Roland Allen: Part 2, His Missiology

This past week at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, I gave a lecture titled “Roland Allen: The Man, His Missiology, and Missions Today.”  In a blog post, it is impossible to discuss the depth of Allen’s missiology.  Therefore, what you are getting here is the Cliff’s Notes verison of the Cliff’s Notes.

Because I cannot do adequate justice to his missiology in 1000 words, I want to provide you with two other significant resources (at least the Cliff’s Notes ) to give you a better understanding of Allen and his missiology.  HERE is the PowerPoint presentation of my lecture on campus and HERE is a link where you can download the corresponding lecture (the player on my site is not the best).  Let me warn you, the lecture is just over one hour in length–do not listen while operating heavy machinery. 

Allen was a prolific writer.  He wrote numerous books, pamphlets, and articles that were published in his lifetime.  I have compiled an extensive Roland Allen bibliography to assist you in better understanding him and his missiology as well. 

So, here goes my attempt to introduce you to his missiology. 

In order to understand Allen’s missiology, you need to know about the following four categories:

• Issue of Theology
• Issue of Devolution
• Role of the Missionary
• Concept of Spontaneous Expansion

Issue of Theology

Allen’s missionary methods are meaningless apart from his theology.  He believed that the Apostolic Church learned from Jesus. And the two significant areas of his theology that dynamically influenced his missiology were ecclesiology and pneumatology.

Concerning ecclesiology:  Allen believed that churches were to be indigenous (self-supporing, self-propagating, self-governing) from the moment they were birthed.  This also included the fact that even young churches were to be able to participate in the Euchrist, with their own leaders administering it. 

Concerning pneumatology: Allen’s missiology was supported by the conviction that all new believers (and thus new churches) had the indwelling Holy Spirit who would guide, protect, seal, sanctify, empower, and instruct those new believers.  For Allen, missionaries were to manifest a faith in the Holy Spirit to do what the Scriptures claimed He would do in the lives of the new churches.  Allen understood that most missionaries feared that new churches would quickly become corrupt, and therefore had to resort to paternalistic methods.

Issue of Devolution

Devolution was the practice whereby missionaries would over many years, “devolve” authority onto the local churches, so they could be and function as local churches.  This practice of paternalism usually resulted in a situation with the churches becoming dependent on the western missionaries for financial support, evangelism, leadership development, buildings, etc.

In his article, “Devolution: the Question of the Hour,” Allen argued strongly against this practice.  Turning to the Scriptures for support, as was his practice, he referenced the Apostle Paul:

“St. Paul, for instance, established a Church when he organized converts with their own proper officers, but he did not organize a Church and then later, and piece by piece, devolve an authority which at first the Church did not possess.  He devolved all necessary power and authority upon the Church when he established it. . . . When St. Paul had once established a Church there was nothing left to devolve.  We read nowhere of his going back to a Church and adding to its powers by devolving upon it some responsibility or authority which he had before kept in his own hands” (World Dominion 5 (1927): 278).

Role of the Missionary

The work of the missionary involved four critical practices:

• Priority on Evangelism
• Practice an Apostolic Approach
• Maintain the Ministration of the Spirit
• Manifest Missionary Faith

While Allen advocated works such as education and medical missions were good and necessary, he strongly believed the priority of all missionaries was to be that of evangelism, calling people to repentance and placing faith in Jesus alone for salvation.  Following in the pattern of the apostolic teams, missionaries were to enter into an area, do evangelism, plant churches, raise up leaders for those churches, and “retire” from the work in that area.  Missionaries following after an apostolic practice, were to leave behind the Scriptures, Creed, Sacraments, and Orders.  The “goal” of such missionaries was the “ministration” of the Spirit, to teach the new churches how to rely on the Spirit.  Maintaining the ministration of the Spirit was the way to avoid devolution.

In his article, “Mission Activities Considered in Relation to the Manifestation of the Spirit,” he wrote:

“Just as we ourselves only manifest spirit in our activities where those activities are free and spontaneous, not forced or governed or controlled . . . so those to whom we minister the Spirit can only show forth His power in their own free spontaneous activity.”   

Encompassing these three aforementioned critical aspects, the missionary had to manifest a missionary faith.  Such faith was what the missionaries placed in the Holy Spirit to do His work in sanctifying the churches.  This faith in the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish what the Scriptures taught about Him was the way missionaries would escape the fear that resulted in paternalism and prevented the spontaneous expansion of the Church.

The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church

While Allen was a High Church Anglican, he believed the Scriptures taught the Church could exist with very simple structures and organization.  For Allen, the spontaneous expansion of the church was a simple thing.  Yet, missionaries, following years of western tradition, had made it much more difficult than what he understood to be in the Scriptures.  In his book, The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church and the Causes Which Hinder It, he explained:

“This then is what I mean by spontaneous expansion. I mean the expansion which follows the unexhorted and unorganized activity of individual members of the Church explaining to others the Gospel which they have found for themselves; I mean the expansion which follows the irresistible attraction of the Christian Church for men who see its ordered life, and are drawn to it by desire to discover the secret of a life which they instinctively desire to share; I mean also the expansion of the Church by the addition of new Churches.”

