When you plant a church you should have the church constitution completely written several months before you have any Sunday services. If you wait until you have interested folk and then set up a committee, you will compromise in several areas and not have the type of church you planned to start. —Grant G. Rice Your first location will probably be a matter of taking what is available: a store front, a school, a tent, an empty factory, or maybe someone’s home. However, a future building site that is accessible is worthy of consideration. —Paul S. Vanaman Great metropolitan areas that have few gospel-preaching churches ought to be high on the priority list. —M. Wayne Van Gelderen Grave errors often are made in constructing church buildings. . . . Building within the scope of the Lord’s will is infinitely more than the creation of material structure. —William R. Rice I have looked at great men’s accomplishments and admired them. These great men would be the first to tell you that the whipped cream looks attractive, but it is the substance underneath that really matters. —James O. Phillips We should live as close to the people we are pastoring as possible. —Curtis Gibson Church planting is God’s way of spreading the gospel message and of establishing a community-based agency for evangelism and discipleship. —Bruce McAllister If the expansion of our home base (here in the United States) is allowed to erode, our global effectiveness will be greatly hindered. —Mark E. Batory
Your church should be extremely careful in the selection of a building site. Recent experiences have evidenced an increasing number of serious considerations concerning zoning, health, environment, traffic and much more. —Joe Miller The United States really does need more churches. One prospective church planter completed a survey which revealed that if all the churches of his persuasion in the area (there were seven) were filled to capacity on Sunday morning, the combined attendance would be less than six percent of the population. —William J. Vermeulen You should have a survival budget written and printed even before you start house-to-house canvassing for the new church. —Grant G. Rice Church planting is an “open door opportunity” for the entry-level pastor. —Bruce McAllister The past month in our church-planting experience was a month that only a pessimist like Eeyore could appreciate. —Darren Hammermeister Weak groups, notably liberal groups, believe that no one has a monopoly on the truth, accept diversity, engage in dialogue, and are lukewarm. —Dean Kelley, National Council of Churches [!] The man who “returns home” to plant a church has five advantages: (1) a natural love for the community; (2) an understanding of the ‘life’ of the community; (3) knowledge of the institutions and infrastructure of the community; (4) established friendships and contacts; (5) a natural tendency for stability. —Elmer L. Towns
Compiled by Dr. David Atkinson, pastor of Dyer Baptist Church, Dyer, Indiana.
July/August 2009 • FrontLine
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