Training a Church Planter

Part 1

Recently, I was asked by Parkwood Baptist Church out of Gastonia, North Carolina to do a little consulting work for them.   Several years ago they accepted the call to become a Church Planting Strategist Church for the International Mission Board and their people group is the Maya-Chorti of Western Honduras.   You might know the Maya-Chorti because they were recently in the news because they were the actual indigenous people who created the Maya calendar a few thousand years ago, which had so many people around the world worrying about the end of all time.   It was interesting to me that the Maya-Chorti weren't worried at all, but they did see it as a money making opportunity, but I digress.

So let me return to the reason for this post.  Parkwood found a national church planter, who was named Edgardo.   Edgardo is a good Christian man, father and would really like to help his people -- the Maya-Chorti, but Edgardo never had the opportunity of formal training.   He never had a church to attend that taught Sunday school.   He never had the opportunity to be mentored by a pastor, or a Christian mother who knew Jesus for real.   What Edgardo did have was a personal testimony of receiving Jesus Christ into his heart, and the opportunity to observe some other real Christians who tried to live correctly.  And Edgardo asked Parkwood for training, and so I entered into Parkwood's plan.   Specifically they asked me to train him for one week.   I asked them what should I train him do.   They really didn't know.   So I asked, "does he need spiritual-doctrinal training?"  Yes, was the answer.   I asked, "Does he need technical training?"  And again the answer was yes.   Well, from years of doing this type thing I knew that I probably ought to just start at the beginning of it all -- "Following Jesus," and then go somewhere from there.   So I also prepared to teach him what should be the next step for any follower of Christ: "Reaching People Jesus' Way."

When I met Edgardo we talked for a little while and got to know each other a little bit.   We shared testimonies.   We traded funny stories, and then we began with "Following Jesus."   Edgardo stopped me after about 4 minutes and said, "This is real nice, but I have some questions."    And my week drastically changed.   His questions on day one were very practical: 
1) What is the difference between a disciple and an apostle?
2) If a lady is living with a man who is not her husband and they have children together, but he has not yet believed, but she has, should I baptize her?
3) How can I share the Gospel when there are so many socio-economic needs to handle?
4) What do I do when I don't know what to do?

We spent about 5 hours talking through those questions, and I realized what Edgardo needed, and it wasn't what I was prepared to do, so we talked that afternoon where we needed to go for tomorrow's discussion, and we developed together 5 questions for day 2.
1) How does a missionary know where to go?
2) What is the definition of success for a missionary?
3) With all the socio-medical-economic needs that you see how do you know where to start?
4) When does a missionary know when the help you give hurts more than it helps?
5) When does a missionary know when the work is done and it is time to go?

The questions for our final day arose out of what we both sensed he had to have immediately, and we discussed at length just 2 topics: 
1) Ordination, what is it; what does it mean to the one being ordained; what does it mean to the ones watching the ordination; and I then explained a standard Baptist process for the ordination.
2) How to develop a strategy plan that will reach the lost Maya-Chorti, plant multiplying churches, and leave an economically self-sustainable community.  

Edgardo had some great questions, and we had greater discussions.   I never gave him an answer, except really on our final day together when we discussed the two topics, but rather we talked through them.   You see I wanted him to figure out how to answer his questions when there is no one around he trusts.    I originally posted these questions as an update for the folks who were interested in my journey through FaceBook, and several people wanted me to answer those questions, and then discuss them, so my next several blogs will tackle each question one at a time.   I do look forward to the discussions that follow.

Blessings,
Steve