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Church Plantology: The Art and Science of Planting Churches QUOTES

Church Plantology: The Art and Science of Planting Churches QUOTES

1 " The first lesson of church plantology is that planting a church should never be our focus. Christ never commanded his disciples to plant churches, because it’s not what He wanted them to focus on. Focusing on the church to be planted leads to church starting, whereas focusing on the Great Commission itself leads to church planting. "

― , Church Plantology: The Art and Science of Planting Churches

2 " If you plant churches, discipleship may or may not happen. Yet if you devote yourself to making disciples, churches will inevitably be planted. "

― , Church Plantology: The Art and Science of Planting Churches

3 " Eckhart Schnabel quoted Ferdinand Hahn, saying, “The early church was a missionary church. The proclamation, the teaching, all activities of the early Christians had a missionary dimension. "

― , Church Plantology: The Art and Science of Planting Churches

4 " The focus on church starting is a component of our twenty-first century church-centric approach based on Western Christendom that has gotten us into the current problems the church faces. The church still sees itself as the center, the hub of all activity, and as we’ve seen, the frontier was the focus of the apostles. The proclamation of Jesus as Lord is central to the book of Acts. Church planting is not. As Schnabel observes in his two-volume tome on early Christian mission, “The oral proclamation of the gospel is the central action of missionary work.”27 "

― , Church Plantology: The Art and Science of Planting Churches

5 " To truly define church planting, start by answering one of the first questions I ask planters as part of their training assignments: “If you were not allowed to start a Sunday service, describe what your church looks like.” Once you can answer that question, you’re beginning to crack the code to defining what church planting is. This book works from a central premise: If at any time you’re focused on the church you’re going to plant, you’re focused on the wrong thing. "

― , Church Plantology: The Art and Science of Planting Churches

6 " Jesus didn’t ask them to plant congregations during either mission trip; he gave instructions that focused them on mission itself. When church starting becomes the mission, the real mission has been lost.

Here is the pattern that Paul repeatedly followed: • sowing the gospel • watering it with a sustained presence and a gospel lifestyle • reaping converts • discipling them for greater multiplication. "

― , Church Plantology: The Art and Science of Planting Churches

7 " To be true to the apostolic function, those who plant apostolically will not be able to resist the urge to preach the gospel, but will echo the apostle, “For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor. 9:16 RSV). You may plant a church without being evangelistic, but you can’t function apostolically without being evangelistic. To claim this would be contrary to the makeup and gifting of the apostolic function, not to mention Paul’s description of his role. For this reason, many advocates of APEST have been mistaken for being apostolic, yet they are merely teachers who have discovered how to talk the talk of APEST. They are not apostolic if proclaiming and heralding Christ is not at the center of what they do. How could they be? How would it serve a missionary function if Christ’s proclamation were not central to being apostolic like it was for every apostle in Scripture? Claiming the apostolic gift for yourself as an entrepreneurial teacher who popularizes APEST cannot replace actually being an apostolic practitioner. "

― , Church Plantology: The Art and Science of Planting Churches

8 " Hirsch identifies the anatomy of a pioneer: 1. An ability to invent the future while dealing with the past 2. A willingness to break with traditional ideas and methods 3. An ability to play multiple roles at the same time 4. A high tolerance for risk 5. A need to be different despite supporters wanting the pioneer to stay the same 6. An understanding that many want the pioneer to fail.32 "

― , Church Plantology: The Art and Science of Planting Churches

9 " Hirsch notes that Paul’s use of master builder “is loaded with notions of design, innovation and strategic craftsmanship.” God’s house is neither a Craftsman prefabricated home ordered from of the Sears catalogue, nor a flat-packed vision to build an Ikea church. Paul learned from experience that each church plant would incarnate Christ differently depending on the gift matrix of the community in which he planted it. What many call vision is actually the strategic organization of the gifts of God’s people. "

― , Church Plantology: The Art and Science of Planting Churches

10 " To clarify if you are planting more for ego or impact, ask yourself: • Would you plant exclusively in developing nations? • Would you take the gospel to a nation where you’d be persecuted? • Would you plant if nobody ever learned your name? • Would you invest your life leading a movement for which you would never get any credit? • Would you plant churches if you still had to work another job and nobody paid you? If your answer to any of these is no, then you probably shouldn’t be a planter. Bernard of Clairvaux’s maxim may be true of you: “He thinks only of what he wants and he does not ask himself whether he ought to want it. "

― , Church Plantology: The Art and Science of Planting Churches

11 " Only scripture, we dry up. Only Spirit, we blow up. Take them together, we grow up. "

― , Church Plantology: The Art and Science of Planting Churches

12 " According to studies on human dynamics, the ideal interpersonal group tracks at eight to twelve people. "

― , Church Plantology: The Art and Science of Planting Churches

13 " The real work of church planting is gospel penetration, gospel saturation, and gospel maturation. "

― , Church Plantology: The Art and Science of Planting Churches

14 " If your people are going to reach the ones nobody is reaching, they’re going to have to go where nobody is going and do what nobody is doing. Whitefield commented on visiting the poor, “It is remarkable that our Lord sent out his Apostles on short term missions before they were so solemnly authorized at the day of Pentecost. Would the Heads and Tutors of our Universities follow His example . . .” Whitefield urges the students to be sent to poorhouses and prisons to jumpstart their ministries. "

― , Church Plantology: The Art and Science of Planting Churches