Foundational Keys for Church Planting

Serving God and serving the church is the ultimate purpose we have here on earth. The church is the body and expression of Jesus Christ. The more we serve God and build His Church, the more we can bring His heart His hand and His feet to this world!

Pastor Augustine, who is based out of Delhi and who is pastoring Beacon Church, had couple of questions on church planting, so here’s Pastor Priji answering them on this morning’s podcast.

Hope this will help you serve God on a whole new dimension.

Transcript:

Pastor Augustine: What does a church planter do when he moves to a new location and starts from the scratch?

Pastor Priji: When we think of church planting, we are often in the mind set of pastoral ministry. A church planter doesn’t necessarily have to pastor a church when he moves to a new location. But before even functioning as a pastor it is essential that we function as an evangelist and do the hard work of an evangelist. Timothy died as a bishop of Ephesus but he started out as an evangelist. The journey to becoming a pastor is in doing the hard work of an evangelist.

You can also study and assess the primary need of the new location you moved into! For example, if the new location needs more prayer or worship or intercession. Work hard and press forward to fulfill those needs until the Lord gives you a platform.

Pastor Augustine: How does a church planter become emotionally, mentally and spiritually stable during the initial stages of church planting or in starting spiritual movement?

Pastor Priji: The best way is to surrender, is to gaze at the face of Jesus and worship Him. Peter was steadily walking on the water with his eyes fixed on Jesus but the minute he took off his eyes from Jesus, he began to sink. The day you take your eyes of Jesus is the day you will sink.

There is no place for anxiety, depression and worry when we are full of Jesus. So the best thing to do to be emotionally and spiritually stable is to make Jesus your one and only devotion. Apart from that you can listen to the different leaders’ different podcasts, read different books that will help you along the way.

Pastor Augustine: When church growth is sometimes dependent on key and quality leaders in initial stages, how do we identify them?

Pastor Priji: Although it is a valid question but the truth is that we will never find a person who is qualified or committed enough to serve God. Look at the 12 disciples who Jesus chose! They were the ones who ran away when problems arrived and they never understood the commission that Jesus gave them. Often we see Jesus asking them ‘how long should I be with you’, or ‘where is your faith?’

Your leaders are going to be imperfect and they are going to misunderstand most of the time but the best way to help them is by taking them back to God.

One of the best ways to equip and raise leaders is to help them encounter God so they can receive a revelation of God and function in a whole new level and one of the best ways to do that is to have Jesus encounters yourself, to be filled with the Holy Spirit so you can lead them.

I hope this podcast blessed you and increased your passion to serve God and build His Church.

You are a blessing! 

If you have any question on this topic, do let us know by sending an email to [email protected]