-term commitment to host a prayer cell and possibly a mission or baby church. Consider the distance from the mother church, other cells, and members
homes. It helps to locate all the believers on a map, and calculate the
distance between them.
Since one of the purposes of prayer cells is to promote the growth of
the mother church, prayer cells may be 50 yards or 10 miles from the
mother church. Not all prayer cells become missions. Of every 10 cells,
three become missions, and of every 10 missions, three become organized churches. The cells not only have the objective of opening new
churches, but also to prepare leaders, stimulate the church to pray, and
have weekly prayer services. This helps reach people and promotes the
growth of a mission or a new church. There is no problem if two or three
cells exist a short distance apart.
What is done in a prayer cell? It is a weekly meeting with three activities:
testimonies and songs of praise, reading from the book of Acts or listening to it , and a prayer time focusing primarily on the needs of friends
who dont know Christ. It lasts 45 minutes to an hour.
The first leader is responsible for directing the meeting, leading the time
of testimonies and singing, and then turning it over to the leader who is

117

responsible to read from Acts.

The second leader will read a chapter from Acts or listen to it from the
Proclaimer, for those who use it.
The third leader writes prayer requests in a notebook so they will not
be forgotten (see the following illustration). They must pray for themselves and for their unchurched neighbors. This is the key that makes
the prayer cell evangelistic. The basic idea of going to a home is to get
closer to the unchurched; to decentralize the church.
The following information is recorded in the notebook:
A consecutive number
Date of the prayer request.
The prayer request itself.
Name, address, and other observations.
Date of the answer to the request.
The Scripture that was read or listened to that day.
Each person in the group prays.
#

Day Request

Observation

Day Chapter

3/13 get work

John Smith, 1324 Main

4/3

Acts 1

3/13 health, has cancer

Mary Brown, 1645 North

4/3

Acts 2

118

METHODS OF RELATIONAL EVANGELISM

The reason the task of each prayer cell leader is so simple is that it is
designed to give training to those who have no experience in any form
of church leadership. The three leaders take turns. As they rotate, each
of them gains experience. Each leader can then train two other prayer
cell leaders.
What is not done in a prayer cell?
The cells should not include preaching or Bible study. This
would limit the number of prayer cells.
The only people who should be invited are the three leaders of
the cell, the owners of the house and members of the mother
church.
Food or refreshments should not be served. The objective is
to pray, not to eat.
The meeting should not last longer than 45 minutes to an hour.
The three leaders should not belong to any other prayer cell to
avoid overloading them.
Do not allow all requests to be focused on believers. The members of the cells must make an effort to discover the needs of
their unchurched friends.
Do not invite unsaved persons to the prayer cell. They will be
invited to the cell at the end of three months.
Who are the members and leaders of prayer cells?
The three leaders, the members of the home in which the cell meets,
and believers of the mother church who live nearby attend the cell. The
pastor must seek believers that can become leaders. The requirements
are to have Christ in their hearts, be members of the local church, and
have a desire to work.

119

X-Ray of a Congregation

Big
Brothers/Sisters
Cell Leaders

40%
(+)
10%
(-)
30%
Indifferent

Non-Participants
80%
Active
20%

Photograph of a Congregation

The pastor should consider that eighty percent of the average congregation is not active in any ministry. Among that eighty percent, there are
three types of persons: the negative, the indifferent, and the positive.
We need to begin the prayer cells with the positive persons.
The pastor is the one who develops leadership for the prayer cells. He
or she chooses the leaders and assigns them to their respective cells.
Prayer cell leaders come from the membership of the church. The pastor cannot delegate this action to another leader because these leaders
are his or her disciples.

