| Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE: Developing Master Builders
Introduction If we liken church planting to a craft, then we could differentiate between 3 stages in a church planter's development: apprenticeship, journeyman, and master.
Apprentice: Usually a younger man who either thinks he has the call, or has been confirmed by a local church, but has not yet planted a church. His effectiveness would be greatly helped if he were to learn the trade under the oversight of a journeyman or master. An apprentice can be an older man often who comes to the Lord late in life (like the apostle Paul who apprenticed under Barnabus).
Journeyman: A man who has had experience planting one or more churches. He would likely (though not necessarily) be at least 30 years old. He has sufficient tools to head up a church planting work but would likely need periodic help from others when facing new, difficult problems. He could be a good team leader, although would network with other TL's and hopefully a master since he knows he still has much to learn.
Master Builder: A man likely in his forties or older who has served for years doing the work of church planting in a variety of situations. Although continuing to keep his hands in church planting, one of his primary tasks would be training journeymen and apprentices to become master builders. In this paper I will attempt to lay out, from my experience, a plan for developing master builders.
The Problem The church planters I have met seem very goal oriented. They see their task as organizing a church. Evangelism and discipleship are seen merely as means to this end, and usually does not go very deep in touching the inner man of the convert. After winning a few men and organizing the church, they then leave hoping somehow the church will miraculously find pastors for the flock; men who will be able to reprove, exhort, comfort and disciple converts into the fullness of what it means to walk with Christ. For a church planter to have such a limited view of church planting is like a parent giving birth to a child and then leaving the child, trusting God to meet his/her needs. This is presumptuous! Yet pastoring and church planting are seen by most missionaries as distinctly different callings. Often church planters seem to despise and look down on developing pastoral gifts and even see these as actually impeding the ministry of church planting. Jesus said, "When a disciple is fully trained, he will be like his master" (Luke 6:40). One of the central tasks of the church planter is to train up leaders who are able to shepherd the flock.
Looking for the Quick Fix The scriptures will not allow a superficial view of church planting! I believe such a view has come out of a culture that focuses on specialization and efficiency. Because of this, we value the "quick fix". We do not like commands like "be patient" or "wait on the Lord", nor tasks like preparation for gifts which may take years to master. Most young men I have met are looking for a quick, easy way to plant churches. They want results and they want them now! Anything less than immediate results must reflect a lack of faith or poor methodology. When this idea is countered with the years (generations) of labor that it took to open up south-Sahara Africa or Korea, the confronting one is often dismissed with a look of scorn. Having been involved in church planting for 21 years I have been discouraged by this tendency in the USA to look for the quick and easy way to achieve God's purposes. We are a "fad" society and this has washed over into our American Christianity. The sectarian statement "This is THE way!" has been heard from the Bible exposition schools, the signs and wonders groups, charismatics and the church growth schools. Whereas all of these have elements that are valid and helpful, often the result is that confused sheep wander from watering hole to watering hole looking for some new thing which will hold the key to a spiritually fulfilling life. It is especially sad when those whom God has called to plant His church are wandering in the same way. Many think little about the methods employed and how they might help or hinder the planting a movement of powerful, reproducing, life transforming churches. Methods are simply plugged into a program and out pops a church. If we honestly evaluate such approaches, we find that quick methods usually yield superficial results! Such churches will often not persevere through the Satanic storms which will surely buffet them (Cf. Acts 14:22). The sheep will be scattered and set about looking for new watering holes.
The Example of Paul Whereas the Apostle Paul may have used signs and wonders to gain a hearing (Cf. Acts 14:1-3), and certainly relied on teaching and charismatic gifting, a close look at his church planting methodology as seen in the Epistles and Acts shows that pastoral tools were a large part of his tool box. In the entire book of Acts, the address to the Ephesian elders (20:17-35) gives the clearest account of the nuts and bolts of Paul's methodology--and it looks pastoral to these eyes! I find it interesting that the three personal letters Paul wrote to church planters are now described under the general heading "Pastoral Epistles". These are Epistles written to church planters and reinforce Paul's pastoral methodology for church planting. How it pains my heart when I hear a young man quote Paul's exhortation to Timothy "do the work of an evangelist" (2 Tim. 4:5) and then ignore the rest of the book and appeal to the evangelistic example of Philip. Usually this is done to reduce the work of an evangelist to bringing a person to "make a decision for Jesus Christ". The verse quoted is written at the end of Paul's life, and, in context, he is passing his church planting torch to Timothy. He is the example of the evangelist that he is passing on the Timothy--not Philip! The two letters which precede this passage summarize the work of an evangelist; Paul's work, Timothy's work. A cursory reading will show that much of the work of an evangelist was pastoral in nature!
