How To Plant Urban Churches: A Case Study Evaluation
of the Summer Urban Church Planting Efforts
Of Jos Evangelical Churches of West Africa in Nigeria Seminary Students In 1988
Learning Objectives
1. The students will explain how seed families can help start urban churches.
2. The students will list three ways that family leaders can help in starting urban churches.
3. The students will write a short paper discussing how one could start a church in a city near them.
4. The students will be able to explain how to overcome some of the oppositions to urban church planting
Introduction - In 1956 Bishara #1 resisted the offer of SIM to help them start Bishara #2 for fear of losing members, offerings, and influence. When SIM offered to pay for 50% of the costs of purchasing the land, erecting the building, and providing furniture for the church, the Bishara #1 elders still refused.
After two years, the leaders of Bishara #1 came back to the leaders of SIM asking for their help in starting Bishara #2. The SIM leaders were shocked. They turned to the leaders and said, ``Why are you interested in starting a new church now and not before?’’
The leaders of Bishara #1 said, ``We are convicted by God for our selfishness, indifference to Christ’s great commission, (Matt. 28:19,20) and people are accusing us of being spiritually infertile.
Naturally, everyone knew what they meant. If a mother cannot produce children, people begin to wonder if there is something wrong with the mother. Is there sin in her life, is there something wrong with her relationship to God, is there some resistance to the will of God, is there a root cause for the lack of fruit? All of these questions plagued the people of Bishara #1 so much that they felt compelled by the Lord to help start a new church. As they understood the parallel between physical and spiritual conditions.
Sad, but true, many churches have been started for negative reasons like the above example rather than positive obedience to the will of God to begin new churches.
Just as it is not natural for a family to be barren and without children so it is equally serious for a church to exist for many years and not plant daughter churches!!! Jesus told us that, ``We should go and bring forth fruit and our fruit should remain.’’ (John 15:16)
I. Procedures for Urban Church Planting (A Case Study)
For the fourth consecutive summer, the Jos ECWA Seminary sent out six students to urban areas of Nigeria for urban church planting. During the approximate eight weeks of the students involvement in three urban areas, five new potential churches were begun (15 new churches have been started over the past four summers- An update - As of 1991 - The students of Jos ECWA Seminary have helped start 27 urban churches). Gratitude to the Lord must be acknowledged for the training, financing, transporting, feeding, and accommodations provided.
Overall, this case study will try to highlight some of the most helpful means in which the urban evangelists were able to cooperatively start new prayer cells, Bible studies, and small urban churches. In addition the evaluation will attempt to identify specific areas where the program could be more effective for future summer urban outreach experiences.
A. Gather Results of Interviews With Students from Target Areas as Well as From Church Leaders.
After interviewing several students from the seminary, six students were chosen to represent the school in Bauchi (Ayuba Kukwi & Haruna Galadima) with approximately 200,000 people, Yola-Jimeta in Gongola State (Pastor Gasmis Bambuka & Garko Wilberforce) with about 100,000 occupants, and Bida in Niger State (Achi Atung & Jonathan Nyebe) with around 30,000 urban dwellers. Two students were posted to each location where they were given 300. The money was used for the student’s feeding and transportation needs for the two month period they were to work with the local ECWA officials in starting new churches. In nearly every case, the students were able to succeed in starting at least one new prayer group, home Bible study, or a new church through a seed family (a family that lived in that strategic new area that already had ties with the mother church some distance away).
B. How to Gain Help From Local Church Leaders
With the help of the local overseers, Pastors, or secretaries of the local church councils the students were able to find contacts that were willing to introduce them to a local seed families. The significant Christian family members would then open their homes to the students to begin inviting people for late afternoon or early evening prayer meetings. Through regular visits to the neighborhood homes, the distribution of gospel literature, and the use of gospel cassettes provided by Gospel Recording, the news of the small groups spread throughout the community. Much of the communication of the home fellowship groups was done through members of the seed families. By using this means the students were able to win quicker credibility for their message. At the same time the students could determine who were the potential leaders for the group by observing the people in Bible study fellowships. The students were able to use the consistent hospitality of the people to visit freely in their homes. Christians and some Muslims welcomed them openly.
C. The Key Ingredient For Success is to Have a Church Leader Supervising the Work Who Knows the Philosophy and Practices of Urban Church Planting
In Yola - Jimeta, the Lord significantly used a former graduate of Jos Seminary, Pastor Abel Kantoma, the Local Overseer of Yola District, to spearhead the strategies for urban church planting. Since, public religious activities have been banned in Yola-Jimeta, discretion is required of anyone desiring to do evangelism. Furthermore, several well established denominations in the area were a bit adverse to seeing ECWA expand its horizons through an extensive church planting program. They feared that some of their members may transfer to ECWA churches.
