Focus on Reproduction, Mentor's Guide, MG12

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F O C U S O N R E P R O D U C T I O N

freedom in Christ, wants the young people to start their own service. His argument is clear: “Since the Gospel can overcome any barrier of culture or class or race, there is no reason why we can’t overcome barriers of custom, music, and tradition, too.” Some think this kind of teaching will lead to a compromise of the Gospel, and soon the leadership team will begin to discuss this possibility. How would you advise the leadership team to approach this issue in the church?

Charity Begins at Home

The senior pastor has been in ongoing discussion with the leaders of the church about a new proposal that is causing much discussion throughout the church. Rather than moving to a larger building outside of the “needy neighborhood” where the church has been for the last ten years, the pastor wants to stay. His proposal is not to go to a bigger building, but rather equip members of the church to go and plant another church in the same neighborhood. The pastor, explaining the power of church planting to win new disciples to Christ, affirms his belief that no method is more biblical or faster. Those on the other side, while not rejecting church planting, want to have a strong, central church that can be better able to plant new churches if the “mother church” is strong. After all, they argue, charity should begin at home. If you were the associate pastor of the church, how would you seek to resolve the brewing conflict over methods? The most foundational theological concept that grounds all of our understanding of evangelism, discipleship, and church planting in the city is the lordship of Jesus Christ. Because Jesus has been exalted to the Father’s right hand as risen Lord and anointed Messiah, he now holds the position of head over all things, not only to the Church but also to the advance of the Kingdom in the world, as Lord of the harvest. Every dimension of ministry is subject to his direction and power. The Great Commission of Christ is a call to go and make disciples of the nations, and this radical discipleship cannot be produced and proven valid apart from the Christian community. We can summarize that process for church planting in the PLANT acrostic: prepare, launch, assemble, nurture, and transition. Three stages connect these phases: evangelizing the lost, equipping new disciples to live the Christian life in the Church, and empowering leaders and the congregation to reproduce itself and associate with other like-minded churches.

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Restatement of the Lesson’s Thesis

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