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The Process of Developing Healthy Reproducing Churches The Process of Developing Healthy Reproducing Churches

Introduction

All churches which become healthy reproducing churches go through a process of stages in their
development. We might diagram that process as follows:

Developing Healthy Reproducing Churches

Independence

Dependence Interdependence

A process An event A continuing process

That process of moving from dependence to independence is defined very clearly in Acts 14:21-
24. Then the continuing process of interdependence is explained in Acts 16:1-5. These passages
will provide a foundation with the addition of other passages as needed for further explanation.

We see that these passages give us the five stages of development that are common to all of the
main churches in the book of Acts. These five stages are:
I. Initial Contacts
Goal: Evangelism
II. Group Meetings
Goal: Stable Christians
III. Church Beginnings & Leadership Development
Goal: Spiritual Trained Leadership
IV. Church Organization
Goal: Independent Churches
V. Church Extension
Goals: Sending Churches
Sister Churches

Three cities are mentioned in these verses. Those cities are Iconium, Lystra and Derbe. A Jew-
ish synagogue was located in Iconium but no mention is made of a synagogue in either Lystra or
Derbe which means that there were less than ten Jewish families in either of those cities. Paul
and Barnabas began preaching in the synagogue in Iconium (14:1) but they began by preaching
in a public meeting place in the other two cities (14:7, 14:21).

The first thing that we notice is that the team of Paul and Barnabas viewed their ministry as a re-
gional ministry and not just a local ministry. Iconium was 18 miles from Lystra and Derbe was
40 miles the opposite direction from Lystra which meant that it was nearly 60 miles from one
end of this region to the other. This meant that Paul and Barnabas began with the plan to start
several churches in this area and not just one. It also meant that they had to immediately begin
1 preparing the Christians for their absence since Paul and Barnabas had to leave town quickly
from both Iconium and Lystra due to persecution.

Some of the following things are mentioned about the establishing of churches in these three cit-
ies.
1. The team preached the Gospel - 14:1, 7, 21
2. There was a great response from both Jews and Greeks - 14:1, 14:21
3. There was both immediate and continuing opposition - 14:2, 5, 19
4. There was teaching of those who had believed - 14:3, 14:21-22
5. There was movement between the various cities (planned absences) - 14:6, 14:20, 14:21,
14:24
6. The team focused on making disciples - 14:21
7. The team focused on strengthening the souls of the disciples - 14:22
8. The team focused on encouraging the disciples to continue in the faith - 14:22
9. The team prepared the disciples for persecution - 14:22
10. The team appointed elders in every church- 14:23
11. The team prayed with fasting for those elders and churches - 14:23
12. The team commended them to the Lord on whom they believed - 14:23
13. The team left town and visited other areas - 14:24-26
14. The team returned some time later - 16:1-5
15. The team selected Timothy to join the church planting team for other areas - 16:2-3
16. The team left behind churches that were continuing to multiply - 16:5
17. The team returned some time later to strengthen the disciples - 18:23

One of the key things to notice is that the focus was on making disciples and the development of
churches was the natural result. Today we often find that the focus is on having a traditional
church program with little or no effort to make disciples. That is like putting the cart before the
horse. Our commission is to make disciples and the result of making disciples is that churches
develop. Our commission is not to plant church programs with the hope that disciples will re-
sult. With these thoughts as a background, let us look at what begins to happen at each stage of
the development of a church.

Stages of Development of a Church

Stage One

When Christ first began His ministry, He invited people to Come and See - John 1:35-46. He
was inviting people to learn about Him and get to know Him. This stage in the ministry of
Christ lasted about a year as He spent time with many people and invited many people to follow
Him. He was building relationships with them and introducing them to Himself. Whenever we
are spending time with people, building relationships with them and introducing them to Christ,
we are doing what Christ did during the year after He gave that call to Come and See.

When a work is a stage one work, the primary focus is on preaching the Gospel and leading peo-
ple to Christ. This is clearly seen as the beginning stage in every place - Acts 2:37-41, Acts 8:1,
2 4, Acts 8:5, Acts 8:35, Acts 10:34-45, Acts 11:19-21, Acts 13:5, Acts 13:15-49, Acts 14:1, 7,
21, Acts 16:13-14, 25-34, Acts 17:1-3, Acts 17:11-12, Acts 17:16-34, Acts 18:4-8, Acts 19:1-
10. By looking at these passages, we see that if a work is still a Stage One work, the primary
job is preaching the Gospel and leading people to Christ. If we focus on some other thing
(building buildings, holding services, childrens work or some other thing), we will be trying to
start on the wrong foundation. If we are at stage one in a church planting ministry, we might
want to ask ourselves the following questions:

1. Are we regularly making contacts with people where they live, work and spend their free
time to build relationships for the purpose of sharing the Gospel?
2. Are we regularly praying for and sharing the Gospel with those that we have met?
3. As people show an interest, are we meeting with them regularly for an evangelistic Bible
study to help them learn to search the Scripture to find answers to their questions (Acts 17:11-
12)?
4. As people begin to place their trust in Christ, are we regularly meeting with them in their
homes for Bible study and fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer?
5. Are we helping those who place their trust in Christ to begin praying for the salvation of
their relatives (John 1:39-42), friends (John 1:43-46), co-workers (Matthew 9:9-10) and neigh-
bors and other acquaintances (Mark 1:30-33)?
6. Are we going with those who have become Christians to share the Gospel with these
relatives, friends, co-workers, neighbors and other acquaintances?

Stage One and Two

About a year after Christ began His ministry, He gave a second call to those He had invited to
spend time with Him over the previous year. In Mark 1:17 Christ said, Come after me, and I
will make you become fishers of men. This was His second call and was a call to Come and
Grow. At this point Christ is beginning to develop the team that will plant and establish the
first church in Jerusalem and from there to the ends of the earth. During this period the disciples
were going to participate with Christ in addition to observing Him. Again this was a call to a
larger group than just the twelve and probably included the seventy and the hundred and twenty.
The focus of this period of ministry was that they were going to grow and learn how to share the
gospel with others. This required a different emphasis in ministry because now Christ began to
focus more on the disciples.

As soon as the first individuals become Christians and we start to gather them together for Bible
study, a work becomes a stage one and two work. The preaching of the Gospel must continue
in every stage or a church starts to die. However, as soon as there are Christians, it is time to
begin follow-up Bible studies with the new Christians. Acts 2:41-42 tells us, Then those who
gladly received his wo