Discovering Church Planting: An Introduction to the Whats, Whys, and Hows of Global Church Planting [Paperback]

J. D. Payne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 4, 2009

In Discovering Church Planting, J. D. Payne explores the biblical, historical and missiological principles of global church planting as well as unfolding practical strategies for confronting contemporary challenges to our vital task in reaching a lost world. This comprehensive introduction to church planting shows the reader how to apply effective, international church planting practices to specific contexts. J. D. speaks from personal experience, research and training and focuses on crucial issues every planter should consider. His well researched and easy to understand concepts are crucial for anyone who takes seriously the call of Scripture to "Declare His glory among the nations and His marvelous deeds to all peoples." CONTENTS Section I: Discovering Biblical and Theological Foundations Section II: Discovering Missiological Principles Section III: Discovering Historical Paradigms Section IV: Discovering Contemporary Issues

Editorial Reviews

Review

Books abound on church planting. Few go into such sweeping and helpful detail. This book sheds great light on what a church ought to be and how it can reach out in church planting. Get it and read it! - Ralph Winter, Founder, U. S. Center for World Mission My only criticism of Paynes' Discovering Church Planting is that it should have been published 50 years ago. - Dr. George Patterson, Co-author Church Multiplication Guide For anyone who wants a good read-this is a clinic in church planting. I highly recommend this book. - Charles Brock, President of Church Growth International J. D. Payne has written the single comprehensive guide to church planting that covers biblical foundations, missiological principles, historical paradigms, and contemporary issues. I see Discovering Church Planting as becoming the textbook for the discipline for years to come. - Thom S. Rainer, President and CEO, LifeWay Christian Resources I wish I had read this book twenty years ago. It will put any church planter light-years ahead. - David Putnam, Co-founder of www.churchplanters.com, Executive Pastor, Mountain Lake Church, Cumming, GA

About the Author

J. D. PAYNE is a National Missionary with the North American Mission Board and Associate Professor of Church Planting and Evangelism at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has written numerous articles and reviews in the area of missions and evangelism and is the author of Missional House Churches: Reaching Our Communities with the Gospel and The Barnabas Factors: Eight Essential Practices of Church Planting Team Members. He is also the founder of the web-based resource northamericanmissions.org. J. D. has served as a pastor and has worked with several church planting teams. He best describes himself as a "Barnabas" to church planters and pastors. His desire is to minister alongside others in order to see them equipped to become all that God desires for them as they multiply disciples, leaders and churches. He is married to Sarah, a physician in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, working part-time at a clinic for uninsured populations in Louisville, Kentucky. They have three young children, Hannah, Rachel, and Joel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 492 pages
• Publisher: Paternoster (August 4, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1606570293
• ISBN-13: 978-1606570296
• Product Dimensions: 1.2 x 5.9 x 8.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,052,784 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

J. D. serves as the pastor of church multiplication with The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama. Prior to moving to Birmingham, J. D. was a National Missionary with the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and an Associate Professor of Church Planting and Evangelism in the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he also directed the Center for North American Missions and Church Planting.

After completing his doctoral studies at the age of twenty-seven, he was invited to serve with the seminary, making him one of the youngest professors in the history of the school. Prior to his arrival at Southern, he taught as an Adjunct Professor at Crossroads Bible College in Indianapolis, Indiana. He holds memberships in the Evangelical Missiological Society and Great Commission Research Network.

He also serves as the Executive Vice President for Administration for the Evangelical Missiological Society.

J. D. is originally from Corbin, Kentucky. After coming to faith in Christ as a teenager, he later surrendered to the ministry while in high school. Following the completion of a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of Kentucky, he later completed a Master of Divinity degree in Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Evangelism and Church Growth from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

He has served as a pastor of five churches in Kentucky and Indiana and has worked with four church planting teams. Over the years he has also served as a coach and mentor to numerous church planters. Rather than seeing himself as the "Apostle Paul-type," he best describes himself as a "Barnabas" to church planters and pastors. His desire is to minister alongside of others in order to see them equipped to become all that God desires for them as they multiply disciples, leaders, and churches.

Over the years, he has written numerous book chapters, articles, and reviews in the area of missions and evangelism and church growth. Some of these writings are available at Northamericanmissions.org.

J. D. is the author of several books:

Missional House Churches: Reaching Our Communities with the Gospel (InterVarsity Press)

The Barnabas Factors: Eight Essential Practices of Church Planting Team Members (CreateSpace)

Discovering Church Planting: An Introduction to the Whats, Whys, and Hows of Global Church Planting (InterVarsity Press)

Evangelism: A Biblical Response to Today's Questions (InterVarsity Press)

Roland Allen: Pioneer of Spontaneous Expansion (CreateSpace)

Kingdom Expressions: Trends Influencing the Advancement of the Gospel (Thomas Nelson)

Strangers Next Door: Immigration, Migration, and Mission (InterVarsity Press)

Pressure Points: Twelve Global Issues Shaping the Face of the Church (Thomas Nelson, forthcoming July 2013)

Developing a Strategy for Missions: A Biblical, Historical, and Cultural Introduction (Baker Academic, co-authored with John Mark Terry, forthcoming August 2013)

J. D. is also co-editing a book with Craig Ott on missionary methods to be published with William Carey in September 2013.

He speaks frequently for churches, conferences, and mission societies. He has desire to see local churches reach their "Jersualems, Judeas, Samarias, and the world" with the gospel. Believing that every believer is supposed to be a "fruit-bearing" disciple in a local church, he is passionate about seeing the Body of Christ grow as local congregations work to carry out the Great Commission.

