Planting Fast Growing Churches review

Earlier, I told you about a book Bro. Marion Reed sent me, titled "Planting Fast Growing Churches" by Stephen Gray.

I found the book to be helpful in reminding us that mission work is a high calling of God, and we are to approach it seriously, remembering why we are there and working hard to reach as many people as possible.

The book gave valuable pointers, such as recommending that missionaries be trained, well funded, not over-funded, and be able to serve on the field full-time.

While I reject the notion that a church must launch with 100 members in order to be a viable fast-growing church, I do believe a lot of planning and effort needs to go into the first services for a church, and those services need to be flanked by ministries that meet the needs of the community.

I have already been working toward the direction mentioned in the book, but will consider adjusting my plan to allow for a better-planned launch service. Prayerfully, God will bless these efforts.

Planting fast growing churches

This book was sent to me by Bro. Marion Reed, secretary-treasurer of the Missionary Baptist Association of Texas. I have read four chapters so far. In what I read, the author gives his testimony with his first church plant, and compares data from fast-growing church plants and stagnant church plants.

His premise is that church plants should launch with 100 members (the "Launch Team" should consist of 100 people) and if a church plant does not reach 200 attendees in three years, it never will. He did say that his data and goals applied to towns with populations of 30,000 or more, so Mission: Brownwood is off the hook. However, it is our prayer and plan to work hard so that the Lord will bless us with a fast growing church. Hopefully, I'll be able to use some of the tactics from this book to help reach that goal.