Are you a church planter?
Scott Thomas from Acts 29 Network compiled this list of '13 necessary characteristics of an effective church planter' from Aubrey Malphur's book, Planting Growing Churches for the 21st Century (Originally formulated by Dr. Charles Ridley, church planting strategist at Indiana University).
So, do you fit the bill? Are you cut out to be a modern-day 'apostle'? Why, or why not?
If you are already a church planter, do these characteristics seem accurate to you? How has your experience proven these true? Has it proven any of them inaccurate? If so, how?
So, do you fit the bill? Are you cut out to be a modern-day 'apostle'? Why, or why not?
If you are already a church planter, do these characteristics seem accurate to you? How has your experience proven these true? Has it proven any of them inaccurate? If so, how?
Hm... how about:
ReplyDelete1. Called (a.k.a. commanded) by God to plant a church.
Not only was that one not listed among the 13... I think it's the only characteristic that really counts.
The rest of the list is helpful to remind a church planter what skills he needs to develop, or possibly to a church planting supporter, to discern the strength of his "investment" but that's about it.
I agree that calling is THE most important element. If a man feels he is called and cannot lead, preach, talk out loud to others besides his cat, walk and chew gum, he may be misinterpreting a "call."
ReplyDeleteThis instrument is merely a tool to be used in conjunction to a clearly confirmed call by God to specifically plant a church in a prescribed place and at a specific time.
If I didn't know that you currently had a church planter's load on your plate right now I'd expect a little more...shall I say...detailed response to my question/the list. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAlthough it's good practice never to "assume" anything when you're dealing with people you don't know, I'm pretty certain that having a sense of calling from God is an assumed prerequisite to Ridley's list. It's not as if he didn't think that was important or forgot to put it on the list. But in addition to that, if a person has not spent much time in circles where the concept of church planting has been discussed, he may have a vague sense of a calling on his life, and for this type of person, tools like this can be tremendously useful when used in conjunction with one's personal seeking of God and of spiritual counsel. Very few people are 100% certain beyond the shadow of a doubt that God has commanded them to minister in a particular fashion, much less to a particular group of people in a particular location. Such assurance is not required, in my opinion, to know if and how God has equipped and called a person to be a church planter, especially in the beginning stages of assessment. Obviously, no call is a generic call. As always, let's never forget that we are explicitly commanded by God to always 'test the Spirit' no matter how certain we may be that we have heard his voice.
On a side note, I think it's pretty obvious that you (Ryan) have little to worry about with regard to 'the list'. As you mentioned, it's probably simply an effective tool for self-evaluation and prayerful improvement.
Thanks, Scott, for stopping by and giving your three cents. : )