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GO AND PLANT
TEAM's Church Planting Blog
Category: End Vision
What does a healthy house church look like?
What are the elements of a healthy house church that would indicate to you that it will continue on and grow and multiply without you being present at the meetings?
How will you know when your church plant is ready for you to leave?
Can you prepare for that day from the beginning of the work?
In our blog, “https://www.goandplant.com/having-an-exit-plan-from-the-start,” we noted that an Exit Plan, or Transition Plan, is our vision of the essential parts of the planted church that we need to see in place and functioning that will indicate to us that this church will continue to thrive without us and that our work as church planters is done. When these are present, we know that we can either transition out to a new role such as equipper and mentor, or we can move on to begin a work in a new area. Today we will look at an example of an exit plan from an urban church plant in an open country.
Before we started our church plant, I said to the team, "We need to have an exit plan." They all looked at me strangely and said, "An Exit Plan? We haven't even started yet." But before we start, we need to know what it is that we are building and when our work will be done.
In my first church planting work, I remember being asked in a small group, “What gives you the most happiness in life?” My answer was, “Leading someone to Christ.” That really gave me so much joy. But I remember being asked that question again during my most recent church plant. My answer this time was, “When I see people I led to Christ and discipled leading others to Christ and discipling them.” It seemed almost weekly that we heard of a fairly new believer starting evangelistic Bible study with someone new. Often it was someone that was being discipled by someone who was being discipled by someone we had discipled. Kathy and I would just laugh with joy and amazement at the way the Gospel was going way beyond our reach.
The primary command of Jesus for His church was, “make disciples.” When Jesus told His disciples to go and make other disciples, He had some specific things in mind of what a disciple is. When we make things like furniture, vehicles, tools, factories, and so on, we carefully determine what it is we want to make before we start creating it. When Jesus was developing His disciples, it was clear that He already had in mind the kind of disciple he was developing. He said things like, “I will make you fishers of men,” “keep my commands,” “receive me,” “believe in me,” “love one another,” “love my Father,” and “love me…” His three years of ministry are a picture of Him building these characteristics intentionally into His disciples so that they would be ready to carry on the work by the power of the Holy Spirit when He left.
