Pastor Joel Webbon on Church Planting: Part 2

I've received a lot of questions over the past few years about finding and planting churches in areas where solid churches don't exist. Today, Pastor Webbon gets practical and shares how a working class individual might become a pastor or start a church.

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[brettmagnuson]

I was in this boat “who do I trust?” and praise God He led me to Grace Bible Theological Seminary (strip mall seminary)!

[valleyoftears]

Many great points! I remember in China, when there is no ordained pastor, the congregation will have an evangelist read (preach) the sermon from faithful teachers in the past. I listened a powerful sermon preached this way from one of J.C. Ryle's sermons, wow, it was so solid, so edifying, the content was better than any pastor I'd ever heard preaching.

[MarkADever]

Wow! This is so empowering. I'm moving to western Maryland from the Baltimore area to manage a recovery house. I'm ecstatic about finding a new, solid church around there and praying for God to have at least one in that area. If not, I will start employing some of these tactics to start one and bring real Christians into community together. We shall see. Thank you for this discussion, brothers! I really want to go see y'all in March, but I don't think that weekend is feasible for me, unfortunately.

[dbrianc]

We are members of a church plant in White Stone, VA. A reformed Baptist church, and our elders are praying about breaking the association with the SBC.

[danbrown]

I'm only at 25:00, so maybe you'll address this further in, but I think you should also consider asking another church to plant a church in your area. It'd obviously be better if that church were somewhat local, but that needn't be the case; my church in Georgia has planted churches in a number of states, including California, Michigan, and North Dakota, and we're supporting church-planters (some of whom were previously interns for us) overseas as well. Surely we aren't the only sound church doing this.

[effobama]

I'm ready and willing.
No seminary training.
No college education.
But I'll warm the bench...

[preppedforeternityhomestea]

I apprecieate what both yourself and Joel have stated in regards to education etc. I find as a small church Bi Vocational Pastor that I am sometimes not in the "big boy group" because of lack of formal education. But I try and make up for it by independant study and reading 10-15 books a year mostly reformed and Purtian books. I also have witnessed a high brow snobbery on a small scale as a result of men having tons of education. Thanks again

[preppedforeternityhomestea]

and I have grown much from GTY and other great ministries including yours and Joels

[andrewduggan]

Appreciate your cooperative content between you Joel and AD.

[danbrown]

In lieu of a normal (and expensive) seminary education, you may want to look into the Log College & Seminary. It's completely free, including all the course materials, and a large part of that is because the course materials are in the public domain. That means they're well pre-woke, and with the possible exception of some new developments in the languages, biblical truth hasn't changed in the last 100 years or so. They aren't accredited, but their M.Div. curriculum appears to be on par with any accredited school in terms of scope and rigor.

[rudymancha]

I also believe that we look at our short comings by that I mean sin we fall into as disqualification. I have reformed churches around a thirty mile radius but still don't fit in. I love to study God's word but I can't find like minded people . This channel and Doug Wilson, right response and Jeff Durbin.

[solideomusical]

What about corporately participating in a 'Zoom' or livestream service of a reputable ministry for the teaching/preaching part or corporately listening to/watching videos from sound churches? Everyone has internet access these days and the amount of christian content online is astounding.

The idea of eight families in a house presents many logistical issues. As I have said of 'house churches' before, "Who is in charge? Who decides upon doctrine? Communion? Music? Instruments? Order of service? Baptism? Church discipline? Offerings? Who fields bible questions? Who resolves conflicts/disagreements? Where are the infants and small children going to be and *with who?* I wouldn't welcome seven families into my home at once - maybe one at a time.

[subduechaos]

I agree with Joel! Don't go to seminary! I'll add that there are better ways to get the academic and real-world training you would need to well equipped to lead.

[danbrown]

At 40:00, I think there needs to be a distinction between the church's statement of faith, and what new members must affirm on joining the church. My church's statement of faith is the Westminster Confession, and we require full subscription to that confession of any officer of the church--like the 1689, it's explicitly Calvinist, explicitly cessationist, etc. And we do tell prospective members, in some detail, what we believe, but we don't require their assent to the WCF. We only require new members to assent to the following:

* Do you acknowledge yourself to be a sinner in the sight of God, justly deserving His displeasure, and without hope save in His sovereign mercy?
* Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and Savior of sinners, and do you receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation as He is offered in the Gospel?
* Do you now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you will endeavor to live as becomes the followers of Christ?
* Do you promise to support the Church in its worship and work to the best of your ability?
* Do you submit yourself to the government and discipline of the Church, and promise to study its purity and peace?
* and that you be, or have been, baptized with water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We're Presbyterian, of course, so we baptize by pouring water, but we aren't picky about the mode, the age at which you were baptized, nor where you were baptized, so long as it was in the Triune Name.

There's nothing in there about regeneration preceding faith, nor about natural man's deadness in sin, nor about special revelation having ceased; you're free to disbelieve any or all of those and still join the church. If you strongly disagree with any of these, you may not be comfortable there, but that would be your decision, not ours.

[kaebersold]

This is a very tricky subject. I have been a Christian for 36 years. I am in Louisville. I have been through a lot. The Southern Baptists churches are not an option. Young guys can really be a trap. There is a reason why they are called "Elders". I am not trying to insult younger guys. They just need to learn a little before you put them in leadership positions. I so agree that theological education is not necessarily a good thing. yet a pastor needs to understand and rightly divide the word of truth.

[SomeGuy-hrog]

To have a church, isn't preaching of the Word a requirement? That sounds obvious, but I mean having a designated overseer (Pastor, Bishop) preach sermons to the congregation rather than the congregation switching off leading a Bible study? I ask because I went to a Bible study that eventually claimed it had become a church, but it never felt like a church to me because it still maintained the Bible study format where the person leading would switch every week, and all they would do is read ahead and come up with questions (also no discrimination between men and women on who would lead). There was prayer and singing, but no by-laws or membership covenant. But even if it had those, I still think the Bible study format without the preaching of sermons would disqualify it from being a church.

[kaylar]

This conversation was excellent! @rightresponseministries, is it possible for the meat of this discussion to become an article, blog series, or e-book? *A Primer on How To Start a Church When There is No Faithful Church in Your Area* The title isn't very catchy (almost puritan actually), but at least it's descriptive. This perspective is extremely timely, and I think that there is a great thirst for someone to say what you're saying. To have these points in text format would just make it easier to find via key word search and easier to share, save, and refer back to.