Inside Church Planting 1.1
 | Inside Church Planting September-October, 2003 Volume 1, Number 1 | |||
Contents Welcome to ICP Feature Article Church Planting Workshop Did You Know? Best Practices Tip Subscribing to ICP
Did You Know?Oregon and Washington are ranked 51st and 50th in per- centage of residents attending church in the US. (http://www.glenmary.org/). Oregon ranks 28th in population but only 31.3% of people attend church. There are 3,155 churches in Oregon. Washington ranks 15th in population, but only 35.9% attend church. There are 4,224 churches in Washington State. King County, WA, the home of Seattle, ranks 8th on the list of counties nationwide with the most churches. Church Planting Workshop The 2nd annual church planting workshop will be held March 19-20 at Cascade College, Portland, Oregon.
| Welcome to ICP! Welcome to Inside Church Planting. ICP is an e-bulletin devoted to promoting the growth of the kingdom by encouraging, informing and connecting church multiplication leaders. This inaugural issue introduces Inside Church Planting. In the feature article I'll lay out the main ideas behind ICP and who will benefit from ICP. Editor: Dr. Stanley Granberg, Cascade College. | |||
INTRODUCING INSIDE CHURCH PLANTING When I was church planting in Kenya I was always amazed at how God could take the 3 hours a week I gave to a village church and cause visible growth in numbers and maturity by the next week. This continual event embedded Mark 4:26-29 in my heart as one of the most amazing, and fitting, parables for church planting Jesus ever told. He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain:first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come." When I think of church planting my mind goes back to this parable. First for what it says, but also for what it implies. What Jesus says is this: God grows his kingdom. What a powerfully invigorating concept! It means that such work does not rest on our shoulders. Church planting is God's work; you and I are here to be used as God sees fit. If you have listened closely to God, if the place you are working, the people you are seeking and the plan you are following have come from the heart of God, then, as Paul says, ". . . in all these things we are more than conquerors . . ." (Rom. 8:37). God is going to give his harvest. Think what that means. No more sleepless nights worrying "Did I do the right thing?". No more "tagamet" moments wondering whether people will actually come to a grand opening. No more wondering whether God's message still speaks relevantly to the people who hear it. What Jesus says is that we scatter the seed, then whether we are asleep or at work, God does His thing. Wow! What this little gem of a parable implies is that the farmer is one cagey dude. He's not farming ignorant. He knows how to read the weather. He understands soil preparation, seed selection and all those little, tedious things that separate the good farmer from the "run of the mill" one. Sure, eventually he does scatter seed on the ground, but only when everything is as right as he knows how to make it. In the end, his full reliance is still on God, but he knows his methods too. True, methods aren't the only thing, but they are the only thing we have to work with. All things being equal, better methods typically produce better harvest. What is the Purpose of ICP? "Church planting is the single most effective evangelistic methodology under heaven." Ten years of church planting in Kenya confirmed Peter Wagner's statement for me, but since my return to the States I have discovered, one, that few Christians know what church planting is and two, there's an amazing amount of church planting activity around if we know where to look for it. Finally, there are a lot of folks who would like to know more about church planting if they had a way to learn it, and that is the purpose of Inside Church Planting. Inside Church Planting is intended to promote the growth of the kingdom by encouraging, informing and instructing those involved in the church planting enterprise. That means ICP is a sharing tool. I hope you will find it to be a place of dialogue, of discovery and learning. ICP is intended to be a forum where church planters and those learning about church planting can ask questions, trade ideas and share news about God's work in church planting. In other words, ICP is to be a place for you to participate in and contribute to what appears in each bulletin. Who is ICP for?ICP is for 3 distinct groups of people. First, ICP is for Christians who are looking for God's call in their lives. As a college teacher I have the opportunity to be around some great Christian young men and women who are looking for ways to serve God. Some of them are preparing for a lifetime work in full-time ministry. Others will minister from within their vocations in industry, government or education. What they all share is a deep desire to be involved in something significant. What could be more significant than being part of a church plant that is reaching into the lives of lost people with the redeeming word of Jesus? There is a place for most everyone in church planting, as a lead church planter, a core team member, a prayer partner, or a financial supporter. ICP is for Christians who are looking for an answer to God's call in their lives. Second, ICP is for those who will counsel, coach and mentor church planters. Church planting is, in some ways, a risky business. It is entrepreneurial Christianity. The church planter is putting it all the line to start something that has never existed and grow it by God's graciousness into a thriving congregation of mature men and women for God. The men and women on the front lines of church planting need the support of others. They need spiritually, emotionally and experientially mature advisors who will guide, encourage and exhort them along the way. ICP is a place where these coaches and mentors can hone their skills as well as keep up with church planting activities. Finally, ICP is for church leaders and churches who are thinking about reproducing through church planting. There are hundreds of "hope to be" mother churches whose hearts' desire and intent is to reproduce, but those who actually fulfill this dream are very few. The numbers are really quite staggering. The odds for one church reproducing a daughter church after only 5 years from it's own beginning drop to 50%. If a church has not planted a new church after ten years of existence odds are it never will. We can begin to turn those odds around. If your congregation wants to reproduce but does not know how, ICP is one source you can use to make your dream a reality. Subscribing to ICP If you received this inaugural issue you're on the list for ICP. But, if we are going to make the impact on the world we want to make, we need your help to build up the subscriber base for ICP. Send me the email addresses of others you know who might like to receive ICP. To unsubscribe, email cpnw@cascade.edu with delete in the subject line.
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