Intersected

From David Putman and Shawn Lovejoy

1. Rushing ahead (without meeting milestones)
   • Vision is clear and communicated.
   • The staff team has been recruited.
   • The core group is in place.
   • Worship leader and team have been recruited.
   • The meeting place has been secured.
   • A marketing plan has been implemented.
   • Pre-school and children’s ministry plans have been made.
   • A small group and volunteer system is in place.
   • An assimilation strategy is in place.
2. Underestimating the cost
3. Violating the Sabbath
4. Hanging on too long
5. Not having a coach

As I look to plant a church, I’m very upfront with my plans and vision so that people don’t think I’m trying to poach members from Grace. I’ve also reached out to all the evangelical pastors in town to initiate dialogue about any way I can serve them in their efforts to plant churches. So far, only Kirk at 2|42 has responded, but I am committed to working to build up the other evangelical churches in town while I look to plant a new church.

J. D. Payne recently posted proposed Ethical Guidelines for Church Planters, which are quite helpful. These guidelines touch on issues like transfer growth, church unity, long-term commitment to planting, family care, personal spiritual disciplines, and integrity.

• Guideline #1: Since the global need for the gospel is so great, unless God reveals otherwise, we will begin our ministry among people with the greatest need andwith a high level of receptivity to the gospel.
• Guideline #2: Since the world consists of four billion unbelievers, with two billion who have never heard the gospel, our strategy will involve the use of highly reproducible church planting methods.
• Guideline #3: Since biblical church planting is evangelism that results in new churches, we will not prioritize transfer growth over conversion growth by designing ministries that will primarily attract believers.
• Guideline #4: Since unity among churches in a geographical area is a powerful witness to the gospel, we will be concerned with other evangelical pastors laboring in the same area as our team, and will take the initiative to meet with them to share our calling, vision, and ethic.
• Guideline #5: Since we desire to respect other evangelical pastors in the area, and desire sanctification in the lives of any transfers from local churches, we will have a systematic plan to respond to the transfers who want to become part of the new church.
• Guideline #6: Since our calling to this ministry, people, and location is from God and not based on money, we will not end our church planting ministry in this area simply if our financial support ends, but rather will make appropriate plans for the future of our personal finances.
• Guideline #7: Since the biblical model for church planting is a team approach and many liabilities come when working as a solo church planter, a team will be developed before the work begins.
• Guideline #8: Since one of the most critical issues in missionary circles is that of the stress on the family, we will not neglect our families for the sake of church planting and will begin our work with a strategy for nurturing our family life while serving as church planters.
• Guideline #9: Since we are Kingdom Citizens, we will not neglect our daily devotion time with the Lord by allowing ourselves to be distracted by the numerous tasks to be accomplished in the ministry.
• Guideline #10: Since the task of missionary work involves effective communication, we will work diligently toward contextualization rather than bringing our preferred church traditions to the people.
• Guideline #11: Since integrity and accuracy are important when reporting statistics related or our missionary labors, we will strive to report only those numbers and descriptive details which are truly reflective of what the Holy Spirit is doing in our context.

Here are some recent posts about elders. Daniel Montgomery of Sojourn Community Church writes of their elder installation process in 2 parts (part 1 and part 2). Kevin DeYoung of University Reformed Church describes how congregational care works at his church and the role that elders play. Here are some highlights of each post

Elder Installation (asked of each elder)

1. Do you believe the historic Scriptures to be the inerrant, inspired Word of God, the only infallible authority on Christian faith and practice?
2. Do you whole-heartedly affirm the historic Christian faith – the gospel, the church and God’s mission – as taught by the elders of this church and as lived out in the practices of this community; and if at any time you come to disagree with any of the fundamentals of the gospel, the church or God’s mission as your fellow elders hold firm, through the Scriptures, will you take initiative to make known your change in views to your fellow elders?
3. Do you affirm Sojourn’s constitution, her government and church discipline practices thoughtfully drawn from the general principles found in the Bible?
4. Do you promise a heart of peace and unity toward your brother elders and your church family?
5. Do you affirm that you have been driven, as best you know of your own heart, to desire the work of an elder in this church by your love of God and a sincere desire to see Jesus’ gospel transform everything?
6. Do you promise to be faithful and diligent in the exercise of all your duties as Christian men and elders in this church, as an individual and in community, privately and publicly; and to strive, by the grace of God, to put on Christ while putting off sin in your life and to walk above reproach before God’s church and a watching world?
7. Do you now willingly take leadership in this church, in response to God’s call on your life and your own desire; do you promise to faithfully discharge the duties of a pastor in this community to the best of your ability, and even beyond, by the grace of God in your life?

