Gospel-Centered City Ministry by Tim Killer

TIMOTHY KELLER
GOSPEL-
CENTERED
CITY The City to City DNA
MINISTRY
TIMOTHY KELLER
GOSPEL-
CENTERED
CITY The City to City DNA
MINISTRY
Copyright © 2023 by Redeemer City to City
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First published in 2023
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Contents
INTRODUCTION vii
GOSPEL
Part One: Grace 3
Part Two: Kingdom 17
Part Three: Personal Gospel Renewal 31
Part Four: Gospel Renewal in the Church 44
CULTURE
Part Five: Worldview and Catechesis 62
Part Six: Biblical High Theory 81
Part Seven: Contextualization 102
Part Eight: Cultural Engagement 122
CITY
Part Nine: City Theology 144
Part Ten: City Theory 161
Part Eleven: Public Theology 179
Part Twelve: Reconciliation 193
MISSION
Part Thirteen: Evangelism and Community 212
Part Fourteen: Justice 233
Part Fifteen: Faith and Work 252
Part Sixteen: Marriage and Sexuality 271
MOVEMENT
Part Seventeen: Church Planting 294
Part Eighteen: Movements 324
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 347
v
Introduction
Gospel-Centered City Ministry: The City to City DNA aims to cultivate a deeper understanding of
the core values of Redeemer City to City. In eighteen white papers, organization founder Timothy
Keller elaborates on five key concepts—gospel, culture, city, mission, and movement—that moti-
vate City to City’s work of planting churches, engaging culture, and catalyzing movement around
the world.
City to City’s hope is that church leaders across the globe will evaluate these DNA principles,
dialogue with others about how they can be contextualized for ministry in their cities, and work
together to serve a greater gospel movement. Through robust discussions with Christians around
the world, we can collectively have a stronger grasp on the biblical principles found within the
DNA outlined here and pass it on to the church of tomorrow.
vii
Movement
Because it takes a unified,
collaborative church to reach the
city, we:
• Honor and empower local leadership and
decision making.
• Support churches, organizations, and
institutions with a vision for citywide gospel
movement.
• Collaborate and fellowship with leaders
from a wide variety of denominational and
cultural backgrounds and with a diversity of
spiritual giftings and leadership styles.
PART SEVENTEEN
Church Planting
Nothing is more fundamental to City to City than planting churches. We are an organization
driven by DNA derived from the gospel, one implemented by leaders rather than programs. We
emphasize contextualization and innovation rather than alignment with a singular, detailed
model for church planting that is reproduced around the world regardless of context. We have
therefore been reluctant to publish a detailed set of steps or a specific process for planting a church.
However, this can result in providing too many high-level principles and too few applied,
concrete proposals for how to actually establish a new church in a city. During the planning
process, church planters need two things: plentiful practical models used successfully in various
parts of the world and great freedom to adapt (or even reject) these proposals for their own con-
text. This paper will focus on some of the most common approaches to church planting and give
practical options. Note also that most of the models for church planting are from North America
and Europe. Few have been published from Latin America, Africa, or Asia, and there is a need
for more of these to be available in print or at least online. (The hope is that City to City’s leaders
around the globe can contribute to filling this need.)
WHAT IS A CHURCH?
Before we go on to explore church planting, it first makes sense to address how we define a
church—at least in a general way. Is a church any gathering of Christians at all? If not, what
makes it one? One of the issues City to City is currently addressing is the fact that our churches
and leaders belong to many different denominations and traditions with historical differences in
how they define a “true church” versus a “false” one. So, with careful consideration, we present
the following ideas.
THE DEFINITION OF THE CHURCH
The Apostles’ Creed describes the church as “the communion of saints.” This phrase is widely
understood to describe a body of converted, faith-professing disciples who have set themselves
apart to live for Christ (“saints”), who share in common Christ himself and all his benefits and
gifts, and who share their gifts and goods in order to serve and build up one another.1 This is a
helpful start in considering how a simple gathering of believers may not be a genuine church.
1
See Heidelberg Catechism Q/A 54 and 55, http://www.heidelberg-catechism.com/en/lords-days/21.html.
Movement | Church Planting 294

Unless people are ready to commit themselves to one another beyond mere public meetings, they
are not a “communion of saints.”
THE PURPOSES OF THE CHURCH
Traditionally, the church is to offer goods and resources in service in three different ways.2 After
all, the root meaning of the word “ministry” means to serve!
Service to God: Worship. Ministry is primarily service to the covenant Lord. Service to the
needs of others must be primarily motivated by a will to serve him. The controlling principle of
service is therefore never the attractiveness or neediness of others but the calling of God. In a
sense, absolutely everything the church does is part of its worship (Romans 12:1; Hebrews 13:16;
1 Corinthians 10:31), but the church is also specifically called to gather for corporate worship.
Service to God’s people: Formation. We are to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters with
the goal of building them up into the stature of Christ. Therefore, spiritual gifts are always given
for the edification of the whole body, not for the individual. Thus, the purpose of ministry is the
oikodome described in Ephesians 4:12–16: “so that the body of Christ may be built up” (verse 12).
We are to form disciples in the church.
Service to and before the world: Witness. As Abraham was called into covenantal service to
be a blessing to the nations, and as Israel was called to be a holy nation as a witness to the world,
so Christian service to the Lord is always done to declare the glory of the Lord before the nations.
Witness can be both in word (such as in traditional evangelism) and in deed (such as pursuing
justice and mercy). (See Acts 2:42–47 and Matthew 5:16.)
The church is to sing God’s praises (1 Peter 2:9–10). In worship, we sing his praises to him; in
edification, we sing God’s praises to each other (Ephesians 5:19); and in witness, we sing God’s
praises to the world.
THE MARKS OF THE CHURCH
True preaching and declaration of the Word of God. An authentic church is committed to bibli-
cally sound, doctrinally true teaching. If a church loses the biblical gospel to either overt legalism
or liberal relativism, they are no longer a real church.
Right administration of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Preaching God’s Word is the most
important mark of a church, and yet it is possible to be a Christian gathering or ministry without
functioning as a church congregation if people are not baptized into the faith and if the Lord’s
Supper is not observed together by calling people to eat it “worthily” (1 Corinthians 11:27). This
2
Missiologist Alan Hirsch calls these the “marks of the church” (The