Understanding the Process

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There are five major transition points that a church planter must manage well. Each transition point is a place where the church plant can fail before it has the opportunity to become a fully functional church. Understanding these transition points and being prepared to address these points as they arise can help the church planter be more successful and experience less stress.

The five transition points are:

Access – moving into the community in such a way that you are an accepted stranger.
Finding the Person of Peace – finding that spiritually oriented person in the community who will accept you as a spiritual person and present you as an acceptable outsider to the community.
Moving from just a personal relationship with the Person of Peace to facilitating a Discovery Bible Study that helps a group or family to discover God, their need for Him, and how to place their faith in Him.
Facilitate a group of new Believers to become a faithful and obedient Body of Christ.
It’s time to leave.

Step 1: Access

Access is about entry into a community to whom we are strangers. Appropriate access is about entering this new community without adding additional barriers to being a stranger. Most church planters enter a new community and announce they are religious workers, pastors, church planters, evangelists, and etc. In most, if not all situations, this immediately adds tremendous barriers which limit or kill the opportunity to find the Person of Peace who will open the community to the Gospel Message.

The best access is through the introduction of member of the community you want to reach. This can be a workmate, friend, family, or almost anyone with whom you have a close relationship and who also has a good reputation within the community. A community member with a bad reputation is not going to assist in becoming an acceptable outsider in most communities. The higher the status of the person, the more likely the community will accept the outsider.

When there is no one to introduce church planters to the community, then the church planters have to find ways that allow them acceptable access. These access methods are as numerous as one imagination. We have had church planters enter villages with a soccer ball and start a pickup game. Others have been itinerate salespersons of goods the area needs. Some have taken employment or worked on farms for their food. Meeting felt needs of education, medical care, safe water, and agricultural training have also been successful points of access. Business that improves the economy of the area has been used successfully in many areas. The list is really almost limitless, and often these access opportunities require little or no financial investment.

The point of access is to meet people, demonstrate a spiritual life that draws the Person of Peace, and do so in such a way that no one is put off. The precursors of all this activity are prayer and planning. The results of good access are relationships, friendships, discovery of the Person of Peace, and transitioning to the Discovery Bible Study with a group related to the Person of Peace.

Step 2: Finding the Person of Peace

Gaining access to a community is the first step. Finding the Person of Peace is the next step. Actually, if we do things right, the Person of Peace will find us. Learning how to be found is the key to the Second Transition Point.

The most common mistake I see in finding the Person of Peace is a misunderstanding of who the Person of Peace is. The Person of Peace is not simply a good person, or hospitable person, or friendly person. There are many people in every culture who are good, hospitable, or friendly, but are not Persons of Peace.

The Person of Peace is the one God has prepared to receive the Gospel into a community for the first time. There are two major categories of Persons of Peace – some are Persons of Peace by nature and some become Persons of Peace as a result of God’s direct intervention in their families or communities. There are numerous examples of both categories in the Bible. Cornelius and Lydia are representatives of the “Person of Peace by nature” category. The Philippian Jailer and the Samaritan Woman at the Well are examples of those who became Persons of Peace through the direct intervention of God.

In all these examples, however, the evangelists were conspicuously spiritual people who lived out their faith without apology. And this is the secret to finding the Person of Peace. We must live out our faith as conspicuously as possible. This is not about being religious. It’s about being spiritual.

God condemns being religious. Simply look at how Jesus related and spoke to the Religious leaders of His day. Or, take a look at how God spoke through His prophets in the Old Testament. Religion was not well thought of or supported by Scripture.

God has a tremendous amount to say to us about being spiritual – rightly relating to God and His creation through a personal relationship with Him. This is about faith. This is about living out our faith in all circumstances and situations regardless of consequences. This is about loving God and loving people. This is about obedient thinking and living. This kind of life draws people who are interested in spiritual matters and opens the door to communities for establishing obedient bodies of believers who’s Head is the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to unconditionally live out a spiritual life to make evangelism and church planting happen.

So, in reality, finding the Person of Peace is more about us and our lives than it is about finding the Person of Peace. If we are the people we should be, those who will want to start churches will come to us. This is more than just living a good life. It’s living an obedient life that demonstrates the love of God and shares the Word of God in such a way that the lost become saved, the saved become obedient, and the obedient make more Disciples for the Lord Jesus Christ, resulting in self-replicating Disciples and churches of Jesus Christ.