120

METHODS OF RELATIONAL EVANGELISM

Developing leaders through prayer cells

The leader starts to develop ministry when beginning to work with people just as the watchmaker starts to develop the trade when beginning
to work with watches.
The pastors role. All through this process the pastor must stay in close
contact with the leaders in training. If problems or disagreements arise,
he or she should try to solve them quickly so discouragement among
leaders is avoided. The pastor will do everything possible to encourage
the leaders. Pastors must insist on commitment.
Discovering the commitment of the leaders. This is a time of training
and testing these new leaders. For this reason, it is better that the owner
of the home where a cell meets not be one of the leaders. We are trying
to discover responsible leaders; therefore, it is necessary for leaders to
go to other homes to demonstrate their responsibility as a leader.
Multiplying leaders. Where there are three leaders and each performs a
different task, they are training each other. After the first cycle, when the
cell has fulfilled its time and function, the three leaders may be separated. One will stay in the same house and will train two new leaders.
The other two will go to different homes and train two more leaders. In
this way, both cells and leaders are multiplied. At the end of the second cycle, we have three cells led by the original three leaders plus six
new leaders. The leader, after each cycle, takes the responsibility of
discipling two other leaders, teaching what he or she has learned and
practiced.
The Discipleship Cell (The Mother Cell)
The foundation of the prayer cell system is the discipleship cell. This is
composed of all the prayer cell leaders and the pastor. Its purpose is to
give inspiration, guidance, and motivation to the leaders (the pastors
disciples).
There are five elements in the discipleship process, each of which
should be included in these meetings.
Disciples should be given solid spiritual food.
Strategic studies should be given.

121

 The disciples need to be encouraged and motivated to carry

out the churchs mission.
The disciples need to ask questions and discuss problems.
There should be an evaluation of what is taking place in each
of the prayer cells.
Below is a list of possible themes for six months of discipleship cells.

Gods power to answer prayer

Purpose and plan of prayer cells
Importance of the evangelism team
Christs concern for the unsaved
Plan of accountability
A Bible study on the Heart of a Leader
Personal evangelism
Basic doctrine
Making Gods Word yours
Pointing to the crusade
Altar work
Follow up
How to pray for the unsaved
Maintaining personal spiritual focus
Spirit-filled life
Sanctify yourself/take up your cross
Power of faith
Developing faith
Praying in faith
Praying for healing
Praying for physical security, jobs, finances
Praying for families
Praying for cell leaders

While the main purpose of the discipleship cell is for discipling new
leaders, there are other benefits as well. It builds a team that supports
the success of each member. It also provides a sense of accountability
for new leaders.

122

METHODS OF RELATIONAL EVANGELISM

Benefits of a Prayer Cell

Prayer cells are a marvelous tool for bringing unchurched people to the
Lord. They support evangelistic campaigns, raise up new pastors, and
develop new churches.
It stimulates the development of workers.
The church and the pastor are decentralized.
Specific prayer is offered for definite needs. James 4:3.
There is growth in the local church.

EVANGELISTIC CAMPAIGNS
Evangelistic campaigns do not work anymore. This statement has become widely accepted. Good comes from having a campaign designed
to revive believers, but there are very few people saved.
Believers are revived as never before. They are involved in discipling the
new converts and leading prayer cells. They now realize that they can
help lead their friends to Christ.
Why evangelistic campaigns work
The harvest takes place during evangelistic campaigns. The BIG
BROTHER/BIG SISTER program and prayer cells are designed to bring
the unsaved to hear the gospel in a campaign.
BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER Plan: Two months prior to the campaigns,
the BIG BROTHERS and BIG SISTERS are consecrated. They begin
praying for 10 unsaved people they plan to invite to the campaign. During this time they are also trained to teach a basic discipleship course
to their friends who will accept Christ. As a result, at least one of every
10 who are being prayed for will attend the campaign. About a third of
the unsaved people who attend will accept Christ.
The reason this plan works so well is that it gives the laypeople two
months to prepare to ask their friends to attend the campaign. As they
pray each day for 60 days, their desire to see these unsaved friends
won to the Lord increases. Through their prayers, the Holy Spirit has
been working. Many BIG BROTHERS and BIG SISTERS have testified

