Details for Church Planting

If you had the opportunity to plant a brand new church, what would it look like? What are the personnel and resources required? How does a new church meet the needs of its community? What characteristics and personal stamina are required? Students undertaking this unit will explore the essential need for new churches. It will assist students to develop a church-planting toolkit, by standing on the shoulders of key church planting practitioners, proven principles in the academic literature on entrepreneurship as well as wider historical-biblical-theological foundations of why we should plant churches.

The unit Church Planting is part of the subject area Ministry and is offered as a part of the following Awards: Bachelor of Applied Theology (Korean) (Alphacrucis College (NSW Dept. of Education)), Bachelor of Contemporary Ministry (Alphacrucis College (NSW Dept. of Education)).

Unit Content

Curriculum Objective

This course unit provides insight into biblical, historical and contemporary models of church planting, as well as the social and spiritual dynamics of church planting in Australia.

Subject Content

1. Pentecost, Ecclesia and Evangelism in early Christianity
2. The Biblical Models of Growing Churches
3. The Queensland Experience: 1974-1994
4. Church Planting in Global Perspective
5. Establishing Pentecostal Churches in a Shifting Australian Culture: Problems and Promise
6. Church planting and urban ministry
7. Discussions with recent church planters’ experiences after various time frames
8. Planting and growing successful churches

This course may be offered in the following formats

Lectures, group projects, tutorial papers presented by students, church proposal and report.

Please consult your course prospectus or enquire about how and when this course will be offered next at Alphacrucis College.

Assessment Methods

Major Essay (40%, 2000 words); Church Planting Strategy (40%, 2000 words); Interview and Report (20%, 1000 words)

Prescribed Text

Stetzer, E. Planting Missional Churches. Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2006.

Representative References

• Black, A.W (ed.). Religion in Australia. St Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin, 1991.
• Cartledge, D.Church Planters’ Manual. rev. ed. Chester Hill, N.S.W.: Paraclete, 1996.
• Conn, H.M. Planting and Growing Urban Churches. Grand Rapids, MI.: Baker House, 1996.
• Hesselgrave, D. Planting Churches Cross-Culturally. Grand Rapids, MI.: Baker House, 1980.
• Hughes, P.J. The Pentecostals in Australia. Canberra, ACT, Australian Government Publishing Service, 1996.
• Kaldor, P. Shaping the Future. Adelaide, SA.:Openbook, 1997.
• Malphurs, A. Planting Churches for the 21st Century. Grand Rapids, MI.:Baker House, 1998.
• Murray, S. and Kraybill, J.N. Church Planting. Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press,2001.
• Wagner, C.P. Church Planting for a Greater Harvest. Glendale, C.A.: Regal Press, 1990.