Village Church Planting Foundations

Hello everybody, my name is Dean Davis and this is “Multiply,” the podcast that

provides a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

When we talk about Village Church Planting, some people begin to imagine that

planting churches in villages must be very different from planting churches in

cities or even towns. And it’s true, villagers have a different lifestyle than

people who live in cities. City people use a clock and a calendar to plan their

lives. Villagers use the sun and the coming of rainy season to plan their

activities.

So as village church planters, we fit our gospel presentation and our disciple

making activities to life in the village. But the heart of Village Church Planting

is not the culture or lifestyle of villagers. The heart of Village Church Planting

is obedience to Christ and his seven basic commandments. Jesus says “Repent

and believe the Good News.” So we repeat this command of Christ to villagers.

We explain the Good News in ways they can understand. Yes, we use the Jesus

Film and Bible stories and drama and dance and song. But what is really

important is that we share the Good News widely and that we tell it well. What

is really important is that we make disciples of Christ.

Jesus teaches us to love our neighbors as ourselves. So we express his love in

word and deed. We model the way for others to also share his love.

Jesus tells us to baptize. And so we do. We take care that baptism is not just a

form or a rite that new believers participate in. We patiently and clearly

explain the meaning of baptism, (the water that cleanses our bodies the way

the blood of Jesus cleanses our heart from sin). Village Church Planters make it

clear to those whom we baptize that baptisms does not save us; Jesus saves us.

We teach that receiving baptisms is a meaningful way Jesus wants us to

identify with him, our Savior and Lord.

Village Church Planters prepare their church members to receive the Lord’s

Supper because Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” We help

believers focus on Jesus, his body broken for us on the cross and his blood shed

for the forgiveness of our sins. We use the Lord’s Supper as an opportunity to

build up faith and to find grace and strength to live for Christ.

We help believers learn to pray and feed on the word of God the Bible. We do

this because Jesus tells us to and because we want to help villagers find

spiritual power to follow Christ and experience his loving presence in their

lives.

Our churches learn to give generously in order to fulfill Jesus’ Great

Commission to make disciples everywhere and especially in African villages that

do not have churches. Loving obedience to Christ is the foundation on which

Village Church Planting stands. May God give you grace today to love him more.

And may the churches you plant grow stronger day by day as they are

empowered by the Holy Spirit to obey Christ and his commands.

.This has been “Multiply.” And I’m Dean Davis asking, “Who will you share this

encouraging word with today?

#EncouragementForVillageChurchPlanters #SevenCommandsOfChrist