If you have read previous posts, you might already know that we highly recommend church planters to go through the Global Church Advancement church planter training.
In the training, GCA encourages the church planter to have four essential criteria for the new church:
1. True spirituality
2. Sound theology
3. A proven track record of effective ministry
4. Essential agreement regarding a common philosophy of ministry
In planting a church, the church planter and “the core” (those who help plant the church) should have a shared philosophy of ministry. One of the modules at the GCA training is on developing this philosophy. According to GCA, “one of the most common sources of conflict in church planting is regarding philosophy of ministry issues. A unique style of worship or a particular leadership style of a church planter can be the source of significant church conflict that can greatly damage and even kill a young church.” In order to avoid much conflict the church planter and “the core” should share a common philosophy of ministry.
GCA defines a philosophy of ministry as a “unique set of integrated ministry purposes, values, styles and strategies embraced and used in gospel ministry by a particular church in its culture.” In other words, an appropriate philosophy of ministry must be context specific. The gospel and the way it is expressed in both word and deed must be contextualized.
In order to contextualize, the church planter “must become a life-long in-depth student” of the gospel, the church, and culture. In turn, the church planter should help those in “the core” to also become students of the gospel, the church, and culture. Prayerfully, this shared study of the gospel, the church, and culture will lead to a shared philosophy of ministry. GCA argues that, “when these three areas are properly understood and converge in ministry the result can be transformation of both people and society.”
Gospel (God’s purposes revealed in the Bible) +
Church (God’s people called out in community) +
Culture (Behaviors, values, beliefs, and worldviews) =
Transformation
