Planting Churches among the City's Poor - Volume 1

284 • P LANTING C HURCHES AMONG THE C ITY ’ S P OOR : V OLUME 1

common language to use in discussing what may be very different types of church plants.

The most essential point about the PLANT model is this: It is a way to organize the BIBLICAL pattern. In other words, this is not “ World Impact’s way of doing church planting ” but rather World Impact’s way of describing how Pauline cross-cultural church planting is done.

Notice that while the nature of the task is defined by the PLANT acrostic, the way of accomplishing those goals is left open . . .

No model, whether circular or linear, will ever fully approximate reality. It helps us in our thinking and planning but it has limitations. Some things to remember while using the PLANT model include . . .

II. Key Issues for Team Leaders to Oversee

One of the key responsibilities of a church-plant team leader is knowing what questions to ask about their team at each stage of the church-planting process.

Have we met the basic PREPARE requirements? • Is the team recruited and a team leader identified? • Has a target area or people group been chosen?

• Will the church plant team be involved in any partnerships for the planting of this church? If so, which partnership model (one, two, three or four) will be followed? See Models of World Impact Associations: Range of Partnership Responses. • If a partnership model is used, has a partnership agreement been written and agreed to by both parties? • Has an MTL (Multiple Team Leader) been assigned to oversee the team? • Has the team undergone the required training and received certification? • Do the team members understand their roles (core, support, or volunteer) and what their primary tasks are? • Do we have a plan for learning about the people and the culture we are called to serve among? • Do we have a plan for the worship life of our church plant team?