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Apostolic Church Planting: Birthing New Churches from New Believers Paperback – October 22, 2015
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Church planting is not just about gathering new communities of people who are already Christians. In the book of Acts, church plants begin with sharing the gospel. Planting churches flows naturally out of making disciples. Pastor J. D. Payne explains the process and stages of church planting, with biblical foundations and practical steps for planting teams. He provides a pathway for the multiplication of disciples, leaders and churches. Here are church planting strategies and activities that are simple, highly reproducible and can be implemented by ordinary team members, not just by charismatic leaders. This guide can be used for planting in contexts among any given people group, domestically or internationally. It is an ideal resource for teams to work through together as they follow God's call in their community.
- Print length128 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherIVP Books
- Publication dateOctober 22, 2015
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.5 x 8.25 inches
- ISBN-100830841245
- ISBN-13978-0830841240
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Since 1947, InterVarsity Press (IVP) has been publishing thoughtful Christian books that shape both the lives of readers and the cultures they inhabit. Throughout these seventy-five years, our books and authors have established a legacy of speaking boldly into important cultural moments, providing timeless tools for spiritual growth, and equipping Christians for a vibrant life of faith.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"No American alive today has seen church growth keep pace with US population growth. This reality seems to suggest we should stop doing church planting our way. J. D. points back to the simple biblical cycle designed to multiply. Grasping this cycle demands we wrestle with serious questions: Can new churches be formed from new believers? Can new pastors develop and emerge from within new churches? Can faithful church planting include an exit to leave new churches to develop on their own? J. D. Payne not only defends the potential of such notions, he demonstrates the biblical expectation that church planting be done this way."
-- Nathan Shank, church planting catalyst in Asia, coauthor of The Four Fields of Kingdom Growth"Church planting is not a new concept to many, even in North America. However, the idea of apostolic church planting will be new and novel to many. The idea of teams who start with evangelism, allow those they reach to become a body of believers, focus on growing leaders and do all of this with an eye to leaving represents an old-new idea―old as the New Testament, new to us. In a nation that is increasingly hostile to the things of Christ, J. D.'s work is a much-needed call back to a biblical pattern of seeing the church take root among people who do not know him. If you are looking for biblical and practical help in how to mobilize teams of people for church planting, this book is a wonderful resource."
-- Van Kicklighter, associate executive director, church planting team, Illinois Baptist State Association"In this excellent work, J. D. Payne draws from his experience as a practitioner in the roles of church planter, sponsoring church mission pastor and planter coach to provide timely wisdom for those who are about to begin or are already traversing the church planting journey. Writing as a practitioner, his insights are practical and relevant. As a leading missiologist, his wisdom is well-grounded and trustworthy. In this book, Payne addresses some specific issues not covered in his earlier book, Discovering Church Planting. These two books should be tattered from use, highlighted, dog-eared and at the fingertips of every person leading any church planting endeavor."
-- Mark Custalow, church planting strategist, central east and southeast Virginia, Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia"In a concise and readable manner, J. D. Payne has written a foundational book for church planters. Whether ministering in North America or around the globe, this is a must-read for anyone who is called to plant churches. For veteran church planters, it could serve as a useful reminder of, and perhaps as an encouragement to recalibrate, the principles of their church-planting ministry."
-- James Kim, executive director, Pioneers Canada"Church planting must always be grounded in evangelism―reaching people who are not yet Christians with the gospel. When church planting degenerates into gathering disaffected Christians or otherwise reshuffling the already-converted into new congregational forms, it really isn't church planting at all! This book clearly articulates a model of true church planting and calls us to fulfill its biblical mandate. Read it and be challenged!"
-- Jeff Iorg, president, Golden Gate Seminary"Many church planters who would say they follow the apostles' methods fail to see churches multiply as the apostles did. They must read J. D. Payne's Apostolic Church Planting! He graciously points out the shortcomings of conventional church plants in a way that does not appear 'anti,' untying the usual knotty problems and simplifying common complications. I love his phrase, 'Plant the church that is, not the church to come.' Had I read that when I was young, I'd have avoided years of foolishly trying to birth mature churches! You will find these gems throughout the book, but brace yourself to face challenges from Scripture, field experience and testimonies of a healthy number of highly effective practitioners."