1. How God Used Abel Kantoma In Urban Church Planting -
Through the wise counsel of Pastor Abel (Presently taking responsibility for the English Section of the Jimeta church) and Pastor Ibrahim (presently taking responsibility for the Hausa Section of the Church), the students in Yola-Jimeta were instructed how to best plant churches. They began by concentrating their efforts on Basure, an area near an Army Barracks in Jimeta and Wuro Hausa, an area near Yola where many Christians have to walk at least a kilometer and a half to the nearest church. With the advise from the local church leaders the students were introduced to key seed family members in each respective area.
There the leadership felt the opportunities for beginning a church were greatest. Gasmis reported that in the Wuro Hausa area the Lord provided a policeman that he had known who became his key contact point for the introductions of the local people in that new area for ECWA. After praying and asking the Lord for opportunities, the Lord gave Gasmis nearly 30 people who attended his services regularly. These people were meeting on a regular basis for Bible study and prayer in the policeman’s home in Wuro Hausa by the end of the summer’s project. Today they have erected a local church in their area.
D. Using a Cell Group, Seed Family or Prayer Group to Start a Church
Begin by asking God to use a seed family to help you secure a piece of land for the church. After the people and the church were able to secure a piece of property, Pastor Abel Kantoma helped them established themselves as a fully fledged local church. As it stands, the best strategy for beginning new churches in Yola-Jimeta is to start with a cell group of prayer and Bible study, determine who are the leaders in the group, purchase the land, then begin Sunday services, and eventually build the building. The reason for the rather secret operations comes from the fact that certain significant people in the local government tried to block any attempt to secure property for a new group that has not already been well established in Gongola State. To avert any obstacles that may stand in the way of the progress of the church, home Bible study fellowship may have to care for the needs of the members until the Lord provides the means to purchase the land. This may point out that in the future land acquisition represent a major hurdle for urban church planting projects. Your denominational headquarters should make plans and budgets for the acquiring of strategic pieces of property throughout its targeted urban communities.
E. Results of Student Evangelism
During the summer months of evangelism, Garko and Gasmis were able to lead 18 people to Christ each and start two churches. Through the spoken word from the cassettes provided by Gospel Recordings, in the vernacular language of the people, many people were stirred to the point of a decision for Christ. The excellent literature that was provided by the Swiss Institute For Evangelism, as well as others, allowed the evangelists bridges to be able to explain how the gospel relates to the people’s contextual needs in their particular circumstances, backgrounds, and culture. One boy used a cassette given to him to take to his school where he was able to share it with many of his classmates. Many children longed to know more about the solutions offered to them through the promises of the scriptures.
II. Case Study of Urban Church Planting in Bauchi
In Bauchi, Ayuba Kukwi and Haruna Galadima were successful in helping to start three new home Bible study fellowships. These have real potential for becoming churches in the next two years. After securing cooperation from the Local Overseer of the Bauchi church, the two young men worked closely with Pastor Adamu Sambo, the former secretary of the District Church Council, Rev. Yarima, and Pastor Ben Zull of the Bauchi English section. With the able advise from these two indigenous men, the students were able to locate strategic seed families who allowed the evangelists to use their homes for Bible studies and prayer meetings as well as a haven of rest, refreshment, and encouragement.
A. How Seed Families Helped Start 3 New Churches
With the help of the base from which to work from, the students did evangelism through out the heavily Muslim city of Northern Nigeria. As with many non-christians, the people were willing to say yes, that they believed in Jesus, were willing to follow His ways, and were even willing to attend their prayer meetings in people’s homes, but could not bring themselves to publicly confess Jesus Christ in the presence of their authorities. Still, the students believed that many Muslims were delighted to listen to the stories of Jesus and His promises in a non-threatening environment of a home Bible Study fellowship. Others have seen the Lord bring many Muslims to Christ by seeing Malams become believers and then lead their followers to salvation through Jesus Christ. After several years the local people have started three new churches in Bauchi as a result of the urban church planting emphasis of 1988.
B. How to Overcome Urban Opposition
Despite complaints from several local authorities, both within and without of the church, God showed the ways to solve most problems. First significant church leaders in Bauchi complained that they were not able to provide accommodations and feeding for the students. God miraculously provided N300 for the students needs during the eight weeks in Bauchi. This generous support of the students indicated that even though there may appear to be resistance from some of the higher level of leadership, the grass root people in Bauchi are eager to help evangelists.