Whenever a Spirit-filled indigenous church was present, and the missionaries were manifesting a missionary faith, the situation was ripe for such expansion.

Now…go and read Roland Allen for yourself.

Today, I begin a two-part series on the blog about one of my greatest missiological influences, Roland Allen (1868-1947).  While Allen is best known for his books Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours (1912) and The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church and the Causes which Hinder It (1927), he has been tremendously influential in shaping modern missionary practices of the second half of the 20th century to the present . 

Allen was a leading influence on both Leslie Newbign and Donald A. McGavran, with the latter being possibly the most influential missiologist of the 20th century.

Unfortunately, many people today believe Allen is only a shadowy figure of yesteryear, bearing little influence on contemporary missions. 

Nothing could be further from the truth.    

More than likely, you have been influenced by Roland Allen if you:

• have ever talked about church planting movements
• have pondered church multiplication
• believe churches can be indigenous from the moment of their birth
• have considered the role of the Holy Spirit in new churches and in missionaries
• have despised the thought of supporting paternalism
• have realized that church leaders can be both thoroughly biblical and effective without lengthy periods of training (divorced from their people) and without financial support from sources beyond their churches
• have advocated that Spirit-empowered national believers generally are able to carry the gospel farther and faster than missionaries can among those nationals
• have believed the missionary practices of the New Testament Church reveal principles that are applicable today, and not simply a description of an Age long gone

For most of us today, we have been influenced by Roland Allen. . . and do not know it.

While Allen was a controversial figure in his day, his thoughts began to catch on near the end of his life.  However, it was sometime after his death that others began to take his work seriously.  Hear the prophetic words of Allen to his grandson Hubert J. B. Allen:

“I can recall, when I was about twelve years old, asking my ‘Granfer’ whether I could read his books, and receiving from him the reply: Oh, yes, you can read them by all means–but you won’t understand them: I don’t think anyone is going to understand them until I’ve been dead ten years. . . .” 

Speaking of his grandson. . . Hubert J. B. Allen has written the only book-length biography on Allen to date, Roland Allen: Pioneer, Priest, and Prophet (Forward Movement Publications; Eerdmans, 1995).  I strongly commend this outstanding work to anyone interested in better understanding the man.  Hubert Allen has produced a work that brings life to Allen’s personality.  While Roland Allen may not have been likely to approve of such a work about himself, his grandson has greatly honored the man. 

Here is a brief chronological biographical sketch to assist you in better understanding Allen:

• Born to Charles Fletcher (1835-1873) and Priscilla Allen (1839-1935) in England, December 29, 1868
• 6^th of 7 children (2 girls, 5 boys)
• Baptized at 4 weeks
• Charles died in 1873 while away from family ministering in Central America
• Roland won a scholarship to St. John’s College (Oxford)
• Won university’s Lothian Prize for essay on Pope Silvester II which was published in The English Historical Review
• While an undergraduate at St. John’s College he was greatly influenced by the Anglo-Catholic faculty members of Pusey House
• Following college, faculty of Pusey House influenced him to attend the High Anglican training school in Leeds
• Ordained in 1892 as a deacon in the Anglican Church
• 1893 became a priest
• Served in the Durham diocese in the parish of St. John the Evangelist, Darlington
• Later applied to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
• Was rejected by the Society due to a “Heart Condition”
• Applied to the independent Church of England to North China to be a missionary
• 1894 accepted by Mission
• 1895 completed his curacy
• Went to China and quickly learned the language
• Oversaw non-Christian day school
• Opened  a clergy school in the northern part of China
• While in China  he also oversaw a printing press, became a chaplain at a Legation
• Started writing for the Mission’s quarterly journal, The Land of Sinim
• 1900 was in the Boxer Rebellion
• Kept a detailed journal of the uprising, published in 1901, The Siege of the Peking Legations
• During furlough in England, married Mary Beatrice Tarleton (1863-1960)
• Two children: Priscilla Mary (1903-1987) and Iohn Willoughby Tarleton (1904-1979)
• 1902 Allen and wife departed for China
• Started serving at a mission station at Yung Ch’ing
• Started to apply missionary principles that were contra paternalism.
• Soon had to return to England due to poor health
• Mission agency never allowed him to return to China
• 1904 Allen began serving as a vicar in a rural Buckinghamshire parish of Chalfont St. Peter
• 1907 resigned from position as vicar due to theological reasons
  • Allen refused to carry out baptisms, marriages, and burial services for non-believers
• Started doing deputation work for a mission organization, assisted ill clergy, and spent much time thinking and writing
• 1912 published Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours
• 1913 published Missionary Principles
• 1914 developed relationship with Sidney James Wells Clark, wealthy Congregationalist layman and Thomas Cochran, Presbyterian Scotsman missionary-physician
• 1917 partnered together to begin World Dominion Movement, to conduct surveys, research, and publish writings
• 1918 each man became involved in the Survey Application Trust and its publishing arm, the World Dominion Press
• 1914 Allen served as a Naval chaplain
• 1914-1918 he taught Classics in Worcester
• 1917 published booklet, Pentecost and the World
• 1919 published Educational Principles and Missionary Methods
• Later, Allen’s missiology conflicted with other members of the World Dominion Movement, yet he continued to be the principal contributor to the journal World Dominion in the 1920s
• 1923 published Voluntary Clergy
• 1924 extensive survey work in Canada
• the Canadian experience and several extended visits in the latter 1920s to southern Africa and India also influenced his missiology and confirmed for him many of his controversial thoughts
• 1927 published The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church and the Causes Which Hinder It
• 1928 published Voluntary Clergy—Overseas
• 1929 published Nonprofessional Missionaries
• 1930 published The Case for Voluntary Clergy
• 1930s Allen and wife moved to Nairobi, to be near children
• Assisted with St. Mark’s Church in Nairobi
• Soon left St. Mark’s, believing he was hindering the church
• 1937 published S.J.W. Clark: A Vision of Missions
• Learned Swahili and translated and published several Swahili writings into English; all translations were of Muslim texts
• June 9, 1947 Allen died
• Gravestone is in Nairobi’s City Park.  Simple stone cross with the inscription:

