ABAWFAY // Book #2: Church In The Making

ABAWFAY is short for “A Book A Week For A Year”. Read about it here to find out more and to suggest the next book I read.

Are we making church planting more mysterious and more difficult than it should be?

Ben Arment thinks so. And he answers this question with a combination of personal stories, experience and scripture.

In his book, Church in the Making, he goes back to scripture (Matthew 13:19-24 primarily) and examines this idea of “church planting” at its core.

He organizes the book on three main ideas found in that passage which he literally applies to church planting, Good Ground, Rolling Rocks and Deep Roots.

Although I have never planted a church, I picked up this book because I read Ben’s blog almost as much as I read the Bible and because I was interested in what I could learn and apply in an already established church.

My Rating: 8.9/10

One Sentence Review: Church in the Making is a must-read for all church planters as it warns, prepares, challenges and inspires all at once yet is full of practical tips from a former church planter. 

Here are some highlights from the book:

QUOTES

• “God’s purpose for sending you to plant a church might not have been a church plant at all”
• “It’s the great deception of every church planter that you can manufacture momentum on your own. You can only identify it. And if it invites you in, you can join it.”

• “Planting churches is not just a spiritual endeavor. It is a social movement. Or in many cases the lack of one.”
• “Sociology can be just as important to a church planter’s plight as theology.”

• “Church planting is the fine art of emptying ourselves for people who reject us and forgiving them for the sake of the gospel.”

CONCEPTS

Missionary vs. Church Planter

Ben addresses this differentiation which is important because the success of each role is measured differently. He talks about the readiness of the surrounding community and asserts that at times, they need a missionary before a church planter. Someone to “till the soil”.

Here is my amazon associate link for Church in the Making