Mike Cauthorne
How to start a Church Plant from Scratch? March 23rd, 2021
1. Calling: What do you enjoy doing most in ministry? Please describe your sense of call to church planting. Could you be fulfilled doing a different kind of ministry? If so, what would that be?
A. Those that are called should be qualified.
1st Timothy 3:1-7 - Qualifications for Overseers
3 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.
This is all about your character! Who you are when no one else is around?
We must be the same person in private and in public. Only the Christian worldview gives us the basis for this kind of integrity.
Chuck Colson – Founder Prison Fellowship
B. Spousal & Family Support: How have you discussed the possibility of starting a church with your family? How do you feel about starting something new with your family? What would be your role? Make sure your family is fully onboard. We have an enemy that is desiring to destroy us!
1st Peter 5:8-9 - Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
2. Disciple Maker: How do you build a team? Start by making disciples that will reproduce.
Titus 1:5 – 9 5 This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— 6 if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. 7 For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, 8 but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. 9 He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
2 Timothy 2:1-2 - You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
“You’re not making disciples until your disciples are making disciples” Dawson Troutman – Founder Navigators International
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
How do you make disciples? One person at a time.
It takes time but we must reproduce disciples.
Genesis 1:28 - And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply
3. Prayer & Vision: Do you have a geographic area on your heart and why? Describe the people that God has put on your heart to reach. What will the church look like among this people group when your vision is fully implemented? Has God broken your heart for the lost in the community? Do you pray for the lost? Get a few people and pray specifically for a person of peace in the community.
Luke 10: 1- 5 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. 2 And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no money bag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ 6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him.
Seven ways you can pray as church planters:
1. Pray for a close walk with Jesus.
2. Pray for an identity grounded in Christ.
3. Pray for a strong marriage and family.
4. Pray for wisdom.
5. Pray for favor in their community.
6. Pray for faithfulness in their work.
7. Pray for gospel fruit.
“Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God”
Bob Pierce – Founder World Vision & Samaritans Purse
4. Teachable Spirit: Who have been your mentors? What are you currently reading? How do you plan to stay spiritually sharp in the future? What is your view of accountability?
Are you teachable? Do you have a:
Paul – someone pouring into you
Timothy – someone you are pouring into
Barnabas – someone to encourage you
1st Thessalonians 5:11 - Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
I would go to the deeps a hundred times to cheer a downcast spirit. It is good for me to have been afflicted, that I might know how to speak a word in season to one that is weary.
Charles Spurgeon. – Prince of Preachers Metropolitan Baptist London
Never stop growing and learning.
You will be the same person five years from now except for the people you meet, the places you go, and the books you read. -Dr. Jay Strack
5. Relationships and the Lost: Please describe the last person you shared your faith with. Who was the last person you led to Christ? Who have you discipled from pre salvation to being a reproducing disciple? Describe how you developed this relationship. Are you engaging those that do not Christ?
What are some ways to engage the lost?
Look around the community?
Where are groups gathering in your community?
Soccer games are a great place to share the gospel with people.
Luke 14:23-24 And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”
Plant with the end in mind. What do you want the church to look like in 1 year, 5 years, 10 years? Build in the beginning what you want down the road. Are you building a reproducing model?
Acts 13:1-4 Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. 4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit