95 Theses of Church Planting

1. 95 Theses of Church Planting Apologies to Martin Luther*

2. 95 Theses of Church Planting • 1. Christianity has always expanded through the multiplication of churches. • 2. The apostles believed the multiplication of churches to be the pivotal cog through which the power of God would be transferred into the world. • 3. To remove church planting from the New Testament would delete virtually all Scripture that emerged after Jesus’ great commission in Matthew 28. • 4. The gospel commission assumes aggressive, continuous and spontaneous church planting. • 5. Church planting is not a fad; it’s a mandate.

3. 95 Theses of Church Planting • 6. Radical love for the lost drives us to plant new churches. • 7. Church planting focuses our vision on the future rather than on the past. • 8. The only way to predict the future is to create it through the planting of new churches. • 9. We can only hope to reach America’s growing population through the aggressive planting of new churches. • 10. The true fruit of an apple tree is not another apple, but another apple tree.

4. 95 Theses of Church Planting • 11. Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the apples in a seed. • 12. The function of an apple is twofold: to provide nourishment today for one person, and to provide for the nourishment of thousands in generations to come. • 13. Signing up for church planting is signing up for sacrifice. • 14. Church planters become experts in how to handle hardship. • 15. The word ‘passion’ means to suffer. If you want to plant a church but you aren’t willing to suffer, it’s not your passion.

5. 95 Theses of Church Planting • 16. Church planters learn how hard it is to plant a church the way deer learn about deer-hunting season – they get shot. • 17. Church planters never ask, “Is it easy?” They instead ask, “Is it God’s will?” • 18. Church planting requires an extra measure of faith in God’s sovereignty. • 19. Church planters necessarily pray without ceasing. • 20. Church planting attracts people with big hearts for the lost.

6. 95 Theses of Church Planting • 21. Church planting also attracts dysfunctional Christians so be careful when you launch regarding those you bring next to you.. • 22. Many lost people long to find God; new churches make it easier for them to do so. • 23. Lost people can tell when they are genuinely loved. Planting a church for them is undeniable evidence. • 24. Upon all who believe, God has placed the burden of raising up churches. • 25. Church planting is not optional for Christians; it’s our calling.

7. 95 Theses of Church Planting • 26. Not every individual is called to plant churches, but everyone is called to pray and encourage those who do. • 27. When a group of people senses God’s call to plant a church, healthy churches and leaders find a way to encourage them. • 28. Church planting is a bold challenge to Satan’s authority. • 29. Church planting is a front-line raid on the kingdom of darkness. • 30. Every church is a planted church at one time or another.

8. 95 Theses of Church Planting • 31. There are no unplanted churches in North America. • 32. Every member is a member of a planted church. • 33. If we were as unintentional about the other facets of ministry as we are about church planting, we would be a church in crisis. • 34. When church planting becomes the normal way to evangelize America’s lost, soul winning will increase exponentially. • 35. The reward for church planting is never monetary.

9. 95 Theses of Church Planting • 36. Church planters know they are making a difference today. • 37. Church planters know they are making a difference in eternity. • 38. Church planting is an adventure of joy so enjoy the ride. • 39. New churches rarely turn out like you expected. • 40. There is not one right way to plant a church.

10. 95 Theses of Church Planting • 41. There are wrong ways to plant a church. • 42. Every denomination that has an aggressive church planting strategy is growing. • 43. Every denomination that does not have a church planting strategy is not growing. • 44. In early Baptist work, church planting was the primary way to reach the lost. • 45. Two hundred years ago, all Baptist pastors were church planters.

11. 95 Theses of Church Planting • 46. New churches grow at ten times the rate of established churches. • 47. Every city in America has the same number of Baptist today as it did twenty years ago, the only exceptions being cities in which we have planted churches during those twenty years. • 48. If every church in your city was filled to capacity ten times every Sabbath, thousands would still not be able to attend. • 49. There is one Baptist church for every 59,000 people in North America. • 50. Mature churches give birth to new churches.