Elder Installation (asked of the congregation)

1. Do you, the members of Sojourn, profess your readiness to receive these men, as they answer the call to be your pastors?
2. Do you promise to receive the word of truth from these men with submission and love, following them as they follow Christ, and receive their encouragement and admonishment as they shepherd you in your Christian faith?
3. Do you promise to encourage these men and joyfully take part in all their work as they lead this church?
4. Do you promise to support them, with acts of service and generosity, with your time and talents and with your finances as Scripture calls you to do so; to supply them in their needs for the sake of their work for the gospel on your behalf, on the behalf of your city and on behalf of the nations?

Congregational Care by Elders

The elders are essential to congregational care and oversight. This should be obvious, because elders, by definition, ought to be caring for the sheep and exercising oversight. Our elders do this in a few different way.

First, we pray for people. We pray when called up. We seek to pray for people when they need help. And we pray for our people at our elders meetings and retreats.

Second, our elders oversee our growth groups. Ben is the point man, but most of our elders–a couple elders are excused because they are involved in our executive committee–are responsible for overseeing a few growth groups each. This does not mean they lead a group in their home, though they can if they want.  Oversight means two things. One, it means that the elders come to the every other month growth group leaders training session and meet with the leaders under their care. This is a time to trouble shoot, hear how things are going, and pray. Two, oversight means that the members of the leaders growth group (see previous point) are in the elder’s district (see below).

Third, we divide the church into elder districts. The district is first of all assigned by growth groups. So if Larry oversees two leaders, Moe and Curly, then Larry has all the members of Moe and Curly’s growth groups in his district (man is that a rough district). The elder district also includes members not in a growth group and regular adherents of the church who, for whatever reason, have not joined. These names, non-growth group members and adherents, are assigned alphabetically. The elder is responsible to pray regularly for his district, and he must make contact with each person in the district at least once a year.

We do not expect the elders to personally disciple the people in their districts or know everything going on in their lives. This is why we have growth groups. But the elder usually has a good feel for the major issues that have surfaced. Our elders meet twice a month. The second meeting of the month is our normal business meeting. At this meeting we always ask “who is in need of spiritual help and/or is not making faithful use of the means of grace?” Follow up calls are usually assigned based on the district someone is in.  Three times a year we do a thorough review of our districts as an entire elder board.

The Acts 29 Network application process has taken some time and the actual boot camp itself and assessment have always seemed to be far off. Well, they are no longer in the distant future, they’re next week! We got an updated schedule yesterday and the names of our assessors. If I had to assemble a list of godly men that I would like to hear in person at a boot camp, I would have a hard time coming up with a better list than this

• Session #1: “The Gospel & Ambition” – Dave Harvey (responsible for church care, church planting, and international expansion for Sovereign Grace Ministries)
• Session #2: “Church Planting & Ambition” – Ed Stetzer (author, President of LifeWay Research and LifeWay’s Missiologist in Residence, Re:Train professor)
• Session #3: “The Church & Ambition” – Steve Timmis (author of Total Church, director of Acts 29 Network in Western Europe)
• Session #4: “Leadership & Ambition” – Darrin Patrick (lead pastor of The Journey in St. Louis)
• Session #5: ”Decoding your City & Ambition” – Kevin Cawley (Preaching Pastor & Directional Leader at Redeemer Fellowship in Kansas City and fellow Wheaton alumnus)
• Session #6: “Discipleship & Ambition” – Bob Thune (Lead Pastor/Elder at Coram Deo in Omaha, NE)
• Session #7: Preaching & Ambition. “Speaking Past Demons: Christian Preaching as Expository Exorcism”– Russell Moore (Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice-President for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, a preaching pastor at Highview Baptist Church, author of Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families & Churches. Get it and read it now!)
• Session #8: “Ministry for the Long Haul & Ambition” – Matt Chandler (Lead Pastor at The Village Church in Dallas, TX)

After the Boot Camp is over, Julie and I will be assessed by Acts 29 Pastors and their wives for 2 hours before I fly to Seattle for our next Re:Train class, Missional Missiology taught by Ed Stetzer. Our assessors are

