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Pioneering Church Planting Movements

By Younoussa Djao

Another characteristic of the person of peace who will play a role in reaching the area or the people group is that he or she has influence in the community, bad or good. For example, in John 4, the Samaritan woman had a bad testimony and influence in the village; however, she happened to be the person of peace and opened up her community to salvation. Another example is Cornelius in Acts 10; he had a good testimony and influence in the community and he happened to be a person of peace and opened up his family and household to salvation.

IV. Either Do Your Ministry through the Person of Peace or Leave
When a person of peace is not found in a community or an area, Jesus said to not do anything—to just leave. It means that it is not a place where Jesus is about to visit; God is not at work there; it is not God’s time for that place. Leave, pray more, and plan to come back later.

Sometimes a missionary will spend years in one place without seeing anyone interested in what he or she has to say or do. We spiritualize that by saying he or she is sowing and someone else will come and harvest. After some time, maybe up to six months, if we don’t discover a person of peace, we should leave, visit other places, looking for the person of peace.

When the person of peace is found, the church planter becomes his or her shadow. He or she will do ministry through that person and his or her network of relationships in the community: family members, friends, etc. We should avoid as much as possible winning one person at a time, instead focusing on families and affinity groups in the community.

Sometimes among Muslims, Satan will “give” us one family member and keep other family members. In this situation, when we win one, the rest become upset and not only persecute the one, but become even more opposed to the gospel.

The church planter should focus on the other members of the family of the person of peace and also his or her other network of relationships in the community.

The church planter’s agenda, as an outside leader, becomes “model, equip, watch, and leave.”

V. Respond to the Needs: Compassion Ministries
Jesus said, “Heal the sick who are there, and tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God is near you’” (Luke 10:9). Before even giving the word, we should respond to the needs of the community. The best way to show the love of God is to help people in practical ways to meet their needs. This way of showing God’s love opens up communities and gives the church planter the opportunity to look for the person of peace. We have seen communities opening up because a Christian comes in and helps with health issues, schools, seed banks, etc. Hundreds of churches have been started because the love of God for people has been practically showed.

VI. Give the Word of God by Doing Discovery Bible Studies
When we start giving the word of God, our goal should be to make disciples, not converts. In Matthew 20:18-20, Jesus said to make disciples and teach them to obey. A disciple is someone who obeys his or her master. We should do “obedience-based discipleship” and avoid the “knowledge-based discipleship,” where people are filled with knowledge, but their lives have nothing to do with what they know. The level of knowledge should progress with the level of obedience.

Instead of teaching or preaching, doing Discovery Bible Studies helps make obedient disciples. It also helps people see the Bible (not the church planter) as the authority.

The Discovery Bible Study is simple and consists of: (1) reading or listening to the scripture, (2) asking everyone to say it in his or her own words, (3) asking everyone what he or she understands (formulate the truth), and (4) asking everyone how he or she will obey the truth discovered. Because it is a group discussion, there is a group self-correction in the process.

V. Start Churches that Multiply
As the group does the Discovery Bible Studies, the members will discover the truths about God, Jesus, humanity, etc., and come to the conclusion of their need of Christ. Decisions will be made. They will be baptized and organized in communities of disciples (churches). If the church planter works according to the agenda of “model, equip, watch, and leave,” he or she will build the DNA of reproduction in the disciples that will lead to churches that reproduce.