-- George Patterson, church multiplier, author of Church Multiplication Guide, Come Quickly Dawn and Train and Multiply"J. D. Payne strategically shows how sustainable and sanctified apostolic church planting (churches birthed from disciple making) is actually simple, and he skillfully does so without being simplistic."
-- Tom Steffen, emeritus professor of intercultural studies, Cook School of Intercultural Studies, Biola University"Apostolic Church Planting is less like a how-to manual and more like a clinician's guidebook. It deals with the theology and theory of church planting as well as the practical steps involved. Few missiologists could have written it, but J. D. Payne is one of them. All who are in any way involved in church planting should study this book to be informed. All should read it to be refreshed."
-- David J. Hesselgrave, professor emeritus of mission, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School"Though a rather short book, Payne covers nearly everything you could want to know about evangelism that leads to new churches, from a definition of church planting to ecclesiology to training team members to a description of the stages of church planting and beyond. It's both thorough in scope and thoroughly biblical. . . . Payne gives you a simple, highly reproducible and extensively biblical approach for planting new churches among the planet's most unreached people groups."
-- Tobin Perry, On Mission, Spring 2016Review
"Apostolic Church Planting is less like a how-to manual and more like a clinician's guidebook. It deals with the theology and theory of church planting as well as the practical steps involved. Few missiologists could have written it, but J. D. Payne is one of them. All who are in any way involved in church planting should study this book to be informed. All should read it to be refreshed."
-- David J. Hesselgrave, professor emeritus of mission, Trinity Evangelical Divinity SchoolAbout the Author
J. D. Payne (PhD, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) serves as the pastor of church multiplication for The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama. He has pastored churches in Kentucky and Indiana and served as a seminary professor. His books include Discovering Church Planting, Evangelism, Missional House Churches and Strangers Next Door. He and his wife, Sarah, and their three children live in Birmingham, Alabama.
Product details
- Publisher : IVP Books (October 22, 2015)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 128 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0830841245
- ISBN-13 : 978-0830841240
- Item Weight : 5.4 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #201,860 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

J. D. is Professor of Christian Ministry at Samford University. Before joining the faculty, he served as the pastor of church multiplication with The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama. He was also 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.
J. D. is originally from Corbin, Kentucky, and came to faith in Jesus as a teenager. 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.
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)
Developing a Strategy for Missions: A Biblical, Historical, and Cultural Introduction (Baker Academic, co-authored with John Mark Terry)
Missionary Methods: Research, Reflections, and Realities (William Carey Library, co-edited with Craig Ott)
To the Edge: Reflections on Kingdom Leadership, Mission, and Innovation (CreateSpace)
Apostolic Church Planting: Birthing New Churches from New Believers (InterVarsity Press)
Roland Allen's The Ministry of Expansion: The Priesthood of the Laity (William Carey Library, edited)
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 jd.payne@samford.edu and found on Twitter @jd_payne. He blogs at jdpayne.org and hosts the podcast "Strike the Match with J. D. Payne."
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It's a relatively quick read which makes it portable. I bought a copy for everyone on my team.
The strategy for disciple making leading to church planting is laid out in twelve short chapters. In the first chapter “What is Church Planting?” he explains that it means birthing “churches--after disciples are made” (17). So disciple making must be the basis of church planting by first planting a church with a goal of seeing new believer beginning to follow Christ. This is the difference between apostolic church planting and much church planting today.
In chapter two he defines what a church and clears out the baggage Western definition and then he moves to a biblical understanding of a new body of believers.
Chapter three deals with developing a solid church planting team. This reviews suggests you read this chapter before you form a church planting team. Chapters four to six give a pathway, stages, and expected role changes for those involved in church planting.
Chapter seven challenges church planters to not just plant a church but to plant a church that plants churches. This reviewer found some important suggestions in chapter eight which explains methods needed to achieve effective church planting.
Chapter nine gives three guidelines about the question of “where” to plant a new church. The development of pastoral ministry is the subject of chapter ten and chapter eleven helps church planters in the development of a strategy.
The book closes with “ethical guidelines” for church planting in chapter twelve. Payne’s suggestion that the church planting team “should discuss these guidelines (along with any other guidelines you believe should be added to the list)” is advice that you will not want to neglect.
