The Evangel Dean School - Developing Wisdom

112 • T he E vangel D ean S chool : D eveloping W isdom , C onviction , and P erspective in C hurch P lant T eams

The Heartbeat of a Church Planter: Discerning an Apostolic/Pastoral Identity , continued

ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

C. What is the relationship between assuming leadership and creating consensus in your leading of a church plant team?

1. The church plant team leader challenges his/her team and others to follow him/her as s/he follows Christ .

1 Cor. 11.1 (ESV) – Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

2. The church plant team leader must live by his/her conviction under the direction of the Lord Jesus , not by the opinions, whims, and threats of others. Gal. 1.10-12 (ESV) – For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 3. As a creator of community, however, the apostolic church plant team leader seeks to help each member identify their gifts, discover their burdens, and utilize their resources to contribute to the planting of a healthy assembly of disciples . Eph. 4.11-16 (ESV) – And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every