• Kevin & Stephanie Jamison from The Oaks Community Church in Middletown, OH
• Nick Nye from Veritas Community Church in Columbus, OH
• Jerry Funston from The Journey Fellowship in Sunbury, OH (Cedarvile grad Yeah! Buckeye fan Boo)

I’m excited to meet them and for Julie and I to be examined by people who know what the life of a church planter is like. While I believe that God is specifically and clearly calling me and us to plant a church in Ann Arbor, MI, I welcome the input, direction, and guidance that comes through the assessment process and will take the outcome very seriously. Should our assessment uncover problematic areas that may make us ill-suited for church planting, we will prayerfully and earnestly seek God about the path to which He is calling us and endeavor to trust Him in all things.

Timely post from Jonathan Leeman in preparation for my upcoming Missional Ecclesiology class taught by Gregg Allison of Southern Seminary. Church discipline is a difficult concept for many people to understand, especially at churches where membership and convenanting together means very little. It’s easy to be too firm, and easy to be too light. Here are some of Jonathan’s thoughts as to how pastors practice church discipline incorrectly.

1. They fail to teach their congregation what church discipline is and why to practice it.
2. They fail to teach about and practice meaningful membership. This involves cultivating a culture of personal discipleship and involvement in one another’s lives in which people transparently confess sin to one another. This also involves failing to adequately teach what membership is, as well as having a clear list of who is a member of the church and who is not.
3. They fail to teach their congregation about biblical conversion, especially the need for repentance. A congregation that doesn’t understand the role of repentance in the Christian life will have difficulty understanding why they need to discipline someone who is not repenting of sin.
4. They fail to teach new members as they enter the church about the possibility and circumstances for church discipline.
5. They fail to teach new members as they enter the church that the church may not grant a pre-emptive resignation from a person trying to avoid discipline. That misses the point of Matthew 18:15-20. Also, the nature of a church covenant requires the church’s consent to both enter into and leave the membership of the church.
6. They fail to ensure the church’s public documents (by-laws, constitution, articles of incorporation, etc.) address the procedures of church discipline, thereby exposing the church to legal risk.
7. They fail to follow the steps of Matthew 18 or 1 Corinthians 5, depending the circumstance. In a Matthew 18 situation, for instance, they fail to begin the process by confronting sin privately.
8. They don’t give adequate time to the process of moving through the various steps of Matthew 18. For instance, they move so quickly from step to step, that they don’t give the sinner adequate time to be reasoned with and shepherded toward repentance.
9. They call for the congregation to act too quickly. For instance, they fail to insert any time in between “tell it to the church” and “if he does not listen to the church, treat him as a pagan or tax collector.” Except in situations of a public scandalous sin of a 1 Corinthians 5 variety which do call for immediate removal, leaders should give the congregation time to both digest the information and to pursue the unrepentant sinner themselves.
10. They treat the processes of church discipline entirely as a legal process with little consideration for shepherding the unrepentant individual’s heart.
11. They give little attention to the differences between kinds of sinners and how that might affect how long we should bear with a pattern of sin before proceeding to subsequent stages of discipline (see 1 Thessalonians 5:14).
12. They forget that they too live by the gospel’s provision of mercy, and therefore prosecute the discipline from a posture of self-righteousness. Other mistakes follow from this wrong posture, such as an overly severe tone and stand-offishness.
13. They fail to truly love the sinner…
14. …and beg the Lord for his or her repentance.
15. They demand too much from a smoldering wick or bruised reed. In other words, they stipulations for repentance and restoration are too high for this one who has been deeply enslaved in sin’s grip.
16. They fail to properly instruct the congregation on how to interact with the unrepentant sinner, such as how to relate to them in social situations and how to pursue their repentance.
17. They fail to invite the discipline individual to continue attending services of the church so that they might continue to hear God’s Word (except in situations where the unrepentant sin is a severe threat to the church). Also, they fail to inform the church that everyone should hope for the disciplined individual to continue attending.
18. Putting the responsibility for leading discipline entirely on the shoulders of one man, the senior pastor. Doing so will tempt individuals in the church to accuse the senior pastor of personally vindictive. Such a charge is harder to make when a recommendation for discipline comes from an entire body of elders.
19. They fail to have sufficient elder involvement in the congregation’s life, such they are unaware of the state of the sheep. This failure of formative discipline will inevitably weaken the church’s ability to do corrective discipline well.
20. They fail to teach God’s Word on a weekly basis.
21. They allow the congregation to approach the case of discipline with a wrongful spirit of retribution, rather than with the loving desire to warn the unrepentant sinner about God’s ultimate retribution to come.
22. They pursue discipline on non-biblical grounds (playing cards, dancing, etc.).
23. They pursue discipline for any other reason than for the good of the individual, the good of the church, the good of the onlooking community, and the glory of Christ.

