Mar
09
2010
Ethical Church-Planting
J. D. Payne, the director of the Church Planting Center at Southern Seminary, writes:
I have been troubled by what I believe is a missiological malpractice among many church planters today. If we say we are Kingdom citizens living by a Kingdom Ethic, then that Ethic must govern all of life, including our church planting philosophies and methods.
Payne proposes 11 ethical guidelines for church planting. Here are the first four:
- Guideline #1: Since the global need for the gospel is so great, unless God reveals otherwise, we will begin our ministry among people with the greatest need and with a high level of receptivity to the gospel.
- Guideline #2: Since the world consists of four billion unbelievers, with two billion who have never heard the gospel, our strategy will involve the use of highly reproducible church planting methods.
- Guideline #3: Since biblical church planting is evangelism that results in new churches, we will not prioritize transfer growth over conversion growth by designing ministries that will primarily attract believers.
- Guideline #4: Since unity among churches in a geographical area is a powerful witness to the gospel, we will be concerned with other evangelical pastors laboring in the same area as our team, and will take the initiative to meet with them to share our calling, vision, and ethic.
Read Payne’s full paper, “Ethical Guidelines for Church Planters: A Suggested Proposal,” which he presented at a meeting of the Evangelical Missiological Society last year.
Categories: Opinion