A Church Planter’s Advice

Last week I (Stefan) returned from a meeting in Ethiopia with all our African leaders involved with church planting. It was wonderful to be in Africa and to connect with so many of our old friends, it felt like a reunion.

In a recent interview with Marie’s team, one of those friends, Dismas Shekalaghe (second from right in photo) from Tanzania, gave the following advice regarding church planting:

1. Understand that a church is not a building.

A church is the people who believe in Christ. In many churches, our focus has been to make people comfortable. When people get comfortable, they are just enjoying religion, instead of enjoying Christ and sharing Him. They do nothing in terms of obeying the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

Buildings should never be the focus if you want to plant churches that are multiplying. Focus on people, because Jesus focused on people. Jesus never focused on material things. Imitate Him.

2. When people commit their lives to Christ, make sure they are fast in sharing their faith.

Think of the woman at the well. When she met Jesus and experienced Jesus, how long did she take to share with her village about Jesus? She told them right away, a simple message!

When the pastor alone shares his faith, very few people will be reached. If everyone is sharing their faith, many people can be reached. This means the church can multiply very fast.

Since we started working with Global Church Movements two years ago, we have been able to plant more than 250 churches. We are partnering with more than 200 churches and trusting the Lord for 67,500 new churches in Tanzania by 2020.

Wow! We celebrate what God is doing in Tanzania and pray for them as they work towards the 67,500 new churches! Thank you for enabling me to be part of the team that helps church planters like Dismas to reach their countries.

Please also pray for me as I travel to Spain this weekend where I will attend a meeting of church planting organisations working in Europe.