The Task of Church Planting The task of a church planter/evangelist is to propagate the evangel. That is, he is to plant a church which will continue to be a strong witness of the Lords presence in the world and of His coming again (Cf. John 17:20-26 for the nature of this witness). Such a church should have as its goal the reproduction of disciples, leaders, new congregations, and teams of church planters which will continue to loot Satan's house until the Lord returns. Establishing this kind of church involves evangelism which not only introduces a person to the King but also trains him in the tasks of Kingdom Living. It focuses not only on the doctrine and power necessary to initiate a person into the Kingdom but also on how to sustain a vital, transforming life in service to the King. Such disciples will reproduce disciples ensuring a vibrant church which will reproduce and continue in community sustaining a vital, transforming walk in this Kingdom. Pastoral ministry is essential to assure vital health and reproduction of the evangel through churches (Cf. Ephesians 4:11-16). But those to whom God has given this gift (elders) need training by those planting the church (Cf. 1&2 Timothy, Titus). The church planter who likens his gift to that of Philip and trusts that the Lord will himself raise up pastors independent of the agency of the church planter may be trusting in signs and wonders but is taking shortcuts with methods found in the Word of God! He is likely to plant superficial churches which do not propagate the gospel but wither with the first blast of persecution! The same could be said for those who think just teaching good doctrine will do the trick! I urge you to thoroughly read the passages quoted above along with the book of Acts and Paul's Epistles (most of which are pastoral in nature and approach) with an open mind before you reject this argument out of hand. Meanwhile, I would like to share my own testimony of my journey to becoming a reproducing church planter. I will explain how pastoral skills are central for effective church planting. Since church planting is heavily pastoral there is a danger that the church planter may cease his itinerant ministry due to confusing the call of a church planter with that of a pastor. For that reason I will close this chapter with some thoughts on how the church planter can avoid becoming sidetracked down in pastoral ministry and doing the call of an elder and thus miss fulfilling the call of an evangelist/church planter.
One Church Planters Testimony I felt the call of God upon my life to become a church planter very early in my Christian life. I had come to Christ at 24 years old, and threw myself wholeheartedly into the task of living the Christian life. I read Alex Hay's book New Testament Order for Church and Missionary and was persuaded that I was an evangelist/church planter. That, coupled with reading several of Watchman Nee's books persuaded me that I was called as a church planter to China. I was 27 years old, newly married, and three years in the Lord when I approached the elders of my church. The church had been started two years earlier and was committed to developing missionaries as well as pastoral leadership from within the congregation. After thoroughly examining my motives (which were a mixture of genuine desire to serve God and desire for personal recognition), my desires (to plant reproducing churches), my experience (two years leading Bible studies on an outreach to campus), and the mission agencies in which I was interested, they counseled me that I was not ready to carry out the task to which I felt called. I agonized over that judgement for three months before I yielded in my heart to these Godly men, and set about preparing myself to carry out the call of God by serving in this local assembly before going to the world. For the next three years I continued to minister on the Brown University campus while continuing my job as a public school teacher. I evangelized through Bible studies and personal contacts. I shepherded those who came to Christ into the church. I discipled the new believers into a stable walk with God. In the process I was often involved in counseling situations. I had to rely upon the power of God and learn more about the great power which resides in us through the Spirit and the process whereby people are liberated from dead works to serve the living God. I trained new leaders to head up the campus ministries, lead evangelistic Bible Studies, do personal evangelism and disciple new believers into the church and into a stable walk with God. I consciously set about reproducing myself in others, thereby propagating the evangel on that campus. I wept over my own failures, the failures of others, and often became discouraged. I learned my limitations, tried to drop out of the race more than once, and sought the help of more mature men regularly (i.e. I learned humility.). This task of propagating the evangel in others was not an easy task (Paul likens it to the agony of childbirth! Galatians 4:19). The Lord often dragged me to Himself when I was too dull to recognize my thirst. After three more years I was asked to become an elder of the church. My appeals to the fact that I was called to church planting were met with the rather logical argument that if this was true then I would have to train elders of churches I planted. Thus the experience of being an elder could only be helpful. Thinking that training adults in the church for ministry would be simply an extension of what I was doing with students on campus, I again threw myself into the task. Within a year the church asked me to start a new church in the next town. I was sent off with 50 adults to found this new church and set about trying to recognize and train elders to replace me for the time I would head to the field (I was no longer certain it would be China). The task was far more difficult than I expected. If training students on campus can be likened to drawing a two dimensional picture, training shepherds to take full responsibility of the church was like painting a four dimensional picture! And I'm a lousy artist! The task was far more complex since the men had to be taught how to be good husbands and fathers. Then they had to learn how to balance the many competing priorities in their life in order to have time to shepherd and disciple others. Since I had also balanced the priorities of family, job, and ministry for the past six years, I understood how to at least try to do that. But beyond that was the contrast that whereas the students were highly motivated to grow and serve, the men in the church were worn out and content with surviving. One of my major tasks was learning how to motivate men to act! Since I had not suffered from this problem it was a hard lesson! Four hard years of learning more about my limitations, more about humility, more about going to the Lord before I dropped from exhaustion, or ran my family into the ground, and finally elders were in place who were able to shepherd the sheep. In early 1986, I was finally commissioned by that church to the ministry of church planting---nine years after I had approached my original church! Total time of preparation from the time I came to Christ: 12 years! During those 12 years, I often took encouragement from the fact that by some accounts the Apostle Paul was perhaps 14 years in preparation from the time of his calling in Acts 9 to his first missionary journey in Acts 13. And he was saved later than me (probably early 30's). His total time of missionary service was likely under 30 years. The lessons I learned were hard, but needed, and have been applied over and over again in the many churches I have started since I was commissioned. The lessons learned have been essential to fulfilling the task. I learned how to share God's truth in a way that persuades men to consider the Kingdom (1 Timothy 4:16, Acts 14:1); how to use the word to set free those held captive to sin (2 Timothy 2:24-26); how to recognize and train leaders (1 Timothy 3); how to deal with conflict in the church (1 Timothy 5,6). In those 12 years of preparation I faced all manner of spiritual warfare, personal attack, attack on my wife and children (2 Timothy 4:5-8). I learned the work of an evangelist. Finally I was sent out to learn how little I knew and how much was still to be grasped. I continue to learn that lesson down to the present day!
