Church planting - Dave Lawton

Goerge Patterson's 7 principles

I remember back in the early nineties (?) Colleen and I went and spent a week hearing George Patterson talk about Church planting movements. This was right at the beginning of my journey towards understanding Church planting movements. I must confess I didn't take it all in…. a number of light bulbs had to be turned on in my head to get the full depth of what he was talking about. But as I revisit his principles today, they deeply resonate with me.

Ash Barker in his book 'Surrender All' * has neatly summarised his teaching… 

George Patterson worked among the poor in Honduras.  His definition of a disciple was one who loved and obeyed Jesus and his basic commands. It was in multiplying people and communities able to make such disciples that movements would result. 

He identified “The Seven Commands of Jesus” as:

Ø  Repent, trust God and receive the Holy Spirit. (Luke 24:45-49 (the resurrection chat), Acts 2:37-41 (Peters response to “What should we do?”))

Ø  Be baptised and live it. (Luke 3:21-22 (Jesus’ baptism), Acts 8:26-40 (the Ethiopian eunuch))

Ø  Pray. (Luke 11:1-13 (Jesus on prayer), Luke 6:12 (Jesus prays all night), Acts 4:23-31 (prayer after Peter and Johns release from prison))

Ø  Love God and neighbour in a practical way. (Luke 10:25-37 (the Good Samaritan), Acts 4:32-37 (the common life))

Ø  Give generously. (Luke 6:30-38 (giving without thought of return), Acts 20:33-35 (Paul on living a generous life))

Ø  Break bread. (Luke 22:14-30 (the Last Supper), Luke 24:13-35 (the resurrected Jesus reveals himself in the breaking of bread), Acts 2:42 (the early church breaking bread))

Ø  Be witnesses of Jesus and help other people be followers too. (Luke 5:27-32 (Jesus calls Levi to be a follower), Luke 24:45-49 (the great commission 1), Acts 1:8 (the great commission 2), Acts 14:21-23 (Paul and Barnabus discipling people))

Rather than centralising everyone and putting every effort into a large regional church, Patterson argued that if we could just help people to do these basic commands of Jesus together, “training and multiplying” this simple cell, then “spontaneous church planting movements” could emerge. It was especially important to Patterson that key villages and household leaders were identified first and helped to obey these commands in their own ways. It was the third or fourth link in this discipleship chain that Patterson considered an indigenous church movement “of” the people. Patterson would not personally set up churches, but coach and observe new disciples to love and obey Jesus together with those they knew in their own ways. What Patterson sparked as a movement among the poor in Honduras seemed to match what we discussed earlier about first-century discipleship movements and what Gerlach and Hine defined as a social movement.

* Barker, A. (2005) Surrender all. Urban Neighbours of Hope. Springvale. 

The Rise and Rise of the Vietnamese House Church

 

Compass Direct services, Open Doors and several other sources reported about an event of unprecedented magnitude in Vietnam, marked to be as “history made in communist Vietnam”. After receiving permission from the government at the last moment following an initial denial of a stadium with 30,000 seats, on   December 11^th around 40,000 people gathered in a hastily constructed venue in Ho Chi Minh City to worship God with a choir of over 1,000 singers, to celebrate Christmas, and to hear a gospel message. Up to 8,000 people responded to the gospel message indicating the desire to follow Christ. The event was symbolically entitled “With Our Whole Hearts.”  Compass Direct comments that for house churches, large gatherings are both very rare and very special, and for many this was their first glimpse of the strength of Vietnam’s growing Christian movement.

Source: WEA Religious Liberty Prayer News, December 15th, 2009

http://www.worldevangelicals.org/pray/

4 Excellent Posts on Prayer

David Price runs a great little blog. One of his passions is the Primitive Methodists, a movement not very well known. I have really enjoyed his 4 recent posts on prayer. I would highly recommend you to sit down and read them.

Dynamic Prayer Meetings (part one)

Dynamic Prayer Meetings (part two)

Dynamic Prayer Meetings (part three)

Dynamic Prayer Meetings (part four)

This kind of prayer forms the heart of any movement. It's the Holy Spirit that is 'poured out on all flesh'. Acts begins (and continues) with a Holy Spirit empowered prayer meeting.

How to Kill Church Planting Movements

David Garrison has written an excellent article on how to kill Church planting movements.

It comes from his book Church planting movements   

Click here for the pdf found in Mission Frontiers Nov-Dec 2004

China's Greatest Evangelist - Goforth

Have you heard of Jonathan Goforth? Probably not if you are like me. The heart of the greatest growth in the history of the Church has been in Henan Province of China. It was to this place the Jonathan and Rosalind Goforth went in the late 1800's. Goforth is a great name for a missionary isn't it! Through very difficult times of physical persecution and opposition from within and outside of the Church he saw many people come to Christ. Goforth laid the foundation of the earthshaking move of God in the 20th century in China. 

