Even a casual survey of the
discussions and writings relating to contemporary church planting will quickly
reveal that most church planting experts are convinced that the success of any
given church plant is directly dependent upon either the abilities of the
church planter or the effectiveness of the church planting method. Most of the church planting tools, resources,
models, books, conferences, etc. available to church planters today has been
structured around one of these emphases or the other – with a few innovative
approaches that seek to combine them in some fashion. For the most part, anyone entering into the
church planting arena today is going to be pulled in one direction or the
other. Practically speaking, they will
find themselves having to decide to focus on either the church planter or the
church planting method as the primary emphasis in their church planting
endeavor.
Focus
on the Church Planter
Those who support and promote the
church planter as the essential ingredient in successful church planting have
developed resources for evaluating and assessing potential church planters to
hone in on those with the most promising attributes (and weeding out those who
lack the requisite qualities) as well as programs to coach, guide, and
otherwise develop nascent church planters into successful church
multipliers. This perspective of what it
takes to successfully plant churches was expressed some years ago in the
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s leadership’s declaration that effective church
planting was primarily dependent upon having the right person as the church
planter.
Focus
on the Church Planting Method
Meanwhile, those who support and
promote the church planting method as the chief determinant of successfully
establishing sustainable congregations have invested themselves in defining and
refining methodologies of church planting that promise success to all but the
most incompetent of church planters. Of
course, there is a great deal of disagreement as to which methods are most
preferable and most effective. Still,
those who trust in methodologies find common cause in documenting,
disseminating, and promoting their models for effective church planting – a
perspective of church planting captured well in the title of Aubrey Malphur’s
latest book on the subject, “The Nuts and Bolts of Church Planting: A Guide for
Starting Any Kind of Church.”
First
Article Church Planting
One could imagine that if these two
camps within the church planting community were to combine forces and find a
way to marry the right church planter with the right church planting process
that success in church planting would be a foregone conclusion. Yet the inherent deficiency in each of these
approaches to church planting is only exasperated when they are combined. That deficiency is the focus that these
church planting approaches place on that which belongs to the First Article:
the abilities and resources that God has given and made available to us that,
as part of His creation, are also given and available to nonbelievers. In other words, much of what is driving church
planting in America today is based in psychology, anthropology, sociology, and
other sciences rather than in theology. Put
another way, we are practicing First Article church planting not Third Article
church planting.
Third
Article Church Planting
In the Small Catechism, Martin
Luther explains what we confess in the Third Article as “I believe that I cannot
by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him;
but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts,
sanctified and kept me in the true faith.”
As Lutherans, we understand that this Article excludes any human role,
effort, decision, etc. in our salvation.
We rightly give glory to God the Holy Spirit for bringing us the gift of
faith as just that: a gift. We reject
the use of the First Article resources of psychology, anthropology, sociology,
etc. as effective means of creating faith in individuals. Why then do we resort to these resources as
the effective means for establishing, growing, and revitalizing churches? Reading on in Luther’s explanation of the
Third Article we find the same four actions of the Holy Spirit used to describe
His sanctifying work in individuals used to describe His work in building the
church, with one added action: gathers.
Clearly, we confess that it is the Holy Spirit who plants, grows, and
revitalizes churches through His work of gathering. But how does the Holy Spirit go about gathering
His Church?
As Lutheran church planters we
should confess in word and action that the Holy Spirit gathers His Church in
the same manner in which He does all His sanctifying work. Negatively, we say that this work is done “not
by our reason or strength.” This means
that while we may make use of First Article resources for guidance, we cannot
rely on them for church planting no matter how enticing, promising, or “successful”
they may appear to be. The guidance that
they may provide must work in concert with and depend upon that which is above
and apart from our reason and strength. The
First Article resources of which we do make use in church planting should
facilitate that which the Holy Spirit has promised to use for creating and
sustaining faith, namely His Means of Grace.
Third Article church planting is
wholly dependent upon Word and Sacrament ministry. According, it makes use of First Article
resources only insofar as they enable and promote Word and Sacrament
ministry. Those who practice Third
Article church planting expect the Holy Spirit to work when and where He wills. They reject the idea that either the right
person or the right method can produce desired church planting results. They embrace the Holy Spirit’s work within the
expectations that we develop through our First Article gifts and, especially,
His work that defies those expectations as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and
sanctifies the churches that we plant as He desires using the people and
methods that He determines – all to His glory according to His plan and
purpose.
SDG
@RevMAWood
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