123

to the ways that God has opened natural opportunities for them to invite
their friends to church.
Prayer cells: In addition to the BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER plan, we also
use prayer cells to bring new people to the campaign. At least three
months prior to the evangelistic campaign, cells are organized to begin
praying for the campaign and the needs of unsaved friends.
In the celebration meeting, the prayer notebook is used to show the
various requests that they have prayed for.
Both the prayer cell and BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER plan make it possible for the church to capitalize on a personal invitation from a friend.
They put the emphasis where it should be: not on money or the charisma of a speaker, but in dependence on God through prayer. This is
why evangelistic campaigns work.
How evangelistic campaigns work.
Successful campaigns need months of preparation, and then careful
conservation. This can become a cycle of sowing and reaping that the
church is always involved in and becomes a normal part of the churchs
calendar. Below is a schedule of the activities that are involved in this
process of reaping an ever-increasing harvest.
CALENDAR OF THE COUNTDOWN TO THE CAMPAIGN
Six months
Throughout this calendar there are activities to disciple the converts
from the previous campaign and to prepare for the next one. At this
point in the schedule, we assume that the church has just finished an
evangelistic campaign and will be having another in six months.
Conservation
The BIG BROTHERS and BIG SISTERS should begin working with
their friends who have accepted Christ, leading them through the
Basic Bible Studies or other discipleship materials. They should
introduce them to others in the church, and help them develop regular attendance to all the church services.
The pastor invites all new converts to classes explaining the mean-

124

METHODS OF RELATIONAL EVANGELISM

ing of baptism and church membership. He also sets dates for a

baptismal service as soon as possible and for a service to receive
new members in the following month.
The pastor preaches on the same themes that the BIG BROTHERS
and BIG SISTERS are teaching in the Basic Bible Studies. This
does not necessarily have to be in the main service each week, but
should be in a service that the new believers attend. These should
be simple, practical sermons that reinforce what the new believers
are learning about beginning the Christian life.
Have a fellowship meal on the Sunday afternoon a week after the
campaign. This should be a time for new believers and church members to get to know each other.
The pastor begins follow-up meetings with the BIG BROTHERS and
BIG SISTERS to check on how the new believers are progressing,
and to give further training in how to disciple a new believer.
Prayer cells that have been operating for the past three months
should be evaluated to see which ones can become missions and
possibly new churches.

Preparation
A local coordinator is appointed.
A new cycle of prayer cells is started.
Five months
Conservation
New believers who have completed the membership class are received as members.
The BIG BROTHERS and BIG SISTERS continue working with the
new Christians in the Basic Bible Studies. The pastor gives recognition when they complete the studies.
Preparation
The pastor continues to promote prayer cells
The pastor regularly reminds the congregation of Christs command
to lead others to Him.

125

Four months
Conservation
Help the new members find a place of ministry.
The pastor promotes the theological education program.
The pastor preaches on the infilling of the Holy Spirit, His cleansing
and empowering; he or she encourages new Christians to seek this
experience.
BIG BROTHERS and BIG SISTERS will continue to disciple new
Christians.
Preparation
Evaluate the prayer cells.
Three months
Conservation
Be aware of any who are not attending faithfully.
Preparation
Set a date for the consecration of BIG BROTHERS and BIG SISTERS.
Print posters, flyers and BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER forms for the
campaign.
Preach on the need to transform your city for Christ.
Evaluate which of the prayer cells have been praying for enough
unsaved people to have a celebration service.
Two months
Preparation
Consecrate BIG BROTHERS and BIG SISTERS.
Begin training BIG BROTHERS and BIG SISTERS in how to disciple
new converts.
Appoint coordinators to organize altar workers, music, and transportation for the campaign. Involve as many people as possible in
the preparation.
Promote the BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER program weekly.
Promote the campaign.
Schedule the celebration services in the prayer cells.

126

METHODS OF RELATIONAL EVANGELISM

One month
Preparation
Hold a meeting to train altar workers.
Canvas the neighborhoods.
Hold the celebration services in the prayer cells.
BIG BROTHERS and BIG SISTERS should invite the 10 friends for
whom they have been praying.
Plan for the multiplication of prayer cells.
Hold the campaign.
Following the campaign the countdown begins again.
Results of an evangelistic campaign
In a church that repeats this cycle twice a year, an ever-increasing
number of members will be involved in winning others. Not only is there
an increase in members, there is also a multiplication of leaders and of
new churches.
The possibilities of a city-wide evangelistic campaign
As churches plant other churches and the vision to transform the entire
city grows, the spirit of cooperation among the churches also increases.
In this spirit, it is possible to take the evangelistic campaigns even one
step farther and have a city-wide campaign.
Yes, evangelistic campaigns still work. They continue to be a great tool
of God to bring the world into relationship with Him.

