Relationships the key to church planting
How do you plant a church? has been a new question for me these days. I have agreed to lead a church planting team from my church, Iglesia Bautista Getsamani. First I need to write a strategic plan, then form a team (and hopefully a multi-church agreement), and then get to work on actually starting up the work.
If you were me, what would you do first? It obviously depends up philosophy and context and a million variables. Would you survey first? Talk to other denominations/missions? Look for a store front to rent? Or perhaps the “who” is more important than the “where.” Would you concentrate on finding a good team and forming a good strategy for working together? Who will do what? When? How?
In the end though, if the goal is a church building, we have missed the point. Consider our forerunners in Acts or Paul himself. Was his intent to start a church or to share the message? Perhaps both. Which came first though? When I read Acts and the Epistles I find a much greater emphasis on relationships than I do on buildings and programs, a simple point to miss amidst the fog and pressures of church programming.
So we covet your prayers for wisdom in this church planting endeavor. We also ask for prayer for the 20 girls at the Vientos de Esperanza home for abused girls that is quickly becoming our family’s personal ministry. The commentary on their life is so sad, but the hope many of them have found in Christ and the joy they now have for life so quickly grabs your heart. Pray for Melita the director who ministers daily to the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of these girls.
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