When Is a Church Plant Finished?

Church planting seems pretty simple. Just evangelize and find a place to meet. Right? Actually, there is an important element still missing from this equation. A key component of a successful church plant is the training and appointing of leaders who can shepherd the church and carry out the Great Commission when the church planter is no longer present. The book of Acts testifies that Paul, the church planter par excellence, equipped and appointed elders in every one of his churches. This urge to develop leaders should be deeply ingrained in the church planter’s DNA and must be a priority from day one.

Developing spiritual leaders within the church plant

In mission areas where church plants tend to be small, such as my own context of Europe, leadership development can be very challenging, and the pool of qualified, willing men can be discouragingly small. I personally implement three foundational strategies to stimulate leadership development in our church plant. First, I teach, expect, and hold accountable all members to carry some ministry responsibility in the church from the time they join. Second, I make the “equipping of the saints for the work of service” a priority in my ministry. In a Member Care group, I equip people to provide basic pastoral care and provide them with hands-on shepherding opportunities. In a Leadership Development group, I equip people for leadership roles in the church, including (but not limited to) pastoral roles. A third strategy is to identify among the children and teens of the church any “Timothys,” whom I can mentor into leadership long-term. These strategies provide rich soil for the cultivation of church leaders.

Developing spiritual leaders within the larger context

Though I am always working out these strategies for leadership development within our own congregation, I have not shied away from “fishing in other pools” as well, developing a network of like-minded people, churches, and organizations. One such pool is a small but solid, one-year Bible school where I teach three block courses per year, all of which focus on the local church. During one course, I complete a personal assessment of spiritual gifts with each of the students and give recommendations for areas of possible ministry. Most of the students are college-aged young people who are hungry to grow and excited to serve the Lord. Even if these students never benefit my church plant directly, a biblical vision for the Church is being passed on to the next generation. In 2018, one of these students worked through a nine-month internship with us. He helped with various ministries in the church and was instrumental in starting a young adult ministry. This summer our second student intern came for three weeks to get a close-up view of the workings of a church plant. Although these activities require a significant investment of my time, I pray they will yield rich rewards.

Developing church planters

While developing local church leaders is critical, there is yet another need beyond that, namely, to develop church planters. In our long-term goals, we envision other churches being planted, not primarily by us or even by other American missionaries, but by Dutch church planters. With this in mind, we have put together a blueprint for a two-year church-planting internship. In this model, a potential church planter would have one year to be mentored and to develop his gifts in the context of our church (the mother church). In the second year, he would carry more church responsibility, possibly serving as an elder, and would work to identify a target area for the new church plant. Once he successfully completed the internship, our church would officially send the church planter out to a nearby city. In our context, this strategy provides many benefits, including excellent communication, accountability, and mutual support and resources. We have already had three Dutch families visit with us to investigate the possibility of planting churches in this manner. Although none of them have sensed God’s leading forward, we believe that in God’s time this will become a reality. Because, as you see, a church plant isn’t finished until it is planting other churches.

Theo van Reijn serves with Gospel Fellowship Association Missions in the Netherlands. This article appeared in GFAM’s newsletter, Sowing & Reaping; we republish it by permission.