Like many, when you read the words Church Planting Center you may have thought of an
individual church that through an internship program prepares one or two individuals each
year to plant new churches. Or, you might be picturing a network of churches with a heart for
advancing the kingdom partnering together to support a church planter. Both of these
examples exist and they are impacting lives with the gospel. But it is only one way to go
about the planting of churches and the making of disciples.
Picture a church (regardless of size) where it is “normal” for disciples of Jesus to establish
relational environments that are conducive to disciple-making and mission in their homes,
workplaces or in other venues. They would invite their friends, neighbors and family
members to experience community and explore issues of faith. These groups, and therefore
its members, understand that their mission is to make disciples who make disciples.
Potential leaders from among these new disciples are identified, developed and empowered
to repeat the process once again – in a different location or within another sphere of
relationships. And from this process comes the possibility of new churches being started and
the identification and development of church planters. We would classify this type of church a
church planting center as well and yet their focus is not upon the development of professional
church planters or even church planting, but rather, the deployment of disciples into the
harvest to make disciples and form faith communities.
Therefore we have found that there are two basic approaches to planting churches among
churches and centers, (1) the development of trained church planters (by one or a group of
churches) and (2) the deployment of everyday Christ followers into the harvest to make
disciples and form simple, easily reproducible faith communities as an expression of their
quest to fulfill the Great Commission in their community. More... Dowload the full document