ROLAND ALLEN

Clerk in Holy Orders

1868-1947

I AM the Resurrection and the Life Saith the Lord

Several years ago, I published an article in The Churchman titled, “The Legacy of Roland Allen”.  You can find it HERE on my site, or at The Churchman’s site HERE (FYI: I have no idea why they have “John Dobson’s” name above mine. I’m not John Dobson and have not written anything on New Testament Greek–regarding the typo, it’s all Greek to me.).

Next post: Roland Allen: Part 2, His Missiology, stay tuned!

If you have not had a chance to obtain a copy of Alvin Reid’s book Evangelism Handbook: Biblical, Spiritual, Intentional, Missional, just published by B&H a few months ago, you need to get a copy of it!  For several years, I required one of his previous books, Introduction to Evangelism, as a text book for my students.  So, I was delighted to hear that he was publishing Evangelism Handbook, building off of this previous work.   

Alvin not only has a groovy web site that you will want to check out, but also a plethora of other books:  The Convergent Church: Missional Worship in an Emerging Culture (with Mark Liederbach), Join the Movement: God Is Calling You to Change the World, Raising the Bar: Ministry to Youth in the New Millennium, Radically Unchurched: Who They Are and How to Reach Them, Light the Fire: Raising Up a Generation to Live Radically for Jesus, Introduction to Evangelism, Firefall: How God Has Shaped History Through Revivals (with Malcolm McDow), Evangelism for a Changing World (co-editor with Timothy Beougher), and Revival (co-editor with John Avant, Malcolm McDow).

When he is not writing like a madman, speaking and preaching across the world, handling his collection of pet snakes, or tweeting like it is going out of style, he does have a day job.  Alvin serves as Professor of Evangelism and Student Ministry at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, where he has been since 1995. He is also serves as the founding Bailey Smith Chair of Evangelism. 

I’m very thankful for this brother and asked him to share with you about Evangelism Handbook. 

The Evangelism Handbook: Biblical, Spiritual, Intentional, Missional represents my effort to provide a comprehensive resource on the gospel and our sharing of it that connects both the timeless truth of Scripture and our rapidly changing world. You can see that in the subtitle: it is Biblical, founded on the mission of God in Scripture; it is Spiritual, focused more on what God can do than our techniques; it is Intentional, i.e. it does not take away the call to be advancing the gospel personally and corporately, locally and globally; it is Missional in that it seeks to move the church in the West from the mire of institutionalism to a missionary force in our increasingly gospel-ignorant world.

So, why did you write this book?

The book actually serves as a dramatic rewrite and significant expansion of my Introduction to Evangelism, which has been used in seminaries and colleges around the world for over a decade now.  Perhaps 50% is the same, but many new chapters and dramatically rewritten chapters makes this essentially a new book. So much new material, from a stronger section on what the gospel is, to a much stronger focus on reaching cities, on church planting, and on reaching the next generation, hopefully make it an effective resource for our time.

What makes this book different from others on evangelism?

Most books on evangelism are either methodologically driven, or focus on one aspect of the evangelistic task, or are reactionary to contemporary approaches. This is more comprehensive. I hope a busy pastor can open it, read the chapter on church planting, and from that be able to teach his people some basics on CP. Same with the cities, reaching families, the work of the Holy Spirit, etc.  I hope each chapter at some level can be an introduction on the given subject.

You mention church planting.  Why is this book important for church planters?

Church planting has so much to do with the DNA one develops early in the church’s existence. While this book can give some helpful information for the church planter (including an article by Ed Stetzer on Best Practices in Church Planting), I think it can be particularly helpful as the planter seeks to establish a gospel-centered, missional culture in his young church.

Why did you include several chapters on the history of evangelism?

