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| Church Planting from the Ground Up |
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 edited by Tom Jones
From the Foreward
I recently returned from a speaking engagement in Montana where I met a few minutes with a young pastor. He shared with me that the attendance of his church was 400 a couple of years ago, 200 last year, and almost back to 400 this year. “What is happening?” I inquired of the roller coaster growth and decline and growth. “We grew to 400, planted a church of 200, and have almost replaced all of our ‘losses,’ all in just three years.”
His story amazed me. This pastor and church planter grew a church, planted a church, and grew a church again in one of the most sparsely-populated states in America. “What are your future plans?” I asked. He smiled and responded, “We plan to do it again and again and again. God blesses when you ‘give away’ people and resources. We are just going to keep giving it all away.”
This young man has not had the opportunity to lead research teams as I have the past decade. But his on-the-field experience is just as credible as the national research we have conducted. God blesses church planting.
One of my first research projects was on effective evangelistic churches in America. We discovered that churches that have a DNA of reproduction are among the most effective churches at reaching the lost and unchurched across America.
Starting new churches is always important. The biblical narratives of the early Church certainly attest to that reality. But starting churches today is critical. There are some 400,000 churches in the United States. We estimate that some 60,000 of those churches will close in the next 10 to 15 years. We will need at least 60,000 churches just to stay even!
But even if churches were not closing, we would need new congregations. These new churches tend to be more effective at reaching people for Christ, and for penetrating areas not reached by existing churches. One cannot have a true passion for reaching our world for Christ without also having a passion for planting churches.
In your hands is a book that surprised me for at least two reasons. First, I thought I was fairly knowledgeable about church planting. But, as I devoured the pages of this tome, I was surprised to find out how much I did not know!
But I was also surprised by the incredible quality of each chapter I read. In most multi-author books, the material ranges from bad to good to very good. In this book, each contribution was good, or very good, or very, very good. There is no weak link in this work.
My original plans were to write the foreword to Church Planting from the Ground Up and to thank Tom Jones for the opportunity to provide my input. I now have different plans. I now have different plans. As soon as I finish these words, I am giving the manuscript to the church planting department of the seminary where I serve as dean. I am strongly encouraging our staff to require this book of every church planting student. It will also become required reading for a course I teach on growing evangelistic churches.
This book is an encyclopedia of church planting. Every chapter is written by someone who knows his or her stuff. These are no pie-in-the-sky theories that just might work. Every contributor writes from an incredible background of real-world experience. They have been there and done that. And now you have the opportunity to hear their insights on a wealth of church planting topics.
Be prepared to enjoy some great stories. Be prepared to hear from some great men and women. But, above all, be prepared to hear the work of a great God who honors the work of His servants who take church multiplication to heart.
Thom Rainer, Dean
The Billy Graham School of Evangelism and Church Growth
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Louisville, Kentucky
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Hope Network Ministries
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email: Hope Network
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