In summary, this book is helpful with regular summaries at the end of each chapter but also because not too long or complicated of a book. Those who want more help can find it in his more detailed work --Discovering Church Planting.
This reviewer encourages church planting teams to read, discuss, and implement what is found in this book to do a more effective job of “apostolic church planting.”
Drawing from his own research and experience, scripture (especially some of Paul’s letters), as well as the experience of career missionaries, and the writings of some of the respected names in the field of Missiology, Payne has put together a brief guide for ‘Birthing” new churches.
Many people who consider planting churches want to take 30 or 40 people from a thriving church, get a building a few blocks away, call a pastor, have some events, and eventually kick off the new church, pretty much a copy of the ‘Mother Church”. Payne’s model for birthing churches is different in that the growth and the leadership of the new church come from within. The original team develops relationships, models appropriate Christian behaviors and disciples the future church leaders. At all stages the new believers are involved and encouraged to take part in the decision making process. A ‘phase out’ plan is in place from day 1, since this process does not allow for a team to arrive onsite and deliberately set out to clone a church that may work in another culture and context. The relationship is built, and there may be ongoing conversations, discipleship and mentoring, but the goal is to offer enough theology and doctrine to help new believers establish new churches. Paul didn’t stay on as the Pastor of the church at Philippi, nor at Colossae, nor at Ephesus. Corinth and Crete also benefited from his teaching, but it is a reasonable guess that none of these churches were exactly like the Jerusalem church.
Payne also plays the devil’s advocate by asking the questions that many people are bound to have, and then offers a logical response. He makes it clear in the intro that this book does not contain all the answers, but he does suggest several resources that are available for the person interested in taking their Christian walk one step further.
Of particular interest to me is that the processes explained here should work just as well in the USA (United States of America) as in the USA (Union of South Africa). I may just have to work through this book with some of the members of our Church Board.
And I bought this book, so don’t have to include the FTC disclaimer.
Great Book! Get yours today. Kingdom growth depends on God, but he uses people like you and me to help.
5/5
Top reviews from other countries

What I like about the book: the idea of a "church planting TEAM" that has as its goal to plant churches in different areas (plant a church for a few years max, then move on). By doing so, the church planting team should get better and better at it.
Now, for the critique part: I've been taught that context is super important to properly understand the Bible. Therefore I'm confused about the first 2 chapters of his book (which are, I believe, foundational). Here are some basic questions that would need to be answered:
- is the model of church planting in the New Testament descriptive or prescriptive?
- is the model of church planting that we can reconstruct from the NT applicable to EVERY cultural context? The author seems to imply that this is not the case but no guidelines are provided. Here are some differences between the church of the NT and the church in many cultural contexts today (including Quebec - the largest unreached people group in N-America, were I live):
a) no christians in the whole city VS churches that can be attended by taking a bus/subway/... for 30 min or less.
b) no knowledge of Christ VS multiple sects that claim to be christian and are actively seeking out members open to Christ.
c) no knowledge of Christ available VS "christian" TV and radio stations, church services accessible via internet, podcasts, etc
d) no knowledge of Christ VS a post-christian population (Paul didn't have to deal with "déjà vu" or "you guys are passé")
e) at least some of the people in the churches planted by Paul included converts from judaism, people familiar with the OT. They already had a base for their faith. This is not the case for many of the contexts where we plant churches today.
- the author seems to imply that we should plant with fairly small teams rather than having a big core of believers starting the church. Why is planting a church starting with a few members VS a lot a virtue? Please note that Paul was often planting churches with a team rather than by himself (which he could have chosen to do as well). If less is better, Paul should have gone alone! My guess is that few people were willing (and capable) of paying the high price that missions across the world involved (and still does). However, church planting 30 minutes away from the mother church is a different story.
- the author argues that pastors, teachers, leaders, etc should emerge from the new church plant. However, is waiting for these pastors to emerge and be productive in the field (without formal training!) while the whole church is under attack from sects, a hostile culture, etc a good idea? Is having people ignorant of Christ, how the church works, knowledge of theology, Bible, original languages, etc a virtue or a handicap? It seems that "recent" revivals (in contexts such as Quebec - back in the '80s) suggest that formal education is still needed although it might need to take a different approach than traditional seminaries (see the approach of SEMBEQ).