127

128

TREASURE CHEST OF LOVE

Personal Evangelism
By Ron Gilbert

129

John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so
that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life
(NLT). Romans 5:8: But, God showed his great love for us by sending
Christ to die for us while we were still sinners (NLT).
These are scriptures that are familiar to most of us and are very special
for all of us. These words demonstrate just how much God loved us.
When we realize his love we also realize his sacrifice implies how valuable we are to him. We are truly a treasure in the eyes of God.
The purpose of this presentation is to help each of us begin seeing each
other through the eyes of Christ and recognize that every person we
know or get to know is valuable to God.
A service should be planned with a sermon based on John 3:16 and
Romans 5:8. Another idea is to preach on the topic, Sharing your faith
with non-believing friends and family based on Exodus 18:1-12.
At the close of the message believers will be asked to place the name of
one person into the black treasure chest. This name should be a person
that they care enough about that they are willing to pray for him or her
everyday until that person becomes a believer.
The plan is simple but requires a strong level of consistency and commitment from all believers who are willing to participate. There are certain questions that believers should answer if they are considering making this commitment:
Question 1:
Are you willing, with Gods help, to reach out to the person you will
place in the black treasure chest?
Question 2:
Are you willing to pray for him or her everyday until they become a believer? No matter how long it might take?
Question 3:
Are you willing to pray for yourself everyday, that God will use you in
some way to reach out to that person with the love of Christ?

130

TREASURE CHEST OF LOVE

Question 4:
Are you willing to pray for whomever God chooses to use to reach him
or her?
Question 5:
Are you willing to put your commitment in writing by completing a commitment card that includes the persons name and also includes your
signature?
Question 6:
Are you willing to publicly come forward and place the commitment
card in the black treasure chest?
If the believers answered yes to all of these questions, they should
be encouraged to complete the card and begin (or continue) their daily
prayers for the salvation of their friend or loved one.
In the Treasure Chest of Love, we have two treasure chests that serve
as visual reminders of our commitment to reach the lost for Christ, as
well as making a public statement regarding our willingness to pray for
the salvation of others. One is a black treasure chest, and the other is
white. These treasure chests do not need to be big or fancy; simple
containers of the right color will do.
The black treasure chest signifies two things:
1. The color black signifies that the people whose names were placed
inside do not know Jesus Christ, and therefore live in darkness.
2. The Treasure Chest signifies that we recognize how valuable these
people really are, both to us and to God. Remember, while we
were still sinners Christ died for us.
The white color of the second treasure chest signifies that a person
has become a believer. They have moved from a life of darkness into a
new life filled with the light of God and their sins shall be as white as
snow, Isaiah 1:17-19 (NLT).
It is always amazing how much excitement is generated when people
are watching a sporting event and their team scores. How much more

131

excitement should there be when someone becomes a believer in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior! We have a great example from the
angels themselves in Luke 15:10: I tell you, there is rejoicing in the
presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents (NIV).
To help celebrate their new life in Christ, a time of celebration should
be held in the worship service each time a person whos name is in the
black chest becomes a believer. In this time of celebration, we move
the name of the new believer from the black to the white treasure chest.
This serves three purposes.
1. It demonstrates to the new believers that they have a group of people who care and are happy about their decision;
2. encourages the believers that made the commitment to pray and
reach out to others, showing that God still answers prayer; and
3. helps convince the entire church that the names they individually
committed can still be reached.
When possible this celebration event should be planned when both the
person who placed the name in the treasure chest and the new believer
can be present. It is very special when they both can come forward and
physically remove the new believers card from the black treasure chest
and place it in the white treasure chest. Then the pastor, or other believer influential in the lives of one or both people, should pray over them.
This is an opportunity to invite others to place the name of someone
they care about in the black treasure chest. The pastor should use this
opportunity to remind the people how important it is to pray everyday
for the names that they have committed.
This may sound unusual, but we recommend, when you first begin the
Treasure Chest of Love initiative, that you ask the believers to only put
one name in the black treasure chest. WHY? Most of us pray for people
we care about, but most of us do not pray EVERYDAY for that person.
This initiative focuses on the fact that the greatest resource we have for
reaching someone is prayer. We need to prove to ourselves that we will
pray for one before we start praying for many. Once an individual has
proven to oneself that he or she is willing to follow through on the daily
prayer for one person, he or she is welcome to place other names in

