A Church Planter's Tests

In an article for CatalystSpace, Perry Noble writes about the five tests that he says every church planter and every pastor will face -- Five Tests a Church Planter Will Face. I believe these tests will be experienced by both the expatriate or national missionary and by the national pastor. In this post, I've taken Noble's tests and applied them to a missionary context.

#1 Financial Test: The danger is that strategy is built on the assumption that the largest financial contributor or contributors will continue to provide financial support. Inevitably, dependence on financial support from humans will lead to disappointment. Noble rightly affirms that EVERY church planter/pastor need to understand that GOD IS THE BIGGEST GIVER IN YOUR CHURCH! (Emphasis is Noble's)

A principle of church planting movements is that God has placed the resources in the harvest. Keeping that principle in mind helps the church planter to develop strategies are sound:

1. avoiding dependence on outside funds that may dry up and that redirect loyalty and accountability to an outside group or individual rather than to the Lord and to the congregation. (A good resource for material on dependency is the World Mission Associate's website listing articles by Glenn Schwartz.)
2. helping to ensure methods that are sustainable by the church being started.
3. developing strategies that are reproducible by the local congregation -- implanting a DNA that leads the new church to accept its responsibility to reproduce.

#2 The Critics Test: Eventually, the dreams, visions, and methods of the church planter are going to be questionned and critiqued by someone. It might be individuals in the target PG; it might be members or leaders of other churches; it might be fellow workers. Nehemiah face criticism and opposition; Paul faced criticism and opposition; a church planter in the 21st century will not be immune.

#3 The Faith Test: The temptation for the church planter is to limit his dreams to only what he can see and what he can do. The challenge for the church planter is to operate in the realm of faith and to attempt God-sized tasks -- tasks that can only succeed if God intervenes. (Hebrews 11:1 and Hebrews 11:6) A second challenge is for the church planter to be sure that his God-sized dreams and tasks are also God-initiated and not just his own desires.

#4 The Commitment Test: Every church planter and every pastor will likely come to a point where there are two groups in the new church -- those who like the church and those who are committed to the church. According to Noble, you cannot be afraid to ask for commitment. God intends for the church members to do the work of ministry -- the task of the pastor and other leaders is to equip, train, enable, and challenge members to actually commit to the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:11 and Ephesians 4:12).

#5 The Focus Test: In his booklet on Church Planting Movements (International Mission Board, SBC, @1997), David Garrison says:

Church Planting Movements are sovereign acts of God, but in His sovereign grace and mercy He has chosen to partner with us. There are some practical things that missionaries can do to help initiate or nurture a Church Planting Movement...the effective strategy coordinator is ruthless in evaluating all he or she does in light of the end-vision -- a Church Planting Movement -- discarding those things that do not or will not lead to it.

The same principle applies in the planting of an individual church -- experiment but evaluate everything and discard those things that do not lead to the fulfillment of the God-initiated vision for that congregation. Not everything that is a good thing to do is the best thing to do.

• Which of these tests have you faced as either a cross-cultural missionary or as a national pastor?
• How did you handle the test?
• What would your advice be to a new missionary or young pastor in regards to facing these tests?

For the Kingdom,
Bob A