So if someone out there has written a guidebook for dummies on church planting, feel free to mail it to several hundred of us who are still looking for that magic bullet.
In the meantime, consider the following about effective church planting, shared with me by a beloved brother who must remain nameless, due to his location:
- Prayer and fasting should be a regular practice. It should not be an occasional thing.
- There must be extensive personal evangelism. To be clear, this means sharing the gospel in one-on-one, not mass, settings. It means sharing with as many as one's team can share with. It means being intentional, looking for a decision.
- Train new believers and create the expectation that they are to train others.
- Train new believers in groups; those training groups will work to become churches.
- If you want to multiply the number of your churches, multiply the number of training groups.
- Train as many believers as you possibly can. Get as many together as possible.
- Training must be practical. The learner must be sent out to put his training into practice.
- Give them one lesson at a time and send them out to put that into practice by teaching it to someone else. Whoever does not complete the lesson cannot come back into the class he or she began with. He must start over.
- Teach your new believers to obey Scripture. Put that part of the Great Commission into practice (hint: it says, "teaching them to OBEY..."
- Get back to the basics. Be radical. Don't bring traditions and culture into the training. Stick to the Bible.
There are more ideas. Perhaps some of you want to add your own two cents to the list.
Jesus is Lord in South America!