My background is history, particularly the great awakenings. I have a strong conviction that Christianity in its essence is a movement to be advanced, not an institution to be maintained. History from Acts until today shows that reality well. Just this week I spoke from these chapters. More than one student contacted me after class telling me how the material brought great conviction to their lives. There is something stirring and hopeful about reading how God has moved in the past. He can still do this today!

I know you have a heart for church revitalization.  How can older churches that have become stagnant become revitalized?

I honestly wrote this book with those churches in mind. I have preached in over 1700 Southern Baptist churches and many others as well. Most are in need of revitalization. So I would hope the principles here would help. In a nutshell I would say it takes a change in culture, not a new method or tool. It takes the intervention of the Spirit through fervent prayer. It takes a courageous leader who loves his people and is in it for the long haul, who faithfully teaches the mission of God from the Word of God, and who lives what he teaches. Hopefully, the things I have written in the book would encourage and equip leaders in this task.

Outstanding!  Again, thanks brother for sharing with us today!

Okay.  I realize this post is a little longer than what I normally do, but it is critical issue #1.  Let’s quickly review:

Critical Issue #5 Stress on the Family

Critical Issue #4 The Challenge of Contextualization

Critical Issue #3 Turfish and Apathetic Churches

Critical Issue #2 Need for Leaders

And Critical Issue #1 is. . .

That’s right.  You guessed it.  The most commonly mentioned critical issue among 190 participants was money.  To be exact, 50% of them mentioned it.  While this may not sound like a high percentage, you need to remember the research methodology:  I only asked one question, and it was open ended.  That means, the respondents were not given a list of possible critical issues from which to select five.  They were simply asked the question and allowed to write anything they desired.  Of these responses, the topic of money broke down into two categories:

Start Up Costs

Many of the respondents noted that they were needing more money to assist them with ministry expenses.  Rental fees for property, equipment purchases, Bibles, tracts, and a multitude of other items would fall into this category. 

Personal Finances

By far, the most common category was that of the church planter’s personal income.  Also, the most emotionally charged responses came from planters when they wrote about the lack of personal finances.   Here are few comments received:

“I am so gracious for the financial support that I am receiving. . . but it is just too little and too short.  My net income from [denominational entity] is less than $1000 per month, and in Northern California where I live you cannot get a one-bedroom apartment for this amount.  It is very tough for someone like myself with a family.”

“My personal finances have been a struggle.  What I am paid to be a church planter is not enough to survive in the area in which I am to minister. . . . I cannot afford to live in the area/housing of which I minister, which is a hindrance.” (from a church planter in Utah)

“We are supported, at this point, far better than the majority of the planters in this area.  However, the duration of the support being three to five years is simply not long enough for most plants.” (from a church planter in New York)

I was in a conversation with a church planter in Indiana who shared with me how this issue affected him and his church planting strategy.  He told me that his funding would soon cease, and while he loathed the thought of reaching poeple so that the church could financially support him, he confessed that such a reality was in the back of his mind. 

(At this point, I want to offer you something to chew on–I hope to blog about it in the future:  Could critical issue #1 be a reason that many church planters are settling for planting churches via transfer growth?  Think about it. . . . If you are laboring among a soil that is apathetic to the gospel, then it is going to take a long time to see people come from the harvest field and covenant together as a local church–a timeframe that extends well beyond the typical financial support of most church planters.  Could critical issue #1 be a reason that most church planting in North America is not primarily defined as evangelism that results in new churches?) 

Is It Really the Most Critical Issue?

Of all the leaders in the Kingdom who should receive compensation for their labors, missionaries rank at the top of the list. These church planters are on the front lines of Kingdom advancement, laboring in trenches where the enemy is the most ferocious.  There is clear biblical support that speaks on matters related to supporting those doing such apostolic labors.  Therefore, I want you to know that I fully believe that is good and proper to provide financial support to missionaries.    

As a missiologist, I do believe money is the most critical issue facing U. S. and Canadian church planters, when it comes to felt needs.  Let’s face it. . . people have to eat.  Children need clothes.  And electric bills must be paid.  But as a missiologist, I also believe that critical issue #1 actually stems from a much deeper critical issue. 

A few years ago, I wrote an article for Theology for Ministry in which I argue the most critical issue today is a theological issue, particularly an ecclesiological issue.  And a related paper, I presented at the Evangelical Theological Society can be found HERE.  How we answer the question, ”What is the church (universal and local)?” will affect everything we do in church planting.  It will affect our methods and our strategy. It will affect the way we raise up leaders.  It will affect who can be a leader.  It will affect how we define church planter.   

And yes, our theology will affect how much money we believe is necessary to plant churches.

Let me give you an illustration.  I once asked a group of guys, “How much money is necessary to plant a church?”  One church planter in the group immediately responded, “$110,000. . . If you want to do it right.”  To which I asked the question, “What is your definition of ‘right’?” 

As people who think missiologically, we must think about critical issue #1, especially in light of the fact that over four billion people in the world do not know Jesus.

Practical Matters to Keep in Mind

1) Be aware of critical issue #1, and discuss it with your family before you begin your work.

