Redefining Reality for Church Planting in the 21st Century

 By Randy Knutson, Church planting Coordinator in Southern California. Randy has assessed over 800 church planting couples. His home church is Desert Springs Church, Palm Desert, Calif. (760) 779-8284, email rknutson@earthlink.net - website -http://home.earthlink.net/~rknutson/index.html

 

Quotes from the Introduction:

A main message the Lord has me give to the church is "Come away my Beloved. Spend time with Me."

If you have a call and a conviction from God, all the church growth principles against you will fall down in front of you.

Some people blame many church failures on "the renewal" or on "the prophetic," however the follow reasons are usually behind church failures.

Reasons for Church Failures

  1. The leader had an authority problem. Effective leadership must submit to authority.
  2. The leader leaves on assignment without getting adequate closure. What do I need to know that I don't know?
  3. The leader needs to learn to discern spiritual warfare. One should not blame all the problems on it, yet one should not be blind to it. Having regular times of renewal and retreat develop this.
  4. The leader frequently pursues ministry without a clear philosophy of ministry. They just copy other models. They just do the "we will play the guitar; call down the Holy Spirit, and do prayer ministry" meetings without anything more than that. One needs to know who they are and have a personal philosophy.
  5. The leader's ambition and desire for expanded influence was a problem. It can make one ego driven.
  6. The leader committed a "flesh act." He moved ahead of God's guidance. Or acted up out of frustration. The problem of giftedness without character. When people are disappointed they act up for a day.

The flesh wants to work for God, rather than being with God. The Lord is saying "Come Away My Beloved." God jealously longs for your spirit. If God could abide with me, what issues would He address in me? If we are abiding in Christ, what are we abiding in?