Step 3: From Person of Peace to Small Group

One of the most difficult transitions to make is the move from relating to just the Person of Peace to the affinity group of the Person of Peace. The primary affinity group in church planting situations is usually the family of the Person of Peace. But there are cultures and situations where the primary affinity group may not be the family; such as boarding schools, universities, some gender divided societies, deployed military personnel, itinerant workers, prisons, homeless poor, and etc.

Many church planters tend to rush this phase. They pull the groups together themselves, and in doing so, establish themselves as the leaders of the groups. They may also establish an extraction group which is made up of members from different affinity groups. This causes a cascading series of problems that may result in the failure of a group to become a Community of Believers or church. The most detrimental failure is the damage done to internal leadership potential. In church planting new leaders do not easily emerge in the presence of external or established leaders.

All-star athletes do not become world class athletes by only observing others. They have to practice their sport in order to master it. They often begin learning and practicing their sport before they ever see professionals play the sport. They start playing the sport at an early age, sometimes at the encouragement of family and friends, but sometimes they pick it up on their own. As they fall in love with the sport, they watch the masters of the sport. They practice what they see, but more importantly, what they learn from coaches and teammates. They perfect what they practice. They become examples to others all along the path to stardom. And finally, they train others in what they have spent a lifetime perfecting. At this stage they no longer perform. They teach, train, coach and mentor those behind them who are coming up in the sport.

This is the same format Jesus used in training His disciples. It’s the same format used by Paul when he trained and deployed church planters. They modeled, equipped, observed to make sure things were headed in the right direction (not perfect), then they moved on. Deeply personal relationships were established with their disciples and followers. These people saw them in public and in private, and there was do discrepancy in what they said and what they did in public and in private. Jesus and Paul taught many, but disciple only a few who would be the leaders. They spent more time with these leaders and developed these leaders until they had their own groups. We do not see them starting groups for their disciples.

The Church Planter’s job is to find the Person of Peace, establish a firm relationship with this person, and then to coach this person in sharing what he or she may be learning with their affinity group, and then at some point formalize this sharing of information into a Guided Discovery Bible Study where everyone in the group learns how to study the Bible, how to apply the Bible to their own lives and their other affinity groups, and how to care for the people around them in such a way that the group grows and multiplies even before it becomes a church. As this group falls in love with Christ and members commit themselves to Christ and are baptized, this group takes the first step towards being a church.

This brings us to the next transition point – from Bible Study Group to Church. The role of the Church Planter is to coach people through these transitions, not do it for them.

Step 4: From Small Group to Church

The church planter has coached the Person of Peace and/or spiritual leaders of the group every week for months on how to lead a Guided Discovery Bible Study focused on Knowing God. This series of Bible studies was tailor-made to address the group’s worldview and cultural gateways and barriers; and lead them to discover a holy and loving God, face their own sin, find God’s provision for their sin through Jesus Christ, come into a grace/faith relationship with Jesus, and commit to a life of faith that obeys the commands of Jesus regardless of consequences. At some point in this process the group comes to Christ, often all at one time or over a short period of time. They become baptized as they are guided to discover and obey the Biblical teachings on belief in Christ and baptism, and begin the process of moving from being a Bible study group to being a church.

During this process the church planter has spent anywhere from six months to two years coaching and mentoring the Person of Peace and/or spiritual leaders of the affinity group. He will need to spend about another two years mentoring the leaders of this new group to help them fully develop as a church. This may not be the only group the church planter is working with, and each group will be at different stages of the church planting process.

The intensity and time required increases at each transition point. Toward the point of transition to Church the Guided Discovery Bible Study on Knowing God has become almost routine, requiring less time and energy on the church planter’s part. He has been simply introducing the new Scripture passages, answering questions, and continuing to build relationships with the leaders of the group. But when the group is about to come to Christ, spiritual warfare heats up and time/relationship requirements increase. This is often a crisis point in the relationships, and much prayer and more time is needed to usher the leaders and the group through this critical passage. The church planter may be tempted to take control of the group. Don’t! Continue to coach and mentor the leaders. Let the Holy Spirit usher them into the presence of the King and you will experience the joy that comes with the birth of a new church.

Now your job changes from the midwife that assisted in the Holy Spirit in the birth of a church to the nanny who helps the church reach maturity. Notice! The nanny is not the parent, but assists the parent in helping the child to mature to responsible adulthood. Just as getting pregnant and giving birth seems like hard work, those of us who have raised children to adulthood know that the hard part of being a parent lies ahead as we raise the children to responsible adulthood. The work of the church planter increases greatly as the new church begins its walk to maturity.

