THE CHURCH PLANTING PASTOR
You Can’t Plant a Church If You Don’t Know What a Church Is
By Nathan Knight | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.19.2017Ecclesiology can’t be assumed nor should it be considered a distraction to the church planter’s “mission.”
Church Plants Need Pastors, Not Entrepreneurs
By Matt McCullough | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017We often assume church planting requires more entrepreneurial skills than other pastoral contexts. Is that a fair assumption?
The Priority of Patience, Prayer, and Preaching in Church Planting
By Josh Manley | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017As you patiently “preach and pray, love and stay,” you’ll find that your church has been planted on fertile soil that bears up good and lasting fruit.
The Church Planter’s Second Priority: Raising Up Leaders
By Mike McKinley | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017By developing other leaders who can teach, disciple, evangelize, counsel, and shepherd the flock, you raise up others who can care for the health of all the church members.
Personal Evangelism for the Church Planter and the Church Plant
By J. Mack Stiles | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017If evangelism is to be woven into the fabric of the life of a new church plant and its pastor, it takes some thought and planning.
Church Planters, Make Sure Your People Know You Love Them
By Steve Jennings | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017When laying the foundation for a new plant or revitalization, there’s truly no better advice than this: “Before you do anything else, make sure your people know that you love them.”
The Loneliness of Church Planting
By John Starke | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017An enchantment with the city isn’t the same as a biblical love for the city, and it won’t sustain you in the long run.
The Blessings and Burdens of A Church Planter’s Wife
By Gloria Furman | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017There’s no way a finite heart can hold all the things a church planting wife will face in life and ministry. But Christ can, he does, and he will.
THE CHURCH PLANTING PROCESS
Stop Launching Churches! Instead, Covenant Together
By Nathan Knight | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 07.17.2015I think we should stop talking about “launching” new church plants and instead refer to them “covenanting” for the first time.
The Calculated Risks of Church Planting: Sending Your Best Members and Elders
By Juan Sanchez | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017No matter the costs and effects of church planting on the planting church, the Lord is always faithful.
What 9Marks Purists Should Know About Church Planting
By Ed Stetzer | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017I love gospel clarity and biblical ecclesiology, but I’m concerned about the anti-practical nature we sometimes see in the 9Marks community.
Church Planting in the Same Building
By Matthew Spandler-Davison | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017Our church was getting full, and we knew we needed to do something. So, we planted a church . . . in the same building.
Lessons Learned from Church Planting by Peaceable Division
By Colin Clark | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017Our three-year old church had 84 members. In order to plant a church, we split in half.
How to Do Ministry When You Don’t Have Money
By Brian Davis | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017How do you serve the Lord as a church planter while broke?
Church Planting across Ethnic Lines
By Joel Kurz | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017When God burdens a preacher for a people group, a neighborhood, or a block, it’s right for that preacher to go and become all things to all people so that he might save some.
Church Planters, Don’t Wait To Put Your Documents in Place!
By Joel Kurz | 9Marks Journal: Confessions, Covenants, and Constitutions: How to Organize Your Church | 03.01.2016Our church waited three years to put our church documents in order, and we suffered for it.
Planting Churches for Pleasure, Not for Profit
By Nathan Knight | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017What’s needed to plant a church isn’t the wisdom of Jim Collins, but the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Knowing When to Say When: Reflections from a Failed Church Plant
By Derek Bass | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017I moved my family to New England, eager to plant a church. A few years later, it failed.
CHURCH MERGERS
How to Merge Two Church Cultures
By Dave Russell | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017In a church merger, you must understand the two existing cultures and lead them to become one. Here are five ways to do that.
Church Mergers and Tolerable Irregularities
By Brad Wheeler | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017When should two churches merge despite the differences—and when should they stay separate precisely because of their differences?
Anatomy of a Church Merger
By John Folmar | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017Four things I learned from our successful and fruitful church merger—almost 20 years after it happened.
What I Learned from Two Failed Church Mergers
By Matthew Cunningham | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017I’ve attempted to lead our church toward two church mergers, but neither have worked out. Here’s what I’ve learned.
When Two Become One: Legal Considerations of a Church Merger
By Jonathan Rourke | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017This article outlines the legal considerations of a church merger. It’s not a recipe for the success of the marriage, but a roadmap for blending families. It’s not very romantic, but it’s necessary.
PASTORS' TALK PODCAST
Episode 19: Church Mergers and Plants
By J. Leeman, M. Dever | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017We just released a Journal on church planting and church mergers. Because neither Mark nor Jonathan wrote an article for it, we devoted this episode of Pastors’ Talk to the topic.
Book Reviews
Book Review: Planting Growing Churches for the 21st Century, by Aubrey Malphurs
Review by John Joseph | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017This perspective on what it takes to plant a church is simply overwhelming, and worse than that, it’s not biblical.
Book Review: Proliferate: A Church Planting Strategy for Everyday Churches, by Jason Crandall
Review by John Joseph | 9Marks Journal: Church Mergers and Plants | 06.20.2017As long as you’re aware of its errors, this book offers insights for the prospective church planter.
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