2) Answer the question, “What is the church?”  Is your answer supported by the Scriptures, or does it contain a heavy dose of extra-biblical, culturally preferred aspects?  While the latter may not necessarily be bad, they may be hindering you from preaching the gospel in the fields and rapidly multiplying churches from the harvest.

3) Develop a theology of tentmaking (The Bible has much to say about this topic. Check out Paul’s perspective.). Are you called to be a tentmaker?  You may want to read an article that I wrote HERE.  Or consider being a bivocational church planter (HERE is an outstanding free book on bivocational church planting from the North American Mission Board, written by Steve Nerger.).  I tell church planters that even if they have full financial support for the first two or three years, they need to be working in the marketplace for theological, missiological, and strategic reasons(at least for the first year or two).  If you are a young college or high school student reading this blog, I want to encourage you to consider prayerfully getting a marketable skill and/or degree that will put you in contact with many unbelievers, from which you can plant churches.

4) Be realistic in your strategy development.  Before you start, answer the questions:  What will I do a few years into this work if my financial support expires and the church is not able to support me?  What will happen to the work if after a few years into it, that I have to shift from giving 40-60+ hours per week to taking on a another form of employment for 20-30 of those hours?

5) Determine now that you will not turn from your calling when your financial support ends.  I once was working with a church planter who said, “If God calls, He will provide.”  To which, I agreed and added, ”and sometimes God provides by giving you two hands, a mind, and a strong back so that you can get a job.”

6) Determine now that as a minister in God’s Kingdom that you are going to work to make sure that critical issue #1 is not so critical for future church planters.

7) If you are supervising, coaching, or mentoring church planters, you may want to read an article that I wrote based on these critical issues: “Five Things Church Planters Wished Their Supervisors Knew.”

And now critical issue #2–the need for leaders to assist in the work.  Of the 190 participants surveyed, leadership development came in as the second most critical issue in North American church planting circles. 

Church planters are finding out that it is very difficult to locate solid leaders who are willing to assist them in the church planting task.  They are also discovering that many challenges come with raising up leaders as well.  They recognize the need for healthy leadership, but struggle in obtaining or developing those leaders.

Few of us have been taught the value of multiplying leaders.  And even less have been taught how to do it.  This limitation may come from the contemporary leadership training model that most of us know:  develop leaders in a classroom.  Unfortunately, this paradigm is woefully inadequate for raising up leaders for both churches and church planting teams. 

We reproduce what we know.  And we know what is modeled before us.  And church planters will tell you that leaders cannot be developed in a classroom.  Of course, there is a component of knowledge that is necessary for leadership development.  But, we must not forget that along with knowledge leaders must develop passion and skills. 

Whenever we search for resources to assist church planers in developing leaders, we find that few exist.  Sure there are a multitude of resources available addressing leadership development.  Yet, most of these are written to either the corporate world of business leadership or established church leadership.  Therefore, if you are starting a business or if you are pastoring a church, there are some outstanding resources to assist you.  But resources are very limited for missionaries needing assistance in leadership development.    

Here are the best resources that I have found to date, written with the church planter in mind.  A few years ago, Bob Logan and Neil Cole produced a very valuable resource, Raising Leaders for the Harvest.  Dick Scoggins, wrote the books Building Effective Church Planting Teams: A Handbook for Team Leaders and Mentors and Leadership Development Guide.  Both of Scoggins’ books are available for free (click on the links).    

It was out of my concern for healthy church planting teams that I wrote The Barnabas Factors: Eight Essential Practices for Church Planting Team Members.  Drawing from the life of Barnabas, I show that team members must manifest the following practices:

1. Walks with the Lord
2. Maintains an Outstanding Character
3. Serves the Local Church
4. Remains Faithful to the Call
5. Shares the Gospel Regularly
6. Raises up Leaders
7. Encourages with Speech and Action
8. Responds Appropriately to Conflict

I also provide a guide for evaluating potential team members in light of these eight practices. 

While the main purpose of this post is to reveal to you critical issue #2, I also wanted to extend a challenge to other church planters.  Resources are desperately needed to assist church planters in developing leaders.  You need to write such resources and tell us how to be more effective in this area. 

Now let’s review: Critical Issue #5, Critical Issue #4, and Critical Issue #3

We now come to critical issue #1. . .  and I bet you can guess what it is. . . . Stay tuned!

Continuing to countdown the five most critical issues in North American church planting (see HERE and HERE if you have not caught the other posts in this series), we now come to #3.

Church planters in the study noted that Critical Issue #3 involved the reality of turfish and/or apathetic churches (and church leaders) in their contexts.   

Turfish churches are those who believe the community (always undefined) is their “turf,” and they are going to reach everyone in the community with the gospel (though they are not really reaching many people at the moment), and will fight against anyone who wants to come into their community to tell others about Jesus.

Apathetic churches are those who are so busy with their labors they really do not care about the work of any church planters.  They are not opposed to such missionary efforts, just apathetic. 