The amount of time in mentoring the new church leaders increases dramatically for a few months. There is a lot to learn from the Word in order for the leaders to understand and fulfill their responsibilities as leaders. They also may already be involved in starting other groups or even have other groups coming to their own crisis point of becoming a new church. There is a great temptation on behalf of the church planter to become a directive leader and/or teacher at this point. There is so much that needs to be done, so much that these leaders need to know, so many issues that have to be addressed, that we feel compelled to set them down and inundate them with knowledge. Resist this temptation!

Increase your time with the leaders by 50 to 100%. Let what they are experiencing guide you in what Discovery Bible Studies you introduce them to. Let the Word teach them and let them take this process to their groups. Critical topics to be covered include the life and commands of Jesus. This is a good time to use the Jesus Film. Help these new leaders learn from Jesus and Paul how to lead by not just asking what they taught, but look at what they did with their disciples. This is a time to start exploring the Scripture regarding the function, nature, and leadership of the church. Let the Word and the Holy Spirit guide the group to finding their own fulfillment as the Bride of Christ, the Body of Christ, and the Pillar and Foundation of Truth for their communities. Help them to look with new eyes on their family, friends, and neighbors in order to love them more and seek ways to serve them and meet their needs. Ministry is the key to church growth and church planting. Brainstorm with these new leaders how to meet the needs of those around them out of their own resources. Explore ways to develop local resources. Don’t do anything to develop dependence on outside assistance for anything.

As you put these patterns in place with love and devotion, you will see a responsible church emerge that will transform its own community and reach out to all segments of society around it. It will look over the horizon to other communities who need what they have found. It will become a reproducing responsible church lead by reproducing responsible leaders who equip reproducing responsible disciples for Jesus Christ.

Now it’s time to leave.

Step 5: It’s Time to Say Goodbye

“Goodbye” does not mean relationships are over. It means they have changed. When one says “goodbye” to a kindergarten child on the very first day of their school career, the parenting relationship changes, but does not end. When one says “goodbye” to a son or daughter who is off to college for the first time, the relationship changes. When one says “goodbye” to a son or daughter at the altar of marriage, the relationship changes. If the parent does not say “goodbye” then severe damage occurs, not only for the relationship, but for the development of the child into a responsible adult.

Jesus said in John 16:7, But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. (NIV) Jesus was limited by time and space. If He had not ascended we would have limited access to the knowledge and power of God through Jesus. The Holy Spirit is not limited by time or space or the number of people who can access Him. Jesus’ followers can accomplish much more since Jesus ascended than we could have if He had stayed on the earth. The Holy Spirit provides access for everyone to the love of God, His power, His wisdom, and His understanding of the Word.

New churches have a very high dependence on the church planter. If the church planter stays too long, then the church planter will cripple the growth of the new church. Instead of learning to depend on the Holy Spirit and the Word of God for guidance, it will depend on the church planter. This is unhealthy. It severely limits the potential of the church, and in the worse cases can kill a new church before it even has a chance to develop.

Church Planters need to prepare the churches they start for the time of separation. This is done by continually going to the Bible for answers to all questions. It is done through prayer and seeing that God answers the new believer’s prayers. It is done by equipping leadership and letting that leadership lead from the very beginning as they listen to the Holy Spirit and depend on the Word of God for their guidance.

If the church planter stays too long he runs the danger of taking the place of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church. It will be the church planter who points out sin instead of the Holy Spirit convicting of sin as the Word of God reveals it. It will be the church planter who answers the prayers of the church by providing advice and assistance instead of the Holy Spirit providing all their needs. When there are problems and persecutions the church will turn to the church planter instead of God for solutions and salvation.

If the church planter has done his or her job, then the church has seen the church planter model a mature Christian lifestyle and leadership. The church planter has equipped the church to handle the Word of God, pray and listen to the Spirit of God, and minister to the people around them. As leaders emerge in the new church the church planter watches them lead, make their mistakes, helps them recover from mistakes by listening to the Word of God and His Spirit, and mature. And at the right time the church planter leaves, knowing that the church is in good hands, the hands of the Holy Spirit.

Plan for and watch for the “Goodbye.” It’s better to do it too early than to do it too late. If the church planter does it too late, then he runs the risk of taking on the role of the Holy Spirit or keeping the church from developing a listening ear for the Holy Spirit.

Know when it’s time to say, “Goodbye.” It’s not the end of the relationship. It’s the start of a new and better relationship.

Understanding DMI - Understanding the Process