A few weeks ago, I began an ongoing series of a few qualities I would consider a necessity in planting a Gospel-Centered Church. You can catch the first two posts HERE and HERE if you missed them.
Today, I want to briefly tackle another one on my list – a strong doctrinal foundation.
Because of the diversity of the readership of this blog, what individual readers would put on this list might vary. So I want to give you some handles and general categories of things that a man needs to have nailed down before planting a church.
I will also share briefly how I try to help them do so in our local church.
The most helpful way I have found to talk about these issues comes from my friend, Mark Driscoll. He speaks of doctrines being broken into CLOSED and OPEN HANDED ISSUES.
CLOSED HANDED ISSUES are the cardinal doctrines of the faith (God, Jesus, Bible, Salvation, etc.). In these kinds of issues, there must be accuracy and clarity from Scripture and unity with one’s sending church and organization. Most denominations or networks lay those out clearly in a document that all their planters must be in line with.
OPEN HANDED ISSUES are the secondary issues of the faith (Spritual gift issues, end times positions, etc.). While a man certainly needs to stake out a position on these issues, there is usually a degree of latitude on these.
One thing needs to be said — it needs to be made clear up front, preferably in writing, which issues fall into each category.
Since I am currently in a Southern Baptist, Acts 29 Church, I do this with my planters by using the BFM 2000 and the Acts 29 Doctrinal Statement which clearly delineate what the “closed handed” issues are for each network. Most of you could draw documentation from your own networks that would suffice, I presume.
In addition, I also take my men (and any other men in our church who are up for it) through selected readings from Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology and a whole host of mp3s, articles and books. You can check out those required items under the Gospel and Reading Lists tabs above. We are currently in the process of updating the other tabs with other content we require, but that will get you started.
To equip and assess men in these areas, we have monthly meetings for teaching, cohort learning, and lots of conversations over coffee to figure out where guys are and what further development is needed. We are also in the process of formulating a more objective / essay / verbal essay test module to aid in this process.
Of course, there’s plenty more I could say, but that’s enough to get us started.
For those who have already planted, what kind of equipping helped for you?
For those who haven’t planted yet, what would help you?
