Video Transcript: Church Planting Models, Part 2

Let's continue our discussion of church planting models. And as we think about  these models, again, get out that piece of paper and write down your journey in  ministry, your possible journey to be a church planter, in where you may fit in  these models. Another model that's very common out there right now is the multi congregational model. And this is where an urban church or just maybe a church in general uses the same building at different times for different ethnic groups  with their own pastors, and autonomous leaders, you know, and you'll see that,  you know, like, the Anglo Hispanic, Asian etc., where each group contributes  economically to maintain the facilities, I see this model often in like maybe a  church that's, you know, aged, and there's still one group that sort of, you know,  can pay for most of it. And then they they see lots of immigrants come into their  area, and they can actually share the building. And there's church plants, even  in places where there's a historic church, and maybe their historic church needs, these church planters. It makes economic sense. Makes sense, economically, it  maximizes the use of property and facilities. It's attractive evangelistically. It  offers options for languages and kinds of worship services. Think about that in  one location. There's different people, groups that worship God in churches are  planted, it promotes the breaking down of discrimination, and racism. So there  are many advantages to this multi congregational model. But there are  disadvantages, the frequent use of the building makes necessary to have strict  scheduling of programs, leaving little margin for activities outside the established ones. If the congregations aren't prepared for challenges of diversity, for  example, they don't have good communication skills, they don't value people  over things, there can be problems between different ethnic groups, which is  precisely what they need to avoid. And again, in these disadvantages, a lot of it,  you know, here's the expectation that I've seen over the years, if you're going to  do the multi congregational model, what you want is you just want to maximize  the structure, okay, so we're worship at this time, and whatever the agreed upon scheduling is, and then the function the rest of the church out of small groups,  out of homes and just make it that's what it is, and do maybe rental of hotels or  other properties in an area. Another one is the satellite model. This model has a  one single church meeting and several semi autonomous groups. The satellites  have close relationships with the mother church, although they have a great  deal of freedom. And I've seen them as very effective. I know Faith Church In  Dyer, Indiana is an example of the satellite model. And I know the senior pastor,  he's featured in our preaching class, and it's such a blessing to watch this model that he puts forward. And there are many advantages of this model. It combines  the characteristics of large churches and cell groups. It provides opportunity for  seminary or ministry training CLI students to get experience evangelizing and  teaching. There's a lot of leadership incubation in this model, the reproduction  and reach growth of these churches is wide. And it's fun to see that. Now, having said that, there are disadvantages too the use of different properties can mean 

an increase in expense, which should be taken into account ahead of time, the  role of the mother church and in the satellite may be confused, you should  define the role of both to avoid discrepancies and overlap from the start of initial  autonomy to full independence. And in saying that those are going to be the self  aware leadership issues needed if you will participate in this church planting  model. Another one is the missionary model. This is the model that's most  familiar to North American evangelicals. The missionary pastor starts a church  plant with the support of churches centralized in a missionary agency. As soon  as the church is formed and established in terms of its doctrine, leadership and  finances. The pastor resigns and leaves a leader in charge. It is very much like  the mission sending movement applied to church planting. The advantages of  this missionary model is it works well in Pioneer situations where the gospel of  Christ is really not that known or church. Attendance is very low. The missionary  pastor who is sent generally has a good deal of, of experience. And you see that because that experience also brings a lot of connections. The pastor and his  family have solid financial support, usually in this model, and the economic  support for the church plant allows them to build a sanctuary sooner. And that's  some of the characteristics, you find lots of relationships with the mission  pioneering group. And I will tell you that this model is sort of diminishing a little  bit where the resources for missions is being directed in more indigenous ways.  But this is the advantages the historic advantages of the missionary model.  Disadvantages, the church plant needs to depend a great deal on the  missionaries, agents, agencies resources, or the church that sends the pastor,  the missionary pastor usually has to be absent from the work in order to report  back to the sending churches and raise additional financial support. So in  sometimes there's less continuity. On some occasions, the church becomes  dependent on the agency and fails to become responsible for its own finances.  And I've seen that many, many times. It's hard to make a successful transition  from the initial missionary pastor to a permanent local pastor. You know, I look at the Mission missionary model is a lot of ways going more out of favor, because  that dependency issues, the long term dependency issues makes it really hard  to keep effective. And some of these transitions, you know, as that think about  these models. You know, each model is fascinates me to no end, because I see  opportunities in each of the models. And there are still great opportunities for  you, as you think about yourself in these church planting models. In the next  presentation, we're going to even go further in a few more models as you pray  about your involvement in church planting.