Other Paths to Church Planting I don't think all those who are called to the ministry of church planting need to follow the path which the Lord laid out for me. Some do come through the longer road of serving churches in pastoral capacities as I did. Others come to us younger and have to learn on the job. Some learn in their own culture and others in other cultures (by far a more difficult task). But whatever path is laid out for the preparation of the church planter, it will not be easy or quick. In a world that desires instant results and values little the laborious work of preparation, we need to remind ourselves of Paul, who waited and learned for 14 years before fully answering the call, or Moses, who waited 40 years in the wilderness, or even Jesus who waited 30 years before entering into his ministry. Over and over Paul's words to Timothy are ones calling for hard work, patience and perseverance. "Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier." 2 Timothy 2:3,4
Avoiding Entanglements If the task of church of church planting is so pastoral in nature, and requires such a long time to learn the skills necessary, a question arises as to how one can avoid becoming so enmeshed in a church's machinery that he never gets to the field.
Apprenticeships I think Paul realized that if everyone took the long route, the harvest field would go to seed before the laborers got out there. Paul seems to have instituted a training method similar to our Lord Jesus in working with his younger church planters; a training method Jesus learned in his occupation as a carpenter and Paul would have been familiar with in his trade as a tent maker. The method, of course, is apprenticeship. A young, enthusiastic, aspiring craftsman sits under the tutelage of a master craftsman usually for a number of years (5-7 years for many crafts) patiently learning the tools of the trade. He goes from watching, to hands on work under the watchful eye of the master, until finally he is doing his own work and developing a style suited to is own personal gifts and talents. At this point, he becomes a journeyman, able to do the work himself with a minimum of help. Over the years he might gain enough experience perhaps to become a master, training other young, enthusiastic, aspiring craftsmen. Not all church planters become masters, but certainly it would be wise if all learned from masters. Many of these master church planters should consider the call to give their life to finding and training other masters. As Paul went on his second and third missionary journeys he went out with one man (Silas), and picked up others along the way. These became part of his band, and learned the ministry of church planting from the master. The book of Acts and Paul's letters are filled with the names of people who traveled with Paul in this band of apprentices and journeyman, some eventually becoming masters and, in turn, passing on what they leaned to new apprentices. Timothy was perhaps the youngest of these, a youth perhaps in his late teens, when he began his years of service with Paul, eventually becoming a master as did Titus. The three letters to these men are but a summary of the lessons learned from Paul. Therefore one way to avoid becoming enmeshed in church machinery and not getting to the field early enough to learn language, culture etc, is to encourage apprenticeship programs whereby master church planters are expected to recruit and pass on what they have leaned in church planting to younger men.
Internships One way we have found effective is to offer internships for those considering the call of church planting. These internships expose a young man to the ministry for six months to a year. An intern is normally sent by a church or mission group and serves with a team a team for a specified period. He is personally mentored by a senior man on the team. A senior man has been fully trained as a church planter and has enough experience to be considered a journeyman or master (more on this below). Regular reports are forwarded to the sending organization. If it is confirmed that the apprentice has the call, the senior member encourages the church to commission to the team (or to a team in another field). If he is sent to one of our teams, he enters a prolonged period of further training where he is involved in planting churches under the tutelage of a journeyman on the team. Journeymen are usually over 30 years old, have been involved in all phases of planting at least one church and usually more, have themselves served under a journeyman, and been recognized by that man as being "fully equipped for the work of the ministry". One of the major tasks of journeyman is training new apprentices. The goal is for the apprentice to learn the hard work of the ministry and take their place as journeyman as they develop the skill and character which will enable them to survive and train others in the war in which we are engaged. Some of these will eventually go on to be masters, starting and leading other teams by recruiting apprentices in whom they can reproduce themselves. Any of the above routes may look involved and difficult, but shortcuts will tend to bring superficiality and a church that will likely fail in the storms that will certainly come.
Worksheet 1. Make a list of everyone on your team. Evaluate them in terms of being apprentices, journeyman or masters (be sure to include yourself). 2. Make a list of the special gifts each one possesses. How can each person be used effectively on the team? How can you effectively equip them for that ministry? 3. How can they be used to pass on what they are especially good at? They need tons of encouragement! 4. Do you have an internship program on your team(s)? How many interns could your team take (see chapter on reproducing teams for help here)? What churches could you interest in sending interns? Back |