The church planters in my study were very surprised at the responses they received from other churches, responses that ranged from anger to apathy.  They were also very surprised at the number of churches with large amounts of resources (e.g., people, money) who had no desire to partner with anyone entering into their communities. 

Few churches in the U.S. and Canada are presently involved in church planting.  While there has been a growing interest in church planting in the past five years, the numbers are still very low.     

At a recent presentation, Ed Stetzer shared that only 28% of all Protestant churches are involved in church planting in some way, with that stat dropping to 3% when we only look at churches who are the primary sponsoring churches.

There are a few reasons why I believe this critical issue is the present reality.  Keep in mind some of these reasons are brought on by church planters themselves. 

Some churches are ignorant as to what is biblical church planting.  They believe church planters are coming into their communities to “compete” against them.  Granted, some church planters have done (and are doing) this ungodly practice.  Some churches believe church planting is about intentional sheep-stealing.  Granted, many church planters have done (and are doing) this ungodly practice.  Other churches lack a Kingdom vision, and fail to have a theology and missiology that includes church planting.  Some churches are in a maintenance mode and are so inwardly focused they are concerned with their survival alone.  Other churches are already so involved in reaching their communities that partnering with another ministry would result in a loss of focus and a lack of effectiveness.   

Practical Matters to Keep in Mind

1) Do not be surprised if established churches in the community do not welcome you and your team with open arms.  If they do, that is wonderful!

2) Do not act inappropriately toward the turfish and apathetic churches.  Remember, such churches make up the Bride of Christ.  The Groom does not appreciate it when others do not act appropriately toward the Bride.  Remain Christ-like.  Remember the words of Paul, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal 6:10, ESV).

3) Do what the Lord has called you to do, remembering the biblical expression of church planting is evangelism that results in new churches, not sheep-stealing. 

4) Attempt to befriend and work with evangelical churches in the area, and let them know your Ethical Guidelines.

5) Be thankful for the churches who will partner with you.  If you have a great partnering church, know that a large number of church planters would love to have that support.

6) If you are leading an established church, don’t be turfish or apathetic.  While you may not be able to participate, please be encouraging to the church planters.

7) If you are considering leading your church to be involved in church planting, you may want to read a couple of articles that I’ve written HERE and HERE.

If you did not catch Critical Issue #5 first mentioned on February 15, you can read it HERE. 

Now we come to Critical Issue #4: The Challenge of Contextualization.  When the church planters noted this issue they were referring to the difficulties experienced in effectively communicating the gospel and planting churches in diverse contexts. 

They found out that church planting methods as advocated in the books of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and shared in the conferences, were not as applicable to the 21st century as thought.  Such discrepancy also resulted in conflict between those in the trenches and their supervisors who had planted churches 5, 10, 15 years prior, and expected their church planters to be able to do likewise. 

Remember, the gospel is always relevant to every people, in any location, at any time. . . . But we’re not.

While I did not study the ethnic breakdown of the church planters or the ethic composition of the people to whom they were evangelizing, my guess is that the overwhelming majority were Anglo and working primarily among an Anglo, middle class demographic.  If such was the case, it is likely that these church planters were also struggling with the receptivity to the gospel among their population segment. 

Why, do I think such was the case?  

Based on personal experience, anecdotal evidence, and the experience of others, I am coming to believe that the Anglo, middle class, majority of the U. S. population is not as receptive to the gospel as they were from the 1950s-1990s (I know some of you are not surprised at this statement.).  I have sensed a growing apathy toward the gospel among this group.  And growing apathy usually means a greater resistance to the gospel.  And greater resistance means fewer and fewer conversions.  And few conversions mean that it takes a long time to plant a church among this population segment (Of course, I’m not talking about transfer growth church planting here, but a biblical model of church planting.  I’ll save my transfer church planting discussion for a future post.)

Note:  Do you see how Critical Issue #4 and Critical Issue #5 may be related?

Practical Matters to Keep in Mind

1) Church planting is more art than science.  You can only learn so much in a book (even in my books) or a classroom (even in my classes).

2) Contextualization can be very challenging.  How well do you know your people group or population segment geographically, demographically, culturally, spiritually, historically, politically, and linguistically?

3) If you are supervising, coaching, directing church planters, make sure you recognize that since they are presently in the trenches (allow me to assume you are not), they are the experts on their contexts and the challenges in communicating the gospel.  Hold them accountable, but be patient with them.  Allow them flexibility and freedom, but be a wise steward with your calling as well.

4) If you are attempting to evangelize the U. S., Anglo, majority and plant churches from out of the harvest with them, then recognize that you may be going to serve among an apathetic soil.  If such is the case in your area, then be prepared, trust in the Holy Spirit’s timing, and don’t limit your labors on a 2-3 year time frame.

I realize I just started a series of posts on critical issues and church planters.  However, just moments before I had planned on posting critical issue number 4, I received this information from Jeff Palmer, Executive Director of Baptist Global Response, addressing the present realities in Haiti. 

This update is current as of this past Saturday, February 13.  Because of the urgent nature of the situation in Haiti, I am interrupting the series to bring you this special report. 

