Make Church Planters Heroes: Good Advice for Anglicans Too

Ed Stetzer, vice president of research and ministry development at LifeWay Christian Resources, exhorted about 180 North American Mission Board employees to "be known as the entity that stands with young church planters, even when they make stupid mistakes."

At the invitation of NAMB President Kevin Ezell, Stetzer spoke at the mission board in mid-March, drawing from his most recent book, "Viral Churches: Helping Church Planters Become Movement Makers," coauthored with Warren Bird, research director at the Dallas-based Leadership Network.

Stetzer used Ephesians 3:10 as his scriptural base in his three-hour presentation. He noted that "while there's no verse in the Bible that says, 'Thou shall plant churches,' the New Testament church was a church-planting church. It was their practice. Asking the early Christians to plant churches is like asking water to be wet.

"God didn't choose art or music or even mission agencies to plant churches. He chose the church. Churches planting churches -- through multiplication, not addition -- is the key."

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