Ben Arment - Church in the Making

Copyright 2010 by Ben Arment

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

978-0-8054-6473-3

Published by B&H Publishing Group

Nashville, Tennessee

Published in association with Yates & Yates, www.yates2.com.

Dewey Decimal Classification: 254.1

Subject Heading: CHURCH PLANTING \ CHURCH GROWTH \ EVANGELISTIC WORK

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is from the Holman Christian Bible Copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

Also used: New International Version (NIV), copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, by International Bible Society.

Also used: New King James Version (NKJV), copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson Publishers.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

Red Rover is an interesting idea.

School kids would stand in two lines facing each other and take turns yelling out, Red Rover, Red Rover, send Joey right over! Then Joey would have to leave his line and run as fast and hard as he could to break through the other line of kids holding hands. If successful, he would take one member from the other team back with him to his line. If unsuccessful, Joey had to remain in the opposing teams line and then another child would be called to come over.

The game has seemed to lose some steam in the last few years. Maybe because cooler games developed. Maybe due to the number of kids with neck injuries from nearly being strangled trying to break through. Whatever the case, it seems for the most part that Red Rover has gone to the playground cemetery along with King of the Hill. We could hope for a resurrection.

It has occurred to me that we often try to adopt a Red Rover strategy in church planting. Like Paul in Acts 16, we hear the call, Come over and help us! and we react with a violent attempt to just break through the line. We have a dream in our heart to plant a church, and we become so consumed with this vision that we barrel right into a new town looking for the weakest link in the chain before ever getting an honest and clear picture of the people that live there. We start plowing into a community with strategy, plans, and really great books written by cool church leaders without ever considering the group of people into which were being sent. And before we know it, we find ourselves strangled, trying to break into a community that is not ready or able to receive the church we have planned.

So let me say this: before planting a church, its vital that we have a vision of the people to whom God has sent us. This was the crucial step that happened in Acts 16 and is inherent to the process proposed in this important church planting book. Know what God is doing among the people of the community where you have been called. Then plant a church.

In Acts 16 Paul and his companions set out to minister to people, but they ran up against barriers along the way. The Bible says in verses 69, Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, Come over to Macedonia and help us. The Come over and help us ends with a pronoun us. And it matters.

Here was Paul, sure of where he wanted to go, never stopping for directions, but being stopped at every turn. Until he received Gods vision for ministry. And in the vision he met a person, the man from Macedonia. There is a clear lesson from this story. Do not go plant a church if all you have is a vision for a particular kind of church, or because you think a particular city is cool. You can only plant a church once you have a vision for the people. Part of being missional is to recognize that we are to go into a culture, engage the people of that culture, and plant a biblically faithful church for those people, all the while acknowledging that culture matters in the way we do ministry. Remember this: the how of church ministry is determined by the who, when, and where of culture.

So, when we come over, its important to remember that we are going into our own community, not someone elses. Its so easy to hear an incredible speaker at a conference and say, Im going to be just like that pastor! That is not the right goal, nor is it what God is calling you to be. Too often we get so excited by someone elses church that we get a vision for their church before we get a vision for our people.

The challenge made by this book is dont plant a church in your head. Plant a church in your community. When you are there, thats when the gospel transforms real people who are living real lives. When we are in love with someone elses community, we fall prey to community lust and demographic envy. We begin thinking, If I could just be in this part of California, or this part of Seattle, or this part of Manhattan... then my church would be incredible. Know and live in your culture, not someone elses. Dont just bring a model; bring the gospel. Create a church. Dont create a plan.

In this book Ben Arment describes and also shows us how to understand the receptivity of the ground where you are planting.

Most important, we must bring Christ, not just a church. Particularly not a way of doing church. Sometimes I think we get too excited about the fact that were leading a church. Thats great, as long as we remember that were planting the gospel that creates a church. Its best for us to leave trendiness to a culture obsessed with social media and Nielsen ratings. The momentum and deep roots called for by the Bible, and thus by Ben, is not to be the most trendy or the most relevant but to be the most focused on eternal issues. Were planting the gospel so we bring Christ and not just the church. Being missional has to be tied into the mission of Jesus, to seek and save the lost.

Unlike the game Red Rover, we win when we get to stay with our new team and begin leading it in a new direction. Planters must first take the time to listen to the Spirit and respond appropriately to His call to the particular people He assigns to us. Then we can best respond to the call to come over and win them for the kingdom of God.

As you read Church in the Making, you will receive the counsel of a leader who values innovation and who understands church planting. In the pages that follow, you will find your plans for leadership tested and sharpened. But more important, you will be challenged and encouraged to become the church leader and the church planter God calls you to be.

Ed Stetzer

INTRODUCTION

They are four of the most devastating words in the English language to a church planter. Its a phrase you often hear when successful church planters are asked how they did it. They dont mean to be hurtful, but the implication is clear.

Are you ready for it?

God is just blessing.

These four words deliver a silent indictment against any church planter who is struggling. They imply that if your church is not growing or reaching the masses for Christ, then God must not be blessing you.

How did church planting become such a spiritual crapshoot? Why is it that some churches fail while others succeed? How is it that prayerful, hardworking men and women who are called by God and filled with faith could fall flat on their faces? Why would God allow them to flounder?