Baptist Global Response is a global Southern Baptist relief and development organization.  For those of you not familiar with Baptist Global Response.  Let me encourage you to check out their web site HERE.  

From the Relief Network/US AID/UN Reports

 1. The Government of Haiti has now given an official death toll of approximately 200,000 dead.

 2. There are an estimated 700,000 displaced persons from the Port-au-Prince area with almost 500,000 having left Port-au-Prince for surrounding areas and still an estimated 3 million people affected/needing assistance.

 3. Minimal damage has been done to water sources and systems. Most displaced persons from Port-au-Prince are living with extended families. To date, 1.1 million people are being fed through coordinated efforts. Over 400,000 people are still receiving water delivery. Mountainous areas (surrounding the population center of P-a-P) are still hard to gain access to and need assistance.

4. Total assistance from all sectors is estimated to be around $522 Million US dollars. Some reports say that less than $1 in every $100 is getting to direct aid to Haitians.

5. Southern Baptists have raised over 4 million to date:  

          a. Florida Baptists – 1.4 million

          b. North American Mission Board– 400 K

          c. International Mission Board– 1.2 million

          d. Baptist Global Response– 1.1 million

From Our Baptist Global Response On-Ground Personnel (David Brown)

 1. There have been about 15 Southern Baptist volunteer teams on ground already and more are coming in. The majority have been medical teams through the DR network (8 to 10) and we still have been running a number of logistics teams trying to work out needs for handling and facilitating large numbers of volunteers, moving resources to needy/overlooked areas, etc.

2. We are working closely and have great relationships with Haitian Baptists, North American Mission Board and Florida Baptists. We are working on better communications with the Americas Affinity Group point persons as well.

3. David is in the process of completing an overall comprehensive Haiti Relief strategy from BGR’s perspective. This will include facilitation/cooperation with all parties (NAMB, Florida, Haitian Baptists, Americas Affinity Group, etc.) and be a more comprehensive Southern Baptist plus International Mission Board strategy for response.

I wish to thank Jeff, David and those with Baptist Global Response for sharing this information with us.  Please join me in praying for Jeff Palmer, David Brown, and the others connected to the ministry of Baptist Global Response as they serve the people of Haiti during these tragic days.

Today I begin a 5-part series of posts related to critical issues facing church planters in the United States and Canada.  Several years ago, I did an informal study in which I surveyed 190 individualswho were involved in many different areas of church planting.  They were from four Canadian Provinces and thirty-nine states.  They represented thirteen different denominations, parachurch organizations, and non-denominational groups. 

My desire was to find out what were the five most critical issues church planters were facing at that moment in time.  I wanted to know what they felt were the most pressing matters.

My research methodology was a very simple one.  I emailed them one question: “What do you believe are the five most critical issues in North American church planting?”  Remember, I said this was an informal study (But, hey, when you are working with a research budget of $0, and no research team, you have to start somewhere.).     

Since the time of the study, I have continued to ask the same question to church planters, denominational leaders, those coaching church planters, etc.  And their responses are either the same as the findings from my study, or very close.

While I have discussed the findings of this study in different publications, this is the first time I have blogged about it.  I am starting this series today for three reasons:

1) I want you to know the major issues pressing on church planters in the United States and Canada today. 

As a church planter, you need to be aware of these matters, long before you and your team enter the field.  If you are already on the field, you need to be aware of these matters and strategize accordingly.  If you are supervising, mentoring, shepherding church planters, in order to better minister to them, you need to know what is on their minds–even if they are not verbally communicating these to you. 

2) I want to extend a call to others to take up the challenge to do a better, and up-to-date study on the critical issues facing church planters.   

We need to know the challenges and how best to equip others for such labors.  Find out if my informal findings are still true.  If not, what are the new critical issues?

3) I want to challenge us to develop new resources to assist church planters in these areas.

So, today we begin with critical issue #5–Stress on the Family (Yes, I’m counting down, so you will have to stay tuned for the other issues.).

The fifth-most common response that I heard from the field was the amount of pressure placed on the church planting family.  Here are a few of responses from the field:

“Relational stress on families is great.  Church planters often move into areas where they have no relational support networks.  Mother churches often do not embrace the church planter’s family.  Couples with young children are especially vulnerable, since they depend on support networks to cope with the daily challenges of parenting.” 

“Young parents often miss out on opportunities to refresh themselves as a couple because they have no one with whom to leave their children.  Many of our young church planters arrive on the scene as ‘double income, no kids’ couples.  Yet the kids come; the wife has to quit her job; the family is left with one income.  And you’d be amazed how often this happens just as the church plant’s outside support is coming to an end.”

“Burning out for Jesus stinks, especially when it is not just the church planters who burn out but their wife and kids, too. . . . My wife and kids come before my ministry and always will.  After God, they are my highest priority.  The people who plant with me need to see this demonstrated.”

“The planter must at all costs take care of his/her family.  Church planting can be the worst thing that could ever happen to a family.  A planter must have as much of a plan for nurturing his family as he does for growing a church. It’s a shame that planters can be the very ones who turn those closest to themselves away from God.”

