NORTH WAKE CHURCH PLANT Partnerships
Why Do We Plant Churches?
The ultimate purpose of life is the worship and glorification of God. We plant churches to bring about the worship of our glorious God. Church planting flows out of our core belief that the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; that He is to be feared above all gods (Psalm 96:4)! When we gather as the church, our purpose is to fulfill and fuel the mission we were created for: to spread the glory and worship of God among all peoples (Psalm 67:3-4).
From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible tells the story of God's love for His children and His rescue of them. Jesus came announcing the good news of His Kingdom and taught that this Kingdom would spread to all nations by means of His church. In Matthew 28:19-20, the risen Jesus commands and commissions His church to continue His mission of rescue when He says:
All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
North Wake seeks to be a fellowship of mature and ministering worshipers of God who are actively engaging the world around us with the gospel—taking it next door, across our community, and to the ends of the earth. When we plant churches, we participate in the mission of God by spreading the good news of Christ and His Kingdom come on earth.
What is Church Planting?
Church Planting is simply the sending and multiplication of the church in fulfillment of the Great Commission. Church multiplication methods are informed by the gospel when the church is sent out into the culture to bring God’s grand story of redemption to bear upon new cultures, people groups, and cities. Gospel methodologies always move the church outward in order to take the gospel to the lost, make disciples, and baptize them. Therefore, the church must be continually working toward multiplication; for multiplication is the proper outcome of the gospel mission.
We believe that the church must take seriously her communal responsibility to protect and proclaim the gospel to all generations and cultures. This can only take place, writes Leslie Newbigin:
By movements that begin with the local congregation in which the reality of the new creation is present, known, experienced, and from which men and women will go into every sector of public life to claim it for Christ, to unmask the illusions which have remained hidden and to expose all areas of public life to the illumination of the gospel. But that will only happen as and when local congregations renounce an introverted concern for their own life, and recognize that they exist for the sake of those who are not members, as sign, instrument, and foretaste of God’s redeeming grace for the whole life of society.[1]
How Do We Plant Churches?
Our strategy is to send the church out to engage others with the gospel, to start new works, plant churches, and partner with other believers around the world to accomplish God's mission. It is our desire to worship God by reaching those around us and around the world with the good news of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:3-11)!
North Wake believes that the local church is to be a missionary body focused on identifying, calling, training, and sending qualified men and women into the field. This is especially important when it comes to the men identified as possible church planting elders. Therefore, NWC has developed a one-year residency where qualified elders with a passion for church planting can spend a year focused on the multiplication process.
The North Wake Church Planting Residency is one of the final stages of a greater leadership development process (see Leadership Development Process and Internships) and is broken into five stages: the assessment stage, the city stage, the financial stage, the organizational stage, and the finalization stage. Each of these stages gives a general time line, but they are designed to overlap and to be highly organic in nature.
During each stage of the residency the Church Planting Resident (CPR) will engage in a module led by a NW elder and guest church planter. These Modules are designed as multi-day intensives partnering CPR’s with church planters from around the country and NW elders. Each module has a specific emphasis, an aggressive schedule (making the most of relational and instructional time), and a set of learning objectives.
A time of congregational affirmation, elder guidance, and the sending of the church through a commissioning service conclude the Residency. However, though the residency ends the multiplication process doesn’t—by the grace of God it will endure through a family of churches focused together on fulfilling the Great Commission.
Dr. Jeff Doyle, Former Leadership Pastor-North Wake Church
[1] Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society, 232–33.