Ripe for Harvest

S ESSION 1: S EEING THE B IG P ICTURE • 55

Evangelize

Mark 16.15-18 (ESV) – And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. [16] Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. [17] And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; [18] they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

II. Prepare: Be the Church

Acts 16.25 (ESV) - About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

A. Principle: A church is birthed from an existing church (we have to BE the church before we can plant the church).

1. We reproduce after our own kind. We do not start churches ex nihilo , but from other churches. We have an organic link from church to church back to Pentecost; to the Apostles; to Israel; to the Trinity. Community has been eternally existent; we are a part of that stream. 2. As in families, parents birth children, raise them in their homes and prepare them to be parents. Offspring bear our name and character. They share our biology and nurture. This intimacy is needed to create and sustain a church planting movement. We do not distinguish the spirituality of training leaders from the spirituality of cross-cultural church planters. 3. New congregations will share our vision, doctrine, spiritual discipline, mission and finances. There is no distinction between the new congregation and the sent team. 4. The “P” of PLANT recognizes that the church exists as soon as the team is formed. Paul’s team WAS the church in Philippi before Lydia’s household joined them. Launch simply adds to the existing church.

Context Values/Vision Prepare Launch Assemble Nurture Transition Schedule/Charter