Independence

I'm in Ohio now for the next few weeks after attending a church planting conference in Dallas led by David Watson. It was very interesting, but it's been difficult to sort through what information is really helpful.

David Watson is one of the most prolific church planters with over 250,000 churches started through his organization. What he calls a 'church' is not what we usually think. They start as a small group of unbelieving, but interested, people (3-8). Over time, they read the Bible together and start to discover who God is and what He requires. Eventually they start to resemble the following definition:

"A church is a group of baptized believers in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who meet regularly to worship, nurture, and fellowship; they depart those gatherings endeavoring to obey all the commands of Christ in order to transform families, communities and nations."

How to start one of these groups is simple in theory, but in practice, somewhat complicated. You find someone that God is already moving in, creating a hunger to know more about God (this is a 'person of peace'). Then, you, as a leader, pour all your energy into this person and get them to invite their friends into a 'discovery' group. You yourself don't lead anyone in the group, only locals lead. The only teacher is scripture.

Empowered by the Holy Spirit, this method has led to reproducing and multiplying churches all over the under-developed world. It works best when people don't already have preconceived notions of what a church is or who a Christian is.

Can this work in Europe? It becomes more difficult when the church has an existing or historical influence in culture, because a lot of times the church has given us a definition of 'Christian' which is not Biblical. In postmodern, urban settings, the family isn't as important and 'affinity networks' are not as large. You might find people who like the same thing gathering in groups of 3-5, and they don't live anywhere near each other.

That makes it difficult to start a church using these methods. But maybe it can be done, and while relying on God through lots of prayer, maybe I'll see it happen.