Two resources I believe will be of some assistance, particularly to those of you who are going to be planting and pastoring churches, are from the North American Mission Board.  The Board did a very insightful and helpful study on church planting wives (the best research on this topic to date).  You should read the report HERE.  I find that it compliments and provides insight to critical issue #5.  Out of their research, they published the outstanding book My Husband Wants to be a Church Planter. . . So What will that Make Me?  You can download it for FREE HERE. 

Another helpful resource, found HERE, is a video from my great friend and pastor, Dustin Neeley.  A portion of it addresses pastoring the family (begins at 2:40).  Check it out. 

These resources will provide assistance to you and your family as you begin to talk about and plan for critical issue #5.

Practical Matters to Keep in Mind:

1) Don’t neglect your daily time with the Father.

2) Home life does not have to be perfect. . . just next to perfect.   (remember, the world and new believers are watching us in our good times and bad times)

3) If your family falls, the missionary work falls even harder.   (remember, the ripple effect on the lives of new believers, new churches, and unbelievers in the community)

4) Take days of rest to be with your family.

5) Develop a family strategy for nurturing your family and bringing them along in the journey. 

As we continue together in the realm of thinking missiologically about our world, from time to time I will be blogging about different groups that are laboring for Kingdom expansion throughout the world.  In April, I am scheduled to speak at the Association of North American Missions Leadership Forum.  Since these brothers and sisters have been on my heart lately, I’ll begin by profiling them today.

Doug Clark is the Executive Director of ANAM.  I recently invited him to share with you about the association and what they are doing in relation to the Great Commission.      

Doug, who is the Association of North American Missions and how are you serving missionaries in North America?

ANAM is a group of mission agencies that have banded together for accountability, training, fellowship, and informational resources.  Our mission statement – “the Association of North American Missions exists to assist member organizations in operating with excellence, thereby maximizing their God given ministry effectiveness in reaching the lost and making disciples” – shares our reason for existence.  

Why and when was the Association of North American Missions founded?

In 1941, Dr. Harry Ironside challenged mission leaders whose ministry focus was North America to establish an organization that would provide the benefits that foreign missions received through their associations.  Several mission leaders and pastors organized the National Home Missions Fellowship at Moody Church in 1942, where their annual meetings were held until 1973 in conjunction with Moody’s Home Mission’s Conference.

The name of the organization was changed to the Association of North American Missions in 1980, when it was determined that the organization should be more than a fellowship of missionaries and become an association of missions.

From 1974 to 2004, the Annual Conventions were held in various locations across the country.  In 2005, the Annual Meeting became the Leadership Forum which has been designed to train member Directors, Boards, Administrators, and leaders-in-training.  

Why should a group be a part of ANAM?

As with any association membership, the members must participate to benefit.  Our members note the following VALUES that result from their involvement.

• Focus & Identity - ANAM is the only association whose total focus is on North America.  We understand and concentrate upon ministry opportunities in North America.  Our effectiveness in ministry will have a direct relationship to missions around the world.  
•  Accountability & Credibility – By meeting prescribed management, doctrinal, ethical, accountability and financial reporting standards, ANAM member missions enhance their credibility to the public and efficiency in gospel outreach.
• Fellowship - Time spent at the Leadership Forum or Regional gathering is with people who understand what you “do for a living”.  Relationships are built that last long after the meeting.
• The place to go for help and assistance – We can get any answer that is needed for operating your ministry with “excellence”.  Personal counsel and advice is available in confidence.  A “members-only” section of the ANAM web site includes policies and links to other helps.
• Training is provided through the annual ANAM Leadership Forum and the entire 5-Year Review process is designed as training and encouragement.
• Opportunity to give – Involvement in ANAM allows ministries and leaders to GIVE and RECEIVE.  New leaders and organizations can benefit as they grow and then have opportunity to share in the growth and development of other ministries and the association.
• Recruiting – Through brochures provided by ANAM and use of the ANAM web site link, each member mission, along with the ANAM Director, represents the other members as they interact with the public.  The “ANAM Ministry Connection”, a web-based listing of ministry positions available, is provided free of charge to our members.
• Networking & Partnering – ANAM is a forum for interaction.  As mutual needs are shared, a desire is fostered between missions to cooperate on a common task, share resources, or speak in a united voice.  By building relationships with other like-minded ministries, God’s work can be furthered.  Prayer requests shared are promptly distributed via e-mail – ANAM Prayer Alert.
• Information – Through e-mail “ANAM Resources”, member missions are apprised of current tax and legal information and of news and trends which will affect missions in North America.
• Recognition of Service - “Missionary of the Year” and “Lifetime Commitment” awards are given to worthy individuals in member organizations and the “Great Commission” award to individuals or organizations that have made a significant contribution to the cause of Christ in North America.
• Communications – In an effort to promote missions in North American, ANAM publishes “ANAM UPDATE” to members and on our website that keeps our needs before the public.  

How can interested readers contact The Association of North American Missions?

Please contact us through our website or by e-mailing us at info@anamissions.org.