The Missional Network

In order for us to get serious about reaching North America for Christ it will require nothing less than a Church Planting Movement.  But our present strategy, of using professional church planters, will not accomplish that goal.  We spend lots of money searching, assessing, recruiting, and financing these church planters.  While some of these professional church plants are very successful in getting the church established the strategy, by itself, will never be adequate in reaching our growing population.  Why?  Because we will never have enough professional church planters to keep up with the population growth.  What is needed is nothing less than going back to basics where any born again believer would be capable of establishing a viable church.  We find this strategy in the book of Acts, church history and in our own Southern Baptist Convention history.  It is a church planting strategy where ordinary christians take up the role of church planters.  It is where lay believers when they move to new city instead of finding a new church to attend start a new church.  This is where lay people in our existing churches sense the call of God upon their life to establish a new church to reach a new segment of the population.  Only then will North America be able to, not only keep up with the growing population, but also out grow it.  This is the only place, THE LAITY, where we will find enough potential church planters to match the task.

While I have heard some talk about Lay Church Planting from our convention and the North America Mission Board I have seen little sincere emphasis placed upon it to bring it to reality.  So my question is:  What will it take for us as Southern Baptist to go back to our roots and get serious about unleashing the laity into church planting?  What will it take to get our convention serious about encouraging, enlisting, training and resourcing the laity for this vital work?  What will it take to get the laity motiviated for the work?  I would love to hear different comments and suggestions.  Do you agree with my assessment?  And are there any suggestions to my questions.

I honestly believe that where the church is REALLY growing, inwardly and outwardly, and Biblically, this is the strategy.  Traditional institutional churches that are growing are often utilizing this in their cell groups, etc.  In the mid-20th century Southern Baptists did this by utilizing the Sunday

School.  Every generation has to get a handle on this for itself, and then church growth happens.

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Hermano Jose, the Bivo Joe

It is true that every generation has to figure all this out for itself but it is also helpful for some of those who have gone before would step out of their box of security and view life from the new generations vantage point to help guide the way.  I feel that in Southern Baptist life a Director of Missions could be a very strong catalyst for initiating a Lay Church Planting Movement.  They are in the most strategic position for accomplishing it.  They are the closest to the local churches and they are closest to the local mission fields that still need to be saturated with new churches.  But the problem we have is that most of our DOM's do not work like true missionaries.  Missionaries are to be breaking new ground and establishing work in new demographic areas.  They are the initiators and innovators that help to expand the Kingdom of God into new areas.  Most of our DOM's work like administrators keeping the old machine working.  So to help a lay church planting movement I feel DOM'S need to become more missional

I am quite late to the discussion, but almost a year later not much has changed. The institutional methods and models are still being followed. DoM's are still "oiling the machine". Some do so because they're expected to while others do so because their paradigms have yet to shift. Recently, I attended training that spoke directly to the heart of the original post. We will not impact lostness if we continue doing what we've been doing. The traditional, i.e. institutional model with its buildings, programs, campuses, professional staff, etc. will not be enough to impact lostness. We must, as Jay and many others are realizing, embrace a CPM where men and women of peace are empowered, discipled, and unleashed to start churches. We are seeing this New Testament approach take shape around the world where God's power is seen in transforming entire EPGs from paganism, etc. into followers of Christ without snycretism.

Personally I am using some old established institutional methods but in some very untraditional ways, and it is working.  We are working out of a church plant that is very institutional but very missional.  Our church is only 18 years old, and has averaged birthing about a new work a year.  We have maintained some appearance as a church with a campus, building, etc., but we have been purpose driven in that we have carefully tried to see that everything we do,  build, etc. is plugged into our purpose.  That institutional setting has given us a place from which to move out into all kinds of venues, never in LARGE ways but in small entries into Hispanic, Muslim, Chinese and Russian people groups.

 Initially we faced some opposition from AMD's, some even demanding to know by what authority we were planting a new church, especially since it was in the geographic territory of another association.  We had to work through that, and for me personally it was an epiphany that our authority is the Great Commission.  Thank God, more and more AMD's are really "missionaries".  Some ARE still just oiling the machines.

But God works through the old and new.  I DO believe that when He works through the old He has to totally transform it, and He faces many more obstacles working through the old than through the new.  However, HE IS GOD and He really can do all things.  Nothing is impossible with Him!

When we recognize that the Great Commission is the authority, then anyone is free to start something new, even without the blessing of another congregation, though that is a good thing to have.  People have challenged us when deacons baptized new believers, but it was New Testament practice.  Old institutions have a tendency to maintain the status quo.  New things beget new things.

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Hermano Jose, the Bivo Joe