Our 12 Church Planting Assumptions
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Benjamin Kreps:
Hey everyone. Welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of Sovereign Grace Churches with our executive director. Mark, before we started recording the podcast, you were talking about how at the recent leadership team retreat you had a discussion about church planting and why we plant churches. We definitely don't plant churches to merely spread the Sovereign Grace Church brand or anything like that. We actually have biblical convictions about church planting. You guys were talking about that. Talk to us about your discussion.
Mark Prater:
Yeah, it was a wonderful discussion that actually Jon Payne led us through, did a great job of leading us through the discussion that he had put together, just a document, really a conversation piece, about our church planting assumptions in Sovereign Grace. And the reason he did that is because he's had this conversation with the Church Planting Group. They are not this independent isolated committee or group in our family of churches. They're actually an extension of the leadership team. So we want to make sure that we're all on the same page, the leadership team and Church Planting Group when it comes to how we think about church planting and why we plant churches in Sovereign Grace. And so I know Mike Seaver has seen this. Joel Shorey, our new director of church planting has seen this. And then Jon brought this draft working document that I'm just going to mention here in just a moment. He gave 'em some input and they'll talk about it again at the Church Planting Group retreat in August. But I thought they were really, really helpful.
I will say before I give these 12 assumptions, that we're thinking of the United States in using these; there are certainly assumptions that apply in other nations, but not all of them will, and would encourage guys that are planting churches outside of the United States, and Dave Taylor will help guys think this, about how can they take these assumptions and have them for their own nation. So just some introductory comments before I walk you through these 12 assumptions that we discussed.
Benjamin Kreps:
That's excellent. Glad that you guys, you're not just kicking around thoughts, you're actually wisely highlighting things that are helpful to the pastors and members of Sovereign Grace churches. When we think about church planting and people talk about church planting all the time, so of course there are assumptions connected with that conversation. So what are some assumptions about church planting that you would like us to be aware of?
Mark Prater:
Right? As I mentioned we have in the working document anyway, 12 assumptions. Those might change. We might reduce that number, but I thought they're all good. So it was worth dedicating a podcast to it. Assumption number 1: we want to plant churches, and here's the reason why. We as a family of churches, we desire to reflect the New Testament model of advancing the gospel by sacrificing for the mission and sending people to plant new churches to reach people that haven't heard Christ or reach an area that may not have a solid gospel preaching church. So that's a biblical conviction. That's a New Testament model that we are wanting to reflect in Sovereign Grace.
Assumption number 2: we want to plant for endurance. So we want to plant churches that will be faithful to God's word, faithful to our theological convictions and endure over time. So what that means is we're not as interested in numbers and we're not going to have these goals for numbers, but what we're interested in is planting solid churches that will be faithful and endure over time.
Assumption number 3: we plant with Sovereign Grace pastors. And what that means is we plant with men who are ordained in Sovereign Grace, who share our theological convictions, our seven shared values and our seven shaping virtues and where possible they also have some degree of pastoral experience. Now that may change based on the planter and how much experience he either has or needs, but we're just learning that guys who've got some degree of pastoral experience plant more solid churches because they've learned about pastoral ministry and that helps them plant well. Basically, Eric Turbedsky, when he was our director of church planting just unashamedly said appropriately, we plant Sovereign Grace churches a Sovereign Grace way. And that's kind of a little bit of what he was getting at in that phrase, right?
Assumption number 4: we value team ministry. That's not new to the pastors and even members of our churches that are listening to this, but where possible we'd love to send a plurality of elders more than just a solo elder. Now that's not always possible, but where we can, we want to do that. Or if we can't send a man already ordained, we'd love to send somebody who certainly is called and potentially on that ordination track because it will strengthen the church plant because pastoral teams are a reflection of the church. And so that'll be a stronger church.
Assumption number 5: we plant with denominational financial support. So in other words, we together as a family of churches, we are committed to replicating this New Testament model of planting churches so much. So we want to give our financial resources; those coming from our national resources, Sovereign Grace Central, those coming from our region. It's just one way to invest into the gospel and that allows a man to really devote his time to planting the church and not needing to find ways to earn other income.
Assumption number 6, which is really the next logical one: we plant with vocational pastors. Now this is one that may not work outside the United States because of the economy in certain nations, guys may need to be bi-vocational. But here in the states, our assumption is we want to plant with vocational pastors again because they can focus on the work of planting and not have to worry about how they're going to support their families.
Assumption number 7: we prioritize preaching, which is again not new in Sovereign Grace. CJ has led us down that road so well. You lead your church from the pulpit and you build your church on God's word Sunday after Sunday in solid expository preaching. And that's going to build churches that endure and that's going to build strong gospel centered churches.
Assumption number 8: we value denominational preparation and ongoing care. It's why we have a Church Planting Group. Those guys exist to help you, a planter, prepare, assess, and prepare. It's one of the roles that our regional leaders play in providing care for the planters. So our denominational structures that we have in place are in part there to foster and strengthen our church planting efforts.
Assumption number 9: we prioritize cooperative efforts. So we just believe that we're going to be able to do more together as a family of churches. And so the sharing of resources and the sharing of prayer, meaning we pray for one another as we plant churches is really important. And when I talk about sharing resources, I'm not just talking about financial resources, I'm talking about people. First of all, people that may be in one church that can join another church's church planting team because they have a desire to be a part of a church plant or the sharing of pastors. You may have a location to plant but not a pastor. And so a church in Sovereign Grace sacrificially gives that pastor to that other church so he can plant a church and the gospel can be advanced. Those are huge sacrifices, but they reflect the resources that we share.
Assumption number 10 is we prioritize pastoral ministry. Planters are pastors. That's something that I think Eric said. It's something that Jon has emphasized. Pastors are planters we want to plant with. Men are shepherds who will shepherd the flock of God that they begin to gather as the church plant forms.
Assumption number 11, we prioritize godly character. In other words, we want to send planters who are proven in godly character, tested in godly character and we can affirm their godly character. I think that's one of the roles of our, not only of our local churches, but our regional church planting committees, as well.
And then assumption number 12, we take faith-filled risks on the right things. So I want to continue to call us to take faith-filled risks, but we've got to take risks on the right things. I won't spend a lot of time on that because I dedicated a podcast to that topic just a few weeks ago. So if you haven't heard that, listen to it. But for example, we don't want to take risks on godly character, but we do want to take risks in sending our best to further the mission of the gospel as we plant churches.
So those are the assumptions, at least right now, those may change, but I thought it'd be a good time just to introduce them to our pastors and members of our churches and as we work on this, pray that God gives us wisdom, and pray that God would give us resources, men called to plant, people wanting to be on church plant teams, and financial resources to plant churches.
Benjamin Kreps:
That's very good. And I was struck again by a couple of those assumptions that are helpful to perhaps a church that wants to be involved in church planting but doesn't see the way forward but can help financially, help with people, help with resources. The sharing together, this cooperation in Sovereign Grace, is a central piece to how we plant. And so grateful for the Church Planting Group. I know when we planted last year, Redeeming Grace Church in Mechanicsburg, they served us so well. So helpful. So I've said this before, but if anyone's just thinking, I don't even know what it looks like to get involved in planting or the way forward, the Church Planting Group will help you. They will lead you through the whole process and we were helped so much by them.
So thank you, Mark, and the leadership team, and the way that you interact with the Church Planting Group and such thoughtful ways to serve us and may God give us the privilege of planting many more churches in the days ahead. So thank you, Mark, for the update. Thank you all for checking out the podcast. We'll see you here next week. Lord willing. Bye for now.