Church Planting in England in 2013 and beyond

One of my aims in this blog is to stir up a passion for historic reformed doctrine. Such doctrine is passionately concerned about the church and hence I have being do a mini-series on "The Puritans". The doctrines and vision of the puritans is not an antiquated relic of the past. Why? It is because the truths of Scripture do not change and neither do the basic needs of humanity. Church planting is an in-vogue subject and I have said several times: "I am not interested in church planting, but I am interested in planting the right kind of churches". One of my concerns is that in all that I read concerning church planting, I find little that attracts me.

It seems like pragmatism, evangelism, and contemporary approaches (whatever contemporary means by the way) seems to commonly drive the agenda, instead of sound theological doctrine. Church planting should be committed to sound basic principles, so that they are connected to historic reformed and biblical ecclesiology. These are:

1. A firm commitment to the preaching of sound doctrine
2. Elders are to hold to a reformed confession and ideally the Westminster Standards.
3. Worship that adheres to the regulative principle
4. Government by elders with deacons responsible for practical care and compassion (1 Timothy 3:1ff)
5. The solid care of Christians being a priority

On all these counts the theology of the puritans can help us. The NT has an apostolic pattern for the church's doctrine, worship and church government and this needs to be replicated in every generation.

Church Planting with EPCEW

My own denomination is the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales and we are committed to planting solid reformed churches. If you are interested in this vision, then please contact me, and we would be delighted for you to join with us in this vision. Contact me through the contact page of www.sheffieldpres.org.uk

"This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you" Titus 1:5 Paul sent Titus to Crete to "put what remained into order" and this is needed in every generation, not least in the planting of new churches. We do not want new churches with a disordered or unbiblical model!