Church Planting For The 21st Century - The Christian Challenge

Finding the right leaders for the right setting is essential, and
in selecting church planters, we intentionally focus on discernment
and assessment – not everyone called to ministry is called
to be a church planter. We want to help leaders discern their
true call. Tools such as boot camps, apprenticeships, mentoring
and coaching assist in training church planters, and these
methods are enhanced through building a team representing
a balance of gifts. Church planting is a group effort – lone
rangers won’t survive.
IDENTIFICATION OF LEADERS is an unfolding process.
Some individuals, ordained or lay, simply hear God’s voice and
His call to them and they respond, “Here I am…send me.”
They come to us and seek to plant a church. In another wave,
we are looking for talent through the Network system and
elsewhere, and we think creatively about equipping – moving
beyond classic seminary-based theological education. Finding
talented leaders wired as church planters quickly enough is still
a challenge, but one we are working pro-actively to meet. For
example, we have developed the Fellows Program in which
individuals are mentored by seasoned clergy in a church setting,
beginning their training for ministry.
The Distinctives
Anglican Mission offers a real alternative to the western
model of church planting and development. For example,
we focus on missionary outreach rather than an institution,
We seek to immerse every step and stage
of our congregations in prayer. It is only in
seeking to see where God is moving that
we can hope to be at the center of His will.
and this focus allows us to major in the majors of mission
rather than maintenance. In addition, we are very deliberate
in our intention to develop healthy, viable churches. George
Barna has outlined what he calls visible marks of healthy con-
BISHOP CHUCK MURPHY
speaks at one of AMiA’s annual
Winter Conferences,
which help participants
mobilize for mission. The
next Winter Conference is
slated for January 17-20 in
Jacksonville, Florida. (See
more information at the end of
the article). Photo courtesy of AMiA
gregations, and we
seek to build the kind
of church which experiences
numerical
growth as a byproduct
of transformed
lives and an unapologetic
commitment to
God’s Word. Barna
also asserts that in
growing churches, prayer is a significant factor, a sense of
mission and vision are both present, evangelism is undertaken
by laity, and youth ministry is central. We seek to immerse
every step and stage of our congregations in prayer. It is only
in seeking to see where God is moving that we can hope to
be at the center of His will. These churches don’t try to be
all things to all people, but people experience God during
authentic, Spirit-filled worship. Our churches seek to grow
from strength to strength and glory to glory by keeping the
first thing the first thing. I sense an exciting season before
us as we move to the next level of leadership development,
church planting and missionary expansion.
The Lord seems to have placed His hand on this gathering
of Christians known as the Anglican Mission in America. The
principles we are living out are Biblical and historic, but we
believe God is allowing us to put these concepts together in
a unique way for the season, setting and time in which we are
called to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are happy to
share our insights with any and all who desire to learn more,
and of course, particularly with those who might feel called to
be part of this adventure. The Lord is adding to our number
daily those who are being saved, and for this we are thankful
and encouraged. ■
For more information on the AMiA, visit its website at www.anglicanmissioninamerica.org
THE ANGLICAN MISSION IN AMERICA will hold its annual
Winter Conference January 17-20 at the Hyatt Regency Riverfront
in Jacksonville, Florida. This always-well-attended event helps
participants “catch a vision for mission” in their own communities
and experience “the wide global family of Anglican Christianity”
through the presence of personages from Rwanda and other Anglican
provinces. Among several speakers will be the Rev. Canon
Dr. Michael Green, former rector of St. Aldate’s in Oxford, England
and Evangelism Advisor to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who
currently pastors a U.S. congregation; and Dr. J.I. Packer, dean of
Anglican theologians, author of the classic Knowing God, and
professor of theology at Regent College, Vancouver. For further
information: 843/237-0318, www.theamia.org/register.
www.challengeonline.org The Christian Challenge November-December 2006 9