Church Planting Models

There are a variety of Church Planting Models. If you think you don’t fall into one of these, you’re probably ignorant or arrogant. I wanted to break the mold when I started planting. Then, I realized that God uses all of them. All these models, correctly or incorrectly assume that the planter is gospel focused. My hope is that, by laying these out, you will get a sense of where you are and how you might need to correct in the planting process to plant a better church, to cultivate a more missional people.

  1. Program-driven: mission by program, by generation
    Southern Baptist Churches
  2. Purpose-driven: mission by purpose, by paradigm
    Saddleback Churches
  3. Community-driven: mission by people, by relationship
    House, Cell, Missional Communities
  4. Seeker-sensitive: mission by profile, by target group
    Willow Creek Churches
  5. Ministry-driven: mission by mission, by ministry
    Community Development, Evangelistic/Gatherables

Which do you identify with and why? Are all of the models missional? In what sense?


[1] Adapted from The Church Planting Village, North American Mission Board: http://www.churchplantingvillage.net/site/c.iiJTKZPEJpH/b.784555/k.D77/Church_Design_Models.htm