Urban Ministry & Church Planting

By “saturation” we mean that it is the church's ministry to reach out to "every person," "anyone," and “everyone" as stated in 1 Timothy and 2 Peter. These passages make it clear that God wants every man, woman, and child to hear and understand the Gospel and have the opportunity to believe in and fully obey Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.

Any farmer desiring to plant a crop that would yield a good harvest first selects the soil carefully. Certain soil is just not conducive for farming. In the church planting process, it is necessary to first look for people responsiveness.

The very next thing a farmer does, is to plough the ground. The hard soil needs to be opened up and softened for the planting process. Likewise, the community in which you are going to plant a church needs to be opened up and softened for the gospel.

After the farmer has ploughed the ground it is now time to plant the seed. This speaks of evangelism and the actual planting of the church – the establishment of the congregation. I am somewhat reluctant to give too many examples of how churches have been and can be started. We are so prone to copying instead of hearing from the Holy Spirit

We know that the growth of the seed is very dependent on the fertilisation of the soil. I grew up in the Free State where a lot of mealie crops are planted. Sometimes in the fertilisation process, a patch of mealies is overlooked. This only becomes noticeable, as the mealies are about 1 metre high. By the time the mealies are fully grown it is very noticeable. Compared to the rest, this patch appears diseased.

While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found two disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. 4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance.

If a farmer does not remove the weeds in his fields they will choke the harvest. Because a church consists of people and people have strongholds in their lives, churches can be bound or even destroyed through these strongholds unless they are dealt with

The whole purpose of planting a crop is to have a harvest. A church should be planted with the view that it will reproduce itself into more congregations. Otherwise we are planting sterile churches. Converts must learn that they are to reproduce themselves in becoming soul winners themselves.

It goes without saying that unless a church planter has a passion for the lost, he will plant a church that will grow through transfer growth from other churches. Such a pastor will concentrate on programs to attract people and his pulpit ministry will be mainly a “topical preaching style” that entertains the crowds.

Sometimes we stumble upon pitfalls, which depending various factors, could immobilise us temporarily or permanently. It is important to be aware and alert of the pitfalls along the road that we may avoid them.