Dubbed as 'China's greatest evangelist' Goforth was dissatisfied with luke warm Christianity. He firmly rejected liberal theology that was within the current Chinese Church and also in the West. After witnessing revival in Korea, and being impacted by the Welsh revival and Charles Finney, the stage was set for Henan province. He declared the Bible had become 'life and breath to me'. He was intensely committed and only returned to Canada after he went blind in 1932, 2 years before his death. His methodology was simple and powerful... He preached the gospel and revival would come to those who publicly confessed their sins, repented and obeyed the Holy Spirit. New believers were quickly released into the task of preaching the gospel, often enduring real persecution.

Maybe we need to learn a few things from these heroes of the faith.

Check out Paul Hathaway's new Book 'Henan - the Galilee of China'

Read more here and here.

Small Groups host the Virus

      Lee Strobel writes....

I'm excited about the huge trend of believers starting small groups and inviting nonbelievers to join them. The Alpha Courseis taking this approach. A ministry on the East Coast, Neighborhood Bible Studies, was just kind of floundering. They have a new leader, Mary Schaller. Her vision is 25,000 groups, which have a new name, Q Place, in the next six years. We started these kinds of groups at Willow Creek. At one point, we had 1,100 nonbelievers in these groups. We found that if nonbelievers join one of these groups and stay with it, 80 percent come to faith.

 

80% is a big number!

 

If the Gospel is like a virus that spreads from person to person then maybe small groups are the best hosts of the virus. I firmly believe in the power of small groups. One of the truths that we are rediscovering from the non-western Church is that our models of 'what is Church' is often found wanting. By spending most of our time focusing on the one sacred hour on Sunday morning, we can be a Sunday morning, program orientated, building fixated Christianity. In doing so we have effectively contained the virus in quarantine and stopped the gospel becoming a pandemic. 

 

Many non-western Churches however gather anywhere and anytime they can, they study often in twos and threes... they are usually part of viral movements that spread and cannot be contained. These groups are simple, organic and led by 'untrained' and un-ordained men and women. . Though bound together by relationship, they also easily multiply.

 

If our job is to get the virus of the gospel out of quarantine.... could rediscovering the missional qualities of small groups be one of the keys?

The Viral Nature of the Gospel

 

 

In the late 70's there were an estimated 3 million Christians in China. Some are optimistically saying that there are now more that 130 million. If so that’s a 43 times multiplication! That makes it one of the largest growth spurts in Christian history. Similar comparisons could be made to modern day Africa and Latin America and what is now beginning in the great nation of India. 

    What has been the driving force in China? There have been no great crusades allowed, no big churches running great programs. As people crowd in small and uncomfortable houses, for hours on end to hear the gospel - buildings, car parking and toilets are not one the big considerations. 

    The Gospel has spread from person to person. In China the gospel has spread like a virus. Similar parallels to the current spread of the H1N1 virus could be made. The authorities might try and stop it and the best medical minds try and limit its contagious spread but it relentlessly continues on to spread from person to person. Such is the power of a virus. It is contagious and out of control. It starts small then spreads like wild fire. Once it is out it is hard to stop. That is what the gospel is supposed to be like. But in our Western form of Christianity, have we effectively locked it up? Have we inoculated Christians against sharing the gospel? Have we created non-contagious Christians? Something’s wrong. 

    I don't know about you but I am hungry, in fact I am desperate for the same infectious spirit to be released in our nation... and in me.

 

Concertinas and Movements?

 

My good friend Steve Addison talks about church planting movements using adaptive methods. This can be clearly seen in the Salvation Army’s use of Concertinas. Many think of the Salvos being a brass band movement, but few would know today that one of their primary instruments was the Anglo concertina.

 

Read more ...

General Booth - A vision for the Lost

One of the striking characteristics of movements is passion for the lost. It goes beyond theory  to a heart engagement that drives us into action. Jesus was like this in his engagement with the lost. Another great example is the Salvation army. Read what General Booth wrote and catch his passion. I think it is close to the heart of God.  

In one of my recent journeys, as I gazed from the coach window, I was led into a train of thought concerning the condition of the multitudes around me. They were living carelessly in the most open and shameless rebellion against God, without a thought for their eternal welfare.

As I looked out of the window, I seemed to see them all… millions of people all around me given up to their drink and their pleasure, their dancing and their music, their business and their anxieties, their politics and their troubles. Ignorant- willfully ignorant in many cases- and in other instances knowing all about the truth and not caring at all. But all of them, the whole mass of them, sweeping on and up in their blasphemies and devilries to the Throne of God. While my mind was thus engaged, I had a vision.

More...

Meet Abhay!

Hey, today I fly out for India. In the first week I catch up with my friend Abhay. Abhay is a Church planter and is spawning a movement of churches amongst Nepali people. Signs and wonders often happen under his ministry. Listen to his story. You'll enjoy hearing more about his story in posts to come!