Then feel the weight of the responsibility by reading this list compiled by P.J. Tibayan, one of my brothers in Christ and a fellow Re:Train student. Thankfully, the Spirit equips us and it is not our own ability that makes us worthy.

A church that doesn’t disciple internally and externally isn’t a church. Period. That said, what does discipling look like? I spent some time writing a paper on it for our first Re:Train class that I will eventually post someday. For now, enjoy these thoughts from Jonathan Leeman on discipling and friendship for pastors

1. Pastors have busy schedules, and frankly they cannot afford to become good friends with everyone whom they disciple. Still, we can generally expect that the discipling relationships which occur in the context of a friendship will have the highest impact. In other words, the amount of time I spend drawing near to a brother (immanence) will directly affect how far I can draw that brother toward Christ (transcendence)—all things being equal.
2. Drawing near to a younger brother in the faith doesn’t mean telling him everything about my life. Questions of his maturity and trustworthiness will help to answer how much I can wisely tell him about my life to assist him in the path of discipleship.
3. At the same time, I need to make sure it’s not my own pharisaical aspirations of looking impressive to the younger man which keep me from drawing near and being transparent.
4. After all, at the heart of what we want to teach younger Christians is the glory of the gospel and the pattern of a gospel life. If the younger Christians around me never see me demonstrate confession, contrition, and repentance, how can I expect them to learn it?

In anticipation of being assessed as a church planter, I wonder how I will respond if my “grade” on the assessment indicates that church planting isn’t the most appropriate ministry for how God has made me. Maybe I’m better suited to pastor or replant an existing church. I don’t know, but I’m definitely praying about it.  This post from Scott Thomas on the Acts 29 Network Blog provides helpful thoughts when Envisioning a Replant.

1. Envision what the worship gathering could be (Acts 2:42-47).
   • Attitude of body during worship
   • Music
   • Prayer
   • Teaching
   • Communion
   • Children
   • Exaltation of God
   • Incorporation of arts
2. Envision what the evangelism could be (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8).
   • Who can you reach immediately?
   • What attitudes toward evangelism need to change?
   • Where or how could you boldly make an impact with the gospel?
   • What steps of faith need to be taken to reach the unchurched and the unsaved?
   • How could your youth evangelize?
   • How could households evangelize together?
   • What worldwide impact could you make as a body (i.e. foreign missions)?
   • How are you going to be an eternal value to your community?
3. Envision how education and discipleship could be effective (Acts 2:42).
   • How will it become a passionate pursuit of the body (“continue steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine,” Acts 2:42)?
   • What resources (people, qualities, gifts) do you have in place to launch greater disciple-making?
   • How will the fathers and heads of households (single moms, etc.) be trained to be the priest and spiritual head of their homes?
   • How will the older men and women teach and interact with the younger men and women? (Titus 2)
   • Will the age groups be segregated (children, youth, singles, college, married, etc.) or will they be integrated into the body?
   • What role will small groups play?
   • What training will be needed to help develop disciples who are passionately pursuing Christ?
4. Envision an Acts 2 commitment to fellowship (Acts 2:44-45).
   • In what ways will the body seek to meet the needs of one another (spiritual, social, financial, physical)?
   • What attitudes need to change to be sacrificially generous with time, money and resources for the encouragement and edification of the body?
   • How will the body serve one another actively and responsively in an unprompted way?
   • What will the membership requirements be? How will it communicate a covenantal commitment?
5. Envision an effective youth and children’s ministry.
   • Will they be integrated into the church ministry? If so, how?
   • How will families be strengthened through the student ministry?
   • How will the youth be encouraged and trained to evangelize their friends?
   • What role will the heads of households play in the student ministry?
   • Who (person or groups) will lead the youth and children’s ministry?
   • What facility changes are needed to communicate the value of children and youth?
   • What other positions of leadership need to be filled to be effective?
   • What leadership development with the students will be put into place?
   • What programs or customs need to be extracted from the youth and children’s ministry to avoid distractions from the ministry goals?
6. Envision an equipping staff (Eph. 4:11-13).
   • What changes need to be made with the staff (paid or volunteer) to meet the church’s goals?
   • Are the staff members doing the ministry or leading people to do the ministry? If they are doing the bulk of the ministering, how will they develop the body to do the work of the ministry?
   • Are you over-staffed or under-staffed to meet both financial obligations and the development of lay people (taking responsibility for ministry)?
7. Envision a body not reacting to finances to determine God’s call (Matt. 6:24).
   • How will faith in God calling a body to reach out to the community and world be weighed against financial responsibility and stewardship?
   • If mortgages or debts exist, how will they be paid off in a realistic way over a reasonable time period?
   • What attitudes or practices about money and finances need to be changed?
   • Is a budget in place? Is it a true reflection of the church’s giving and spending (balanced budget)?
   • What expenses can be cut immediately to be redirected toward the church’s mission?
   • Is the body (especially the leadership) making decisions based on finances or on God’s calling?
   • What creative ways can you generate more income without sacrificing resources, biblical principles, or expending paid personnel?

