Editor’s Note: First, a word of thanks to our friends at Pillar Church Planting Network (especially Phil Newton and Matt Rogers) and 20Schemes (especially Matthew Spandler-Davison) for their help on this edition of Church Matters. Both ministries have spent more time thinking about church planting than 9Marks has, especially on the practical nuts and bolts of planting. That’s why we thought they would be great partners to work with for this edition. 

Several themes emerge throughout this volume. Let me mention two. First, church plants and planters are sometimes treated as something other than churches and pastors. They’re not. Plants are churches, planters are pastors. Say it twice if it will help you remember. 

The reason to emphasize this is, the whole world of church planting literature, programs, assessment tools, and workshops over the last few decades too often takes its cues from the business world rather than the Bible. Yet we want your church to think about those would-be planters like you would a would-be pastor—according to the qualifications and competencies highlighted by the apostles. 

We also want you to think about those plants as churches. Many times, I’ve heard a planter talk about his one-, two-, or five-year-old “church plant.” I’ll ask him if they take the Lord’s Supper. When he says yes, I suggest he doesn’t need to call it a plant anymore. It’s a church now, with all the rights, duties, and privileges thereof. My goal in saying that is both to empower him—“Baby’s all grown up!”—but also to subtly remind him that what his church does is constrained by Scripture. The Bible governs churches. 

For more on this very theme, see Nathan Knight’s excellent new book Planting By Pastoring. 

A second theme that emerges throughout this volume is the connection between churches and their plants. Biblically ordered and healthy churches tend to plant biblically ordered and healthy churches. Biblically disordered and unhealthy churches tend to plant the same. That’s not to say you need to wait till your church is in tip top health before planting. It does mean that what your church aspires to will transfer. After all, kids value what their parents value. That means the first step of planting might be to consider your own church’s health. 

We at Pillar, 20Schemes, and 9Marks pray you find this edition of Church Matters edifying and instructive.