12. 95 Theses of Church Planting • 51. It’s easier to have babies than to raise the dead. • 52. It’s more fun to have babies than to raise the dead. • 53. Most churches are old maids; they have never given birth. • 54. Church planting turns old maids into proud parents. • 55. If the church is fat, it’s because she is pregnant.

13. 95 Theses of Church Planting • 56. The good news: most churches are pregnant. The bad news: some of them are in their 99th month. • 57. When a parent is pregnant, she must deliver or her own life is in danger. • 58. God has already put the desire to plant new churches into the minds and hearts of many Christians. • 59. Instead of discouraging baby churches from being born, healthy churches pray for them to flourish. • 60. A thriving church says, “Whatever it takes to win the lost!”

14. 95 Theses of Church Planting • 61. Plateaued churches can best contribute to the spread of the gospel by giving birth to new churches. • 62. Congregations that give away their best to establish a new church grow stronger themselves. • 63. The fruit of a healthy, new church is not just winning more lost and spiritually blessing the planters. Established churches in the area also benefit from the reflex action. • 64. Churches that don’t give birth are scared, sick or selfish. • 65. Turf wars are for the Balkans, not for Baptist in North America.

15. 95 Theses of Church Planting • 66. The Methodist, Adventist, Catholics or even atheists never oppose the starting of a new Baptists church, but sometimes opposition arises from within. • 67. Church planting directly causes kingdom growth. • 68. The money to win the world is in the mouth of the fish that we catch when we plant new churches. • 69. New churches are planted not for the planters but for the plantees (those who will be won to Christ). • 70. It is possible to be on spiritual autopilot in an established church and the church can survive; being in a church plant, however, requires constant, vigorous prayer and action.

16. 95 Theses of Church Planting • 71. Church planting is as vital to church growth as breathing is to body health. • 72. Properly planted churches will reach population segments currently unaffected by the Baptist message. • 73. New churches have an inherent vitality that attracts the unchurched to Christ. • 74. Former Baptist are more likely to return to a new church. • 75. Church planting is an opportunity to be faithfully Baptist while being culturally current.

17. 95 Theses of Church Planting • 76. New wine is good, but it doesn’t belong in old wineskins (read: old churches). • 77. Changing ministry methods to reach the lost is wise, not wrong. • 78. Changing ministry methods to reach the lost is Biblical, not wrong. • 79. Church plants that go astray make it harder for others to plant churches in the future. • 80. Church planting raises up new leaders both in the parent church and in the new church.

18. 95 Theses of Church Planting • 81. Church plants galvanize Christ’s followers to serve together. • 82. Instead of worrying about losing leaders to a new church plant, healthy churches praise God that they have room to grow and have more places • for new servants. • 83. Seed planting precedes the harvest. • 84. There can be sowing without reaping, but there cannot be reaping without sowing. • 85. Whoever sows with tears will reap with joy.

19. 95 Theses of Church Planting • 86. A Sower who talks but doesn’t plant is not a Sower. • 87. A Sower who prays but doesn’t plant is not a Sower. • 88. When a church decides to tithe its membership for the purpose of planting a church and reaching the lost, God makes the 90% who remain go farther than the 100% who were there before. • 89. When a church tithes its best members for a church to be planted, it is laying up treasure in heaven. • 90. There is more joy in heaven over one church that is planted than over 99 that need not to be planted.

20. 95 Theses of Church Planting • 91. Church planting is the greatest missionary work in the world. • 92. Church planting is the gospel commission at its finest. • 93. Church planting is the hope of North America. • 94. Church planting will hasten the coming of Jesus. • 95. If Martin Luther were here today, he would plant a church.

21. 95 Theses of Church Planting • “This is the day that North America turns a corner. Or to change the terminology, today the North American Church establishes a new battle plan. Today we drive a corner stake. Today we are pouring a footing. Today we nail the theses to the church door at “Berrienburg”. Today the Church Planting Group launches the most aggressive and intentional church planting initiative in its history. And let’s not be afraid to go out on a limb. They tell me that’s where the fruit is!” • *(Adapted by Tom Cheyney)

22. 95 Theses of Church Planting Thank You!