Is there a correct way to pioneer a church?

"There seems to be no set way which God uses to gather people to form a church"

You’re probably getting the idea by now! The truth is, that while there are techniques and keys to learn there is no one correct way to gather people to start a new church.

The New Testament bears witness to this – we see a variety of methods in operation.

In Jerusalem, we see Peter speaking to a vast crowd, like one of the open-air meetings Wesley and Whitefield spoke at.  In Samaria, mighty miracles were used to get a crowd such as the Jeffries brothers saw in the 1920’s and 30’s. In Athens and Corinth, Paul reasoned in the synagogue, persuading the people who were listening about the truth of the gospel.

In Philippi, Paul went down to the river where a few God-fearers gathered to pray.  In Malta, Paul was shipwrecked and while giving a helping hand was bitten by a snake - and lived! And in Antioch, people were just sharing the gospel with whomever they met.

There seems to be no set way which God uses to gather a group of people to form a church. Down the years, God has used ordinary circumstances as the catalyst for pioneering a church.

James and Betty Taylor, the great-grandparents of missionary Hudson Taylor, took a route that was virtually unheard of in their day, the mid 1700s. Moving to the industrial town of Barnsley, and finding no Christian church there except ones marked by ‘deadness and indifference’, they took matters into their own hands and opened up their own home.

‘And so it came to pass that Betty’s kitchen was swept and garnished, and a few neighbours gathered in for informal meetings. The singing no doubt was an attraction and both James and his wife were among “the people that do know their God” and so can be a help to others. Some evidently received blessing, for in time a class was formed which met regularly in the little cottage. Eventually a Methodist Society was fully organised, and James Taylor appointed as the first Class Leader and Local Preacher in Barnsley.’

(Taken from Hudson Taylor: The Growth of A Soul’ by Dr and Mrs Howard Taylor.)

Is there a correct way to pioneer a church?

You’re probably getting the idea by now! The truth is, that while there are techniques and keys to learn there is no one correct way to gather people to start a new church.