Church Planting: The Practice of Making and Gathering Disciples of Jesus Christ

April 22, 2014.

After many years since God first called us to plant--with shaping and growth through seminary, working with other church planters, serving on staff at Risen Life Church, and now engaging in a doctoral program for more training--my wife and I are taking some large steps on our church-planting journey.  We're leading and hosting a group with the hope that God will prepare all of us to plant one or more churches as well as equip others saints the work of ministry. 

What's church planting?  That's a good question and often loaded with tons of baggage and buzzwords.  So I'll simply define it at this:  Church planting is the lifestyle of making disciples of Jesus Christ and then gathering them into a group who has committed or covenanted together to be a church and function accordingly.

Presently, we meet on Monday nights in our home, affectionately dubbed the Barnabas House. (It's the church parsonage and ministry home that serves a gathering place of Christians as an extension of Risen Life Church in Salt Lake City, Utah.)  

The Barnabas House Community Group is mostly made up of Christians, most of whom are connected to Risen Life Church although neither of these things are a requirement. Over the next several months the group meeting at the Barnabas House will be discussing, equipping, and exploring what it means to follow and live Christ-centered lives in a broken world. We want to learn how we can better love and serve Christ, love people in our community, and make disciples of Christ. 

All are welcomed to come and fellowship, discuss, and worship as we explore what it might look like for disciples to make disciples and gather them together into a new church or churches. Whether you are a Christian interested in discovering what church planting looks like, or seeking to become more equipped to reach others in your daily walk with God, please feel free to join us. Or maybe you are curious what it means to follow the Jesus of the Bible and just want to know what faith in Christ looks like – you too are invited to join us!

If you're on Facebook, you can find more info here: https://www.facebook.com/thebarnabashouse.  You may contact me with your questions or comments, or you can likely find some of us at Risen Life Church.

It is our prayer that The Barnabas House will be a place filled with the Holy Spirit. As we seek to know God better and love him more, we hope to grow in our relationship with God, other believers, and the lost. We pray that many are added to the Lord because of our faithfulness and pray that we are equipped for ministry as well as able to equip other saints for ministry. The Barnabas has been an encouragement to many and we hope those who have been encouraged will be an encouragement to others.