This list of seven qualifications of a church planter is comparable to other lists, but serves as a reminder of all that church planters are called to do and be. This post was written by David Nicholas, the founder of The Church Planting Network.

1. Has a working knowledge of God’s Word.
2. Godly Character
3. Communication skills
4. Evangelistic fervor
5. Leadership abilities
6. A good fit for the area
7. Self-knowledge of personal giftedness and personality

From Mike McKinley, who was sent by Capital Hill Baptist in DC to replant Guilford Baptist Church in Leesburg, VA. This answer was to the question How important is the assessment process and should the sending church be involved?

The assessment process is extremely important, but there is a danger here.  Some church planting organizations have so elevated the work of the church planter that it seems like some dark art that can only be performed by those with a certain mark on their soul.  While the failure rate for church plants is very high, I think that many (probably even most) qualified pastors could be church planters.

There are special pressures involved in church planting, and so the assessment process is important.  I would suggest that you evaluate him along six lines:

1. Motivation — Why does he want to plant a church?  Does he resist authority and just want to be his own boss?  Does he have delusions of grandeur?
2. Independence — Can he work well on his own?  Is he disciplined, entrepreneurial, and self-motivated?  After all, no one will be looking over his shoulder on a day to day basis.
3. Home life — Planting will be stressful on the family.  Is his marriage solid?  Does he understand what it means to love his wife and children?  Is he open to being held accountable in these areas by the sending church?
4. Teaching and evangelism — Is he qualified as a teacher to be an elder in a church?  If not, he’s not a church planter.  Can his teaching build, feed, and sustain a church?  Is he passionate about reaching the lost?  Is he comfortable around non-believers?
5. Discouragement — Does he exhibit abiding trust in the Lord’s providence and guidance? Is he easily discouraged?  How does he deal with apparent failures and set-backs?
6. Godliness — Is he qualified morally to be an elder?  If not, he’s not a church planter.  Are there secret sins in his life?  Is he faithful with money?  Is he humble and open to criticism?  You are not going to find the perfect guy with respect to these six categories, so you need someone who is constantly growing in Christ and changing in areas of weakness and sin.

Acts 29 has the best assessment process I’ve seen, and it is certainly appropriate to use the expertise of groups like that to help with the process. Ultimately, though, I think the local sending church can’t outsource their responsibility to assess, call, train, and launch the planter.

I’m grateful for the opportunity to be the Church Planting Resident at Grace Ann Arbor because it gives Sung lots of opportunities to see into my life and provide me needed correction and rebuke. It’s a little nerve-wracking looking forward to the Acts 29 Louisville Boot Camp in November and our plan to get assessed, wondering if I’ll “pass the test”. I know I shouldn’t look at it that way, as a “dark art that can only be performed by those with a certain mark on their soul” as McKinley writes, but it sometimes feels that way, especially as I take lots of tests with no real idea of what the results actually mean. What I need to trust God to continue to do is give me confidence in His sovereign plan. He may not be calling me to plant a church, but if I am faithful to Him and His call on me to cling to Him, then I need not worry.

Update: As of 10-13-2009, I’m no longer the Church Planting Resident at Grace Ann Arbor