132

TREASURE CHEST OF LOVE

the treasure chest. Remember to refer to it as a treasure chest and not

just a box, to remind ourselves how valuable the non-believer is in the
eyes of God.
It is recommended that at some point during every service, ideally during the pastors prayer time, that the pastor take the two treasure chests
in his or her hands and pray for the names within. This would be done
collectively for all names in each chest, and not separately for each individual name within the chests. Remember to include the people whose
names have been transferred from the black treasure chest to the white
treasure chest as they begin this new life with Christ.
This prayer time:
1. Demonstrates to the church that the pastor cares about those they
care about.
2. Reminds and encourages those who have placed a name in the
black treasure chest to never give up and to keep praying.
3. Encourages others to pray and participate. If the people see the
pastor is serious then they will be serious.
4. Shows that God answers prayer.
It is our prayer that this focus on reaching out to those we love and care
about will produce great answers to prayer and many new believers will
be brought into Gods kingdom.
I have had the opportunity to use this method of personal evangelism
since 1992 when my wife and I were in the West African country of Ghana. We began the work there with one small group of believers in the
capitol city of Accra and one small rural preaching point. These small
groups took on this initiative very seriously and within two years we had
five organized churches, fifteen preaching points and 1500 members.
We were able to organize the district with 750 present for that first district assembly in 1994. We were ordered out of the country within a few
months of the organization of this new district but the work did not fail!
Instead it continued to grow! Now instead of one district there are three,
and all are led by the people of Ghana.

133

As a pastor for several years after that I was able to use this initiative
and see churches that were struggling come back alive and on fire for
God with a desire to reach those they loved and cared about. One specific example was a man by the name of Dick.
Dick brought his wife to church for 20 years but had always sat in the
foyer. He was a wonderful older gentleman that everyone loved, but
most people had long ago given up on reaching him for the Lord. We
introduced this initiative and Wanda, his wife, came forward in tears and
placed Dicks name in the black treasure chest. We had TV monitors
in the foyer and Dick saw Wanda place his name in the treasure chest.
One Sunday night about three months later, as the service was beginning, I was walking past Dick and spoke to him as usual when he
grabbed my jacket sleeve. He looked up at me with tears in his eyes
and said, Pastor will you walk with me?
Of course Dick, where do you want me to walk with you to? I asked.
I want you to walk with me to the altar so I can get my name out of that
black treasure chest, he said. I have been under so much conviction
ever since my name went there that it is time I accepted Christ as my
personal Savior. I cannot wait any longer.
Dick and I began walking toward the altar. On the way he stopped and
grabbed Wandas hand and asked her to join us. When the church realized what was happening the prayers began simultaneously across that
church and the celebration began.
I must tell you that I did not have to ask for people to celebrate. I did
have to finally ask them to settle down, but I must admit we all enjoyed
the celebration for a long time.
Dicks name was the first to come out of the black treasure chest at that
church. It was the driving force for seeing that 70-year-old church come
alive and grow from 200 people to over 400 within the next two years.
God then asked us to move to South Asia. As I was leaving, Dick, an old
Navy man, gave me a special gift. He had served on the ship named the
USS Franklin during World War II. When they decommissioned that old

134

TREASURE CHEST OF LOVE

ship and cut it into pieces he was able to get some of the wood decking as a souvenir. One of the great treasures in my office is the piece
of that deck that was a gift from Dick for me to remember to pray for
him everyday. When I am discouraged about someone I am praying for,
God always brings my eyes to that old piece of ships deck and reminds
me to never give up. God still answers prayer.

135

136