–– Malamulo Chindongo

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I have often said that Africa has so many churches that you can buy two for a penny. Despite the numerous churches we see around us, it seems to me that there is very little impact on our communities. I am concerned with the lack of growth and maturity among many who carry their Bibles every Sunday morning but don’t seem to learn from them, let alone read them. Churches are being planted daily on the continent of Africa, especially in the era of self-appointed pastors and prophets. 

Rolland Allen, wrote the book, ‘Missionary Methods, St. Paul’s Or Ours?’ Rolland was puzzled at the way his denomination and others around him were going about church planting overseas. He was not convinced that it was being done God’s way. I too, have concerns with my fellow African church planters; hence my adaptation of Rolland Allen’s title, ‘Church-Planting Methods, St. Paul’s Or Ours?’

Church planters are sent to declare a unique message to the world

The first disciples who would become Christ’s Apostles were convinced that the task of missions could only be accomplished by the means that God has ordained: simple evangelism efforts targeted at our neighbours and beyond. When the Apostle Paul landed in Corinth, no one could distract him with sports, or the politics of the day, his goal was to inform his hearers of the great Saviour, Jesus Christ. He had learnt this from His Master, who came into this world declaring, “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand”. 

The Bible says that Jesus began His ministry, by “declaring”. He had one message, and one message alone, people must turn from sin. The world Jesus was born into is no different from ours. People are sinful, and Jesus is the only Saviour, but when He told them this, they killed Him. How different is that world from ours? If we tell people today that we as humanity are sinners, that we stand condemned before God; they marginalize us, turn against us, and worse still, kill us. They will do to us, the things they did to Jesus, and even more.

We cannot Plant Healthy Churches without Biblical Evangelism

As I travel to different parts of the continent, I have concluded that there is very little appetite for evangelism among modern church planters. We are called to go out into our highways and byways and declare the gospel truth. The zeal for the preaching of the gospel has disappeared. Churches are planted today via membership transfers. Today, the goal of the church planter is to make his church better than the next church. Church planters today look like marketers rather than preachers of the gospel. Those of old, called people to come and die, today we call people and promise them that our service is cooler, our coffee is hotter, and that if they come, we will be sure to make them feel comfortable. We need men who can declare and warn people of their plight, not those who will simply invite them to our churches, luring them away from their former church.

The great evangelist George Whitefield captures the evangelist spirit of his era when he says: “God forbid that I should travel with anybody a quarter of an hour without speaking of Christ to them.” Christian History, Issue 38

Social Media Evangelism Cannot Replace Biblical Evangelism

Social media is one of the great inventions of our time. Like any technology, it can be used for good or bad. We see today just how deadly and detrimental social media can be. Churches are using social media to spread the gospel and I believe that the internet is being used greatly by God for His glory. But, I fear that among African pastors and church planters, it has become a substitute for biblical evangelism. We seem to be satisfied with a little poster online inviting people to our church, accented by a verse, a Puritan quote, or a stream from our Sunday service. The Lord is using all these things for His kingdom, but they should never be a substitute for evangelism.

We need men and women who can go across to their neighbour’s house, sit down with them and carefully explain the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Church planters are those who not only declare the gospel and its demands but also require a response from sinners–insisting on the necessity of repentance and faith in Jesus. We need men and women who can raise their voices, shouting out loud, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. We need men and women who can go out loving people over the course of time, explaining, caring, and ministering to the needs of their people until they see the grace and power of God in another man’s life. It seems to me that our methods for church planting today are not St. Paul’s nor are they the methods of Jesus.

Laziness and the Death of Real Church Planting

How many of our church members came in through our evangelistic efforts, and how many of those who gather on Sundays, came in through a membership transfer? If I am moving money from my left pocket to my right does it mean I have gained more? As I pointed out earlier, we have members moving from a church next to us, into ours and we call it church growth. The many methods and programs in our churches are focused on reaching those who are already in the church, and not outsiders. 

We might say that some of the churches in our city are false churches and their converts need to hear the gospel, to this, I would say a hearty amen. But as there are two sides to the same coin I would add to that, that there are more people who do not go to church on Sunday morning, than those who do. It means that more people need to hear the gospel in our communities. We need to examine our methods. Are they geared toward challenging the world concerning the claims of the Christian faith or drawing members from other churches into ours?

I hear many pastors speak of training their members to evangelize. Sadly these trainings have been going on in many churches for years, and never once have they gone out to evangelize. It seems to me that our methods for church planting today are neither St. Paul’s nor are they the methods of Jesus.