HEALTHY CHURCH: Irreducible Ecclesiology Minimums
What is all this talk about multiplication and church planting? What makes a church a church, and does Scripture designate some irreducible minimums? It has been said, “If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always gotten.” Another perspective would be to ask your church if you have stopped doing what Jesus told you to do. Are you discipling anyone? Are you mentoring and developing any leaders? Are you multiplying anyone, any ministries or any churches? Are you following Him by teaching your disciples to “observe all that He has commanded”?
BMA Global has a biblical focus on multiplying disciples, leaders and churches. Why? That is how Jesus modeled it for us. It is also how you see church planting occurring in the book of Acts. Our heart’s desire is to help lead the charge of starting new churches while also strengthening existing churches. A couple of years ago, my title changed to describe the oversight of church strategy and training. This was to hopefully connect the dots between church planting and church health. Certain irreducible ecclesiological minimums help in planting churches and ensure that churches continue to flourish spiritually.
How you approach ecclesiology (the doctrine of the church) is vitally important. In Discovering Church Planting, J.D. Payne gives three models of how you view the Lord’s church and the impact that has on how you approach ministry. The Paternalistic Ecclesiastical model begins with the culture you are targeting on reaching, moves to your methodology and then focuses on the church that will come out of that approach. The Pragmatic Ecclesiastical model begins with what methods will work and what will not. Then, the practitioners begin to study the culture to determine what will and will not work. The order is not correct yet.
Payne stated, “Pragmatism can be unhealthy if taken too far. Pragmatism is the theology that supports ‘whatever works’ approach to church planting to the degree that the end justifies the means.” That applies to church health as well. The Biblical Ecclesiastical method begins with your ecclesiology based on the Word of God. Then you study the culture God has called you to reach to help you determine the most effective methods and models in that context. This enables you to be driven by the irreducible minimums God has made clear in His Word that every church planting effort must include. The order is vital.
Interestingly enough, the Bible never commands us to plant churches. No such reference exists even though you can clearly see church planting, but that is different from a direct command. You and I are commanded to make disciples who follow Jesus. Those disciples are then to experience sanctification in the context of a local community of believers. Remember that every church, yours included, was a church plant at some point. Whether you are less than 10 years old or over 100 years old, someone cared enough to make disciples, and out of that effort, a church was birthed.
Missiologists define unreached people groups as when 2% or less of the population is evangelical. They tell us that to reach a people group with the gospel it requires that at least 10% of that population is evangelical. There are 16 states with evangelical percentages lower than 10% and seven with less than 2%. That is almost unbelievable because one of those states is Rhode Island, where the first Baptist church was planted on American soil. How did that happen? The early days of our nation saw the rapid multiplication of new churches. Could it be that they stopped doing what Jesus had commanded?
Payne continued, “Biblical church planting is evangelism that results in new churches.” In Scripture, the normal process was that the birth of churches happened after disciples were made. Evangelism results in new disciples, and then those new followers of Christ began to gather together and identify as a church. The Biblical approach is for churches to be birthed from making disciples. Yet quite often, we default to other methods and things we must have to plant or sustain a church such as a charismatic leader, a polished worship team, a large bank account, a great building and facilities, etc.
There is nothing wrong with these resources, and they can certainly be quite helpful, but they are not necessary for a church to be birthed or continue to exist. Here’s the question again: According to the Bible, what are the “irreducible ecclesiological minimums"? Acts 17:1-8 tells us of the birth of the church in Thessalonica during Paul’s second missionary journey. There is not a lot of information there, but Luke records some of the big picture elements of this new church forming during the 3-4 weeks that this team was there. In the first letter Paul wrote this church, he gives four necessary ingredients that are non-negotiable. (I Thess. 1:4-6)
The irreducible ecclesiological minimums required to start and sustain churches are sowers, seed, soil and the Spirit. The sowers were Paul and his team. The seed, of course, was and is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The soil was what Paul was always looking for — receptive people. Romans 10:14 clearly states, “How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” The Spirit of God must be present to draw people to the truth through conviction and for regeneration to occur. These four necessities remain constant, and removing one makes biblical church planting and church health impossible.
Several years ago, the theme for World Mission’s Day said it well — Go, Disciple, Plant, Repeat. That describes what is needed to begin and continue with a biblical ecclesiology. Make disciples first and then plant churches out of the harvest. The Holy Spirit drives this method in obedience to God’s Word as you seek to evangelize people in your context. I Thessalonians 1:7-8 describes how Paul’s team were examples by the lives they lived, but they also sounded out the gospel with their lips. Scripture tells us that the truth “spread abroad” everywhere. Difficult at times? Definitely! Complicated? No!
Are you actively and intentionally pursuing the “irreducible ecclesiastical minimums? Payne stated, “When churches and Christians are shocked at a biblical model, it reveals just how far away from Scripture we have moved in our missionary practices!” Paul’s team focused on evangelism and always sought the lost who might be receptive to the gospel.
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Larry Barker
Director of Church Planting and Church Health Larry Barker submits a weekly column titled, Healthy Church Solutions, designed to strengthen and encourage the local church.
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