The apostolic mandate works on a template of constant church planting across borders and even within communities. Jesus has called us to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20) and the way He calls us to do so is to establish church communities.
Whether you're a church that focuses on evangelism, worship, discipleship, counselling or healing, at one point you're going to have to step up as a leader and call for a church plant if you want your ministry to grow.
Church planting is not only a spiritual call, but also a powerfully strategic method of propagating the gospel across a community and across the world. We see in the way the early church worked that much of the work of the first overseers and apostles were church planting. Paul planted churches, Apollos planted churches, Peter planted churches. Every leader in the early church wanted to do one thing: bring Jesus into a community by planting a church.
As simple as that sounds, church planting is actually a difficult feat, and we need the grace of God to get this done. Here are a few indicators that your local church is ripe and ready to plant another church.
You have more leaders than you need
The call to church planting primarily and initially calls for a pool of leaders who will head the work. Everything we do rises and falls on leadership. Unless there is a strong pool of leaders who will go, as well as a strong pool of leaders who will be left behind to continue the current work of the sending church, there is no readiness for church planting.
There is someone called to lead the plant
Every church planter needs a lead pastor, and we cannot just put a lead pastor for the sake of having one. A lead church planter is not just assigned by man, but also called by God. Unless He is called by God, there is little to no chance that the work will flourish.
You have maxed out your services and discipleship
Not all church plants are cross-country or cross-state. Your church could easily transplant a church just across town. Leaders do this when a current venue is maxed out and there is a need to acquire more space for more harvest. Instead of shutting down and reopening a bigger space, it's actually more practical to launch a new venue and continue the existing one.
God opens a door in another location
When God opens a door, no one can shut it. If God gives you a venue, a city and a heart to reach that specific community, that's God's go signal to go. Church planting is a great way to get Jesus as close as He can to as many communities as possible.