Several people were eager to have leaders who are able to attend to their needs for Shepherding on a more personal basis. Both Haruna and Ayuba stressed the discovery of the members needs in order to fashion their teaching from the scriptures to suit the concerns of the majority of the people attending the home fellowships. By moving in a problem-solution progression in their teaching, the students were able to see each of the groups grow to nearly 60 people by the end of the summer. In one location, the attendance has reached well over 300 on Sunday mornings!!
C. The Secret of Success For Urban Church Planting
In Bauchi the students found particular success when they allowed the local family heads to participate in the leading of the home fellowship Bible studies and prayer times. Nearly, all of the people who were attracted to their groups were literate people who were between the ages of 30-40, indicating that these were established family leaders who were well entrenched in the community. In other words, the groups were reaching the heart of the community that represents the permanent occupants that will be able to contribute most significantly to the long lasting quantitative and qualitative growth of the three new churches in Bauchi.
The church planters in Bauchi also stressed the helpfulness of the tracts from Scripture Gifts Union, the cassettes from Gospel Recordings, and the Call of Hope tracts as being particularly effective in communicating the gospel in a predominately Muslim area of Northern Nigeria. The continued support of Hillcrest chapel and local sending churches has been one of the single most significant helping factors for the continuance of the program for the last fours years. These churches now have an enlarged vision to see more daughter churches as a result of their financial involvement in the urban ministry.
E. Use Participatory Leadership Style
I Peter 5:1-5 stresses a participatory-plural leadership style for successful ministries under difficult circumstances. The students made the most of participatory styles of leadership rather than authoritarians forms of directorship. In asking the members of the home fellowship what reasons they felt they had for starting a new church, the indigenous people were able to offer many ideas that were owned by the majority of the local people. Through the use of consensus taking in the decision-making processes, the evangelists provided for future leaders who will be able to take up where the students left off. This helps one to realize that many church planting or church growth projects are stymied because one leader takes a decision without the real firm consensus, cooperation, and communication between the significant leaders in the area. Eventually the project is scrapped for lack of cooperation by the local people. All urban church planters stand to learn from this model of using consensus leadership. The students asked people for their ideas rather than telling them what they are going to do. By allowing the people to express their reasons for starting a new church or
tackling a project in a certain way helped to tap the gifts, potentials, and abilities of all the members of the body of Christ.
Chief Benefits of Participatory Leadership Styles
The advantage of using this model of participatory leadership is that authority stays in the local church. Greater emphasis on local autonomy rather than centralized leadership in a headquarters, would facilitate the growth and the planting of new churches as seen in the projects of the seminary urban church planters of 1988. Several students commented that some of the greatest hindrances for the vision to start new churches came from the older established leaders who have control of all the monies from the local church boards. If a particular leader is against the beginning of new church it may be because he believes it will somehow lesson his ability to control the affairs of his local church. In doing this he will stymie the efforts to start new English sections or daughter vernacular sections. These leaders need to be able to ask why they are either objectively or subjectively against the growth of the church in their areas. Respect, concern, and understanding must be given these significant leaders. Their wisdom can be used for the progress of the church rather than simply for the maintaining of the status quo!!
F. Overall Suggestions For Improved Urban Church Planting
Some of the suggestions offered by the students for future summer projects include the following;
1). A job description should be drawn up with the cooperation of former urban church planters, the chapel committee, and significant leaders in the church which can serve a guideline for the students, the participating districts, and the seminary for proper spiritual, financial, and cultural accountability.
2). Students need to be given guidelines as well as assistance in the use of finances. One student had never handled 300 before. He spent it before he realized it in one week!
3). More tracts, gospel literature, and cassettes of the local languages should be made available for the urban church planters. This gives the evangelists credible bridges for the seed families to give to the indigenous people. The people can then discover on their own the wonderful answers to the problems provided in the scriptures.
4). Agreements should be drawn up and sent to each of the participating districts. A visit should be made by officials from the seminary to answer any questions about accommodations, feeding, finances, strategies for planting seed family fellowships, beginning new urban churches, and the use of the students’ time. One white missionary visited an urban area while a church planter was struggling to succeed. When the local leaders saw that a white missionary would visit their area to check on the student they changed their perception toward church planting. Within days, the student received so much cooperation that a church began three weeks later.
5). Several students commented that some of the local Pastors felt that the students were serving their practical field service instead of purposing to start new churches. This unfortunate misunderstanding of the students’ job responsibilities will hopefully be averted in the future through signed statements of agreement with the participating local leaders about the use of the students’s time. The students are not to be looked at as simply pulpit fillers, but rather they are sent to help the local leaders start new churches in their urban centers.
6). Homework and training must be given by the seminary leaders before sending students to particular areas to avert any difficulties with the local language, food, customs, or culture. In the future, the seminary committee will think twice about sending students to an area that does not have a former JETS’ graduate in the area. These men can serve as mediators to explain the entire nature of the summer urban church planting program.
