Comments on: 4 Ways to Make Sure You Never Plant a Church

By: Bronson Taylor

Bronson Taylor — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:11:37 +0000

This post inspired me to write “What the NT really says about church planting”

http://www.gulfchurch.com/blog/2009/1/8/what-the-nt-really-says-about-church-planting.html

Thanks for the great blog!

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:48:44 +0000

Hi Kim and Eric!

Thanks for taking the time to comment.

I wish I had definite answers to your questions on ‘baptizing them into community.’ At this point, I don’t know what this will look like online. I think we will find a broad spectrum of community behavior as we allow people to discover what it means for their group to be a community. I do know that most online groups, as they mature and as they are able, eventually meet offline.

The point for me is this – I don’t want to prescribe what community look like. Instead, I want to walk people through the Bible and have them develop community as they obey God’s Word and listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

My job is to encourage them and guide them to listening to God and obeying what they hear. That, for me, is a very exciting place to be!

Anyway, thanks for being with me as I wrestle with all this! I will keep you posted as things emerge. Thanks for praying for me!

You guys rock!

-Paul.

By: Kim and Eric

Kim and Eric — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 08:29:52 +0000

My thoughts and questions on this post in no particular order:
#3 really becomes a difficult sticking point through the online media. I think you can disciple from afar if they will be completely honest and teachable. But how to plug them into their local community? How do you help them find a group that connects with them like they find in their online church community? Do they need to find that? Can they find like-minded people in the outside world? I don’t know any of these answers.

We are seeing that a mix of both is quite beneficial for our church planting. We invited our neighbors to our house for Friday Fun Nights, and those who have been coming regularly are now friends or are growing friendships through facebook. It’s no longer the once-a-month interaction; it’s now the “I know a little about you or what you are doing because I saw it on your facebook page.” It’s our “we stumbled upon it” experiment.

We will keep praying as you seek answers to these questions and continue to minister to the online community.

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:13:33 +0000

@Brian – Thanks! I hope this post helped as you go out to change the World with the Gospel.

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 13:19:09 +0000

I found this post on Alltop, and I’m glad I did! Great post! I think you nailed it with those 4 points and offer a great reminder for us all to make sure that we “keep the main thing the main thing” so to speak.

Anyways, thanks for the great post.