*This is the second blog in a three-part series discussing the importance of church planting teams. The purpose of this blog is to show that the most Biblical and effective model of churches planting churches is the use of church planting teams.
Daniel Sinclair in his book entitled Vision of the Possible writes, “Working in teams is an essential part of the apostolic task. God doesn’t call lone rangers to build communities of faith.” The foundation of this model can be found first in the ministry of Jesus Christ. As Jesus arrives on the scene and inaugurates His ministry, He begins by telling individual men to come and “Follow me (Mark 1:17).” As a result, He forms a team of twelve men who partner with Him in ministry for three years. Furthermore, in Luke 10 we see Jesus send out seventy-two individuals with the mission of preaching the coming of the Kingdom of God, and these seventy-two are sent out in teams of two. Finally, in Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus gives the “Great Commission” to His disciples, a team of people working together on mission. Jesus called individuals out to follow Him, and then called them to work with others in the task of making disciples.
Not only is this model found in the ministry of Jesus, it is continued in the ministry of the apostles. The first church in Acts 2:42-47 was started by the team of apostles who had served with Jesus for three years. Throughout the book of Acts, we see the benefit of teamwork in the beginning years of the church. In Acts 8:4 we read, “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.” While Acts 8 mainly mentions the ministry of Philip, it is clear that Philip had the help of others in this work. We also know that both Peter and John traveled to Samaria to affirm the work of the Holy Spirit that was taking place there. When we come to the ministry of the Apostle Paul in the book of Acts, we constantly see Paul traveling with a band of people who help him plant churches in different cities throughout the world. Moreover—while we do not know this for sure—it appears that because of the scattering of the church in Acts 8, believers traveled to Rome and planted a church there. We can make this assumption based on what Paul says in Romans 15. Even though he had not yet visited Rome, there was already a church meeting there. When we study the Scriptures, we understand that Daniel Sinclair is correct when he states, “Teams are not just the latest fad; they are the New Testament model.”
The Biblical model for church planting is clearly multiple people co-laboring together to see the church established. From a practical standpoint, we know that this is good for community, accountability, encouragement, and longevity in planting churches.
The task of planting a church is great! It takes a lot of financial support, technical support, creativity, communication, organization, and man-hours. Church planting can place unbearable stress on a planter and his family and unfortunately, too many planters over the years can affirm this fact. If you are considering church planting, I want to encourage you to follow the Biblical model of being sent out by your church as part of a church planting team. This model will allow you and your family to actually enjoy the planting journey, and it will give you the best chance of planting a church that reaches people with the Gospel for many years to come.
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