7). Students going to areas that are plagued with particular problems like syncretism, should be given special pre-field training in coping with problems that they are not used to dealing with. Perhaps, specialists’ help can be solicited in such cases.
8). The overall program seems best suited in areas where the students can cooperate with urban churches who are already planning and working on starting new churches. These urban churches need the help of young urban church planters with advance training. The summer program seems better suited to working in areas that are fairly ripe for starting new churches. A good indication of the suitability of the soil would be in the availability of seed families, the maturity of the local leadership, the vision of the top church leaders to begin new churches, the willingness of local family heads to allow students to use their houses as centers for prayer meetings, Bible studies, and a center for home fellowships. These indicators will serve as the signs where new churches can be started in the cities.
9). Planned follow-up procedures should be in progress for each of the new fellowships that are started. Periodic visits from officials of the seminary could aid the durability of the new fellowships and catalyze the beginning of new churches. A visit to Bauchi allowed seminary officials to discuss with some of the local leaders as well as the district and local church council leaders about the possibilities of moving these fellowships to the next stage of beginning Sunday services.
10). Sociological studies, demographic studies, and ethnographic studies need to be conducted in each of the areas that participated in the urban church planting projects to determine the next strategies to take. With the help of trained supervisors local people could be utilized to collect this information. Students from the seminary could be enlisted to write their thesis on these areas using their research to make suggestions for effective urban church planting in each specific area!!!
Study Questions
1). Why should seminary officials and the students secure areas where the Pastors, Local Overseers, and District officials are willing to participate cooperatively in helping to locate key seed families in strategic areas ripe for the beginning of a new urban church.
2). Why does working through the seed families’ give greater credibility for their message?
3). Why, in most cases, did the students have greater success in areas where a seminary graduate or a trusted friend helped mediate the work of urban evangelism.
4). Why should a knowledge of local customs, culture, and the background of Christianity in the urban centers be learned from the local Pastors who should be used as resource personnel.
5). Why are land acquisitions a major hurdle that must be looked into by church officials in the headquarters, the districts, and the local church councils if your church wants to grow quantitatively and qualitatively.
6). Many people, including Muslims, were willing to attend prayer fellowships in local believers homes allowing them the opportunity to express their desire to follow Christ in certain circles without fear of loss of inheritance, social standing, or security of their families. Why?
7). Students, seminary officials, and participating urban Pastors should sign a job description before the project begins as a contractual way of agreeing on the goals, activities, and accommodations for the students. Why?
8). Greater emphasis on participatory styles of leadership rather than authoritarian leadership tends to facilitate the beginning of small urban churches. Why?
9). Urban dwellers are generally able to express their needs, concerns, and areas of interest concerning the directions of a new church when they are given an opportunity. By allowing members of the home Bible study fellowships to express their felt, perceived, and real needs, the urban evangelists were able to start where the group felt they should rather than imposing a ``new program’’ from an outside ``authoritative’’ source. Why?
10). Greater emphasis on local autonomy of small local fellowships rather than large 700 membered churches tend to enhance both the qualitative and quantitative growth aspects of shepherding the flock of God in urban areas. Why?
11). Planned follow-up procedures should be conducted with the seminary officials, the local district church leadership, as well as the local indigenous families to see what could be done to help acquire property, building materials, and the necessary provisions of a Bible School trained Pastor for their new local body of believers. Why?
12). The overall program seems best suited in areas where the students are not to do grass root pioneer church planting, but rather cooperate with urban churches who are already planning and working on starting new churches and need the help of young urban church planters with advance training. Why?
13). SIM or other churches or mission groups could use this model of urban church planting throughout its fields by asking local Bible college, seminaries, or Bible schools to offer summer scholarships for several students who would be willing to participate in a summer urban church planting program. Guidelines and the historical development have been written up in the Urban Mission Journal of 1987 by Dr. Paul J. Fritz of Jos ECWA Theological Seminary, P.M.B. 2009. Plateau State, Nigeria.
14). Solid homework must be done by the seminary officials to ascertain the extend of the local church leaders willingness to actually start new churches or if they are simply looking for pulpit filler students to help ease their burden of leadership responsibilities. The program is not designed primarily to provide assistance to the Pastors in their local church duties, but it is to help start new urban churches!
15). Pre-field training, suited to the particular problems that each group will face, is essential. Specialists may be needed in this case to teach the students the best ways to handle difficult matters like syncretism, Muslim evangelism, or spiritism.
16). Sociological studies, demographic studies, and ethnographic studies need to be conducted in each of the areas that participated in the urban church planting projects to determine the next strategies to take.