He is married to Sarah who is a physician in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, working part-time at a clinic for uninsured populations in Birmingham, Alabama. They have three children Hannah, Rachel, and Joel.

J. D. may be contacted at [e-mail] and found on Twitter @jd_payne. He blogs at jdpayne.org.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Philosophy of Church Planting November 14, 2009

By D.J. Williams

Format:Paperback

Last month, I read and reviewed Ed Stetzer's Planting Missional Churches, the first book in my current foray into church planting resources. This week, I just finished reading Discovering Church Planting by J.D. Payne, and it served as a perfect companion piece to Stetzer's work. Much like Stetzer, Payne - who is a Professor of Church Planting at Southern Seminary here in Louisville and an elder at Crossing Church - takes his theological and practical knowledge and looks at the task of church planting from just about every angle imaginable. However, whereas Stetzer's focus was much more deeply rooted in the nuts-and-bolts practical stuff (for example, including chapters on facility selection, financial setup, and church naming), Payne paints with a broader brush, spending more time on the theological and writing what could most accurately be described as a 400-page philosophy of church planting. In short, if Stetzer tells you how, Payne tells you why.

Now admittedly, that's an oversimplification. Just as Stetzer spends time on the theological and biblical underpinnings of planting, so Payne talks through some practical considerations. However, even these chapters are much more philosophically driven. For example, his very helpful chapter "Tentmaking and Church Planting," on bi-vocational planting, explores practical issues of financial support and its entailing stresses but also offers an overarching view on why self-supported planting is often a better way rather than a last resort. He not only says, "Here are the practical outworkings of bi-vocational planting," but also, "Here's what kind of statement bi-vocational planting makes about the gospel...." The way he applies this "big picture" mentality across the spectrum of the planting process was tremendously helpful and has given me a lot of food for thought.

The book is stuffed full of good information. Three historical chapters focusing on Moravian, Methodist, and Baptist planting movements were especially worthwhile reading, and the summary questions and extensive bibliography and notes will be a great resource for further discussion and study. Though, at times that information, one of the book's greatest assets, can be a liability. While great quotes on planting and excerpts from other works litter the book, the way that these items are interspersed and arranged seems a bit disjointed and can often break the flow of the chapter, making the information difficult to process. Payne's writing style, much like Stetzer's, is very simple and straightforward, which makes the book very accessible but not quite as engaging as it could have been. Let me be clear, though - these are minor stylistic quibbles. J.D. Payne has written a book that will be a blessing to church planters the world over and has earned a place in my library right next to Ed Stetzer. Read more ›

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I Was Waiting for This One! December 15, 2009

By D. L. Fruge

Format:Paperback

I was looking for a good book on church planting... I had been a church planter for a year! Before I picked up J.D. Payne's book I wasted a lot of time with other church planting books. After disapointment with many books, I just decided to read sections of the Bible like Acts and 1Timothy for advice on church planting.
Here's what I want you to remember from this: other books talked about gimmicks and tricks to get people into your church, but in the Bible I saw that there was a lot more to church planting than just following "white flight" to the suberbs.
My friend suggested Payne's book, and maybe I took a gamble--but it was worth it!
This book Discovering Church Planting gives you a biblical picture of how and why church planting works. When I read this book I thought, "Here is a man who has been studying those same passages of the Bible for his whole life!"
I guarantee you want this book in your library. If you're a layman, get this book! America is in need of church planters, and this book will help you understand how missionaries are planting churches at home and abroad.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for church planters only December 22, 2009

By Hap C. Jolliff

Format:Paperback

As I recently read this work, I am happy to report in on it for a couple of reasons. One, it is not just for church planters. While church planting is a work that few too many churches are involved in, the considerations that need to be given to planting a church are also considerations that established churches need to revisit. 'Evangelism which results in new churches' is the same evangelism that many of us have lost! So as the book considers church planting from this perspective, it is helpful for established churches. Secondly, the reflection questions are worth reflecting on. Payne does not insist that you agree with him and his methods/models, but does encourage reflection on the issues. Much personal application can be made from reading this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Solid Book on Church Planting from an Experienced Author December 9, 2009

By Dr. Robert J. Vajko VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Payne's almost encyclopedic book on church planting is built the theme of discovery in four main sections: 1) Discovering Biblical and Theological Foundations; 2) Discovering Missiological Principles; 3) Discovering Historical Paradigms, and 4) Discovering Contemporary Issues.

One of the pioneers in training and writing on church planting, David Hesselgrave, states in the foreword that this work is "one of the finest book on church planting to appear in recent years" (xxi).

This reviewer appreciates the fact that Payne does not start with the practice of church planting but rather its biblical and theological foundations. Nevertheless having laid that foundation, he deals with what we can learn about church planting in missiology, history, and then speaks to current issues in church planting.

At the end of each chapter there is a helpful summary, questions for reflection, and a list of important terms discussed in church planting.

This book should be a standard text on church planting for years to come since it deals with the major issues and yet seeks to be practical. How much I wish I would have had a helpful book like this before I started church planting in Europe.

I will be using and recommending this book as I work with church planters in various parts of the world.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Introduction to Church Planting October 23, 2009

By Matthew R. Simmons

Format:Paperback

I am a student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and I read this book for my class Introduction to Church Planting. Of all the books that we read for this class, I can honestly say that this book by far outshined the others. It manages to strike a solid balance of theological and practical material and would be an extremely helpful book for someone looking to get an overarching grasp of the fundamentals of biblical church planting. I spent a summer with a North American Mission Board church planter in Brooklyn, and this book helped prepare and equip me for my time there. Overall, the book is biblically grounded, well-balanced, culturally appropriate, and historically informed. I would highly recommend it!