Keys to Indigenous Church Planting
Within just a few months of deciding to follow Jesus I found myself
on the foreign mission field with Youth With A Mission in Scotland. I remember having my first spiritual birthday at our base on the Isle of Cumbrae in an old monastery. As a new disciple of Christ I bought-into the idea that we were meant to be on mission. That was 33 years ago and I still believe that. Since then, I have been involved in planting three churches in Scotland and Spain - all have become self-governing, financially independent and have sent quite a few missionaries out to other countries themselves.
These are some of the key things to keep in mind if you want to plant or develop an indigenous church:
KEEP THINGS VERY SIMPLE
Over the years I’ve come to really appreciate simplicity; from enjoying the simple things in life like ice cream cones in summer to the remedy for all of life’s problems—Jesus. This goes for church planting strategies as well. For instance, the mission statement of our current church amounts to just seven words and is simply this: “To follow Christ, bringing others with us.” Another example of this simplicity is my philosophy for Christian living, which boils down to only three words, “Listen and obey.” I think people really do find it easier to act on things when they can be understood in simple terms.
SHARE THE RESPONSIBILITY
One of my stated values for years has been that every member is a minister (servant). This affects every area of the Christian life; serving, teaching, evangelising, giving, and being responsible for things in general. I consider it to be everybody’s responsibility to work along with me in every part of the ministry. For example, when we started our current church in Inverness, Scotland, I was fully supported through a Missionary Society but I called for a plan that would provide full financial support for one worker in the church after four years. This started, right at the beginning, with a nominal amount being given to me of £25 a week. Thereafter, the amount was increased each year until the goal was reached. It was only a token amount at the start but it underscored the fact that the whole church had financial responsibilities to bear together.
DEVELOP A SUPPORTIVE STRUCTURE
By this I mean a structure that supports the work and not the other way around. Many have discovered and written on this simple truth, most notably Rick Warren in The Purpose Driven Church. We have adapted and used the principle of doing things to purpose which helps us focus on functioning rather than ruling.
SURRENDER CONTROL
Out of all the points that I am making here, this is the one I feel strongest about. As a leader it is very easy to get drawn into thinking and feeling like everything depends on us. But we all know that it really doesn’t. I think that we have to make a conscious decision to loosen up on the control thing. People know when we trust them to get on with things and they respect that. We don’t have to know everything that goes on in the church. What about trusting others to get on with the job without us looking over their shoulder all the time? Our job is to train and equip others for works of service. Well, let’s do that and let them get on with it. This is truly the work of service that God has called us to as leaders in His church.
PRACTISE “CATCH AND RELEASE”
As an avid fly fisher, after catching fish, I release well over 95% of them. I have some influence over them for a short while, but eventually, I release them unharmed to be productive in their own way. I try to do that with people as well. It is sometimes difficult to release and even encourage some of our best and most anointed workers in the church to follow God’s call to move on to other things; but hey, isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? Aren’t we called to make disciples that are willing to go out to other parts of the world and make other disciples? I love being a missionary, but guess I come from the school of thought that considers every disciple of Christ as being a missionary. That really is what I bought into 33 years ago.
Thom Raller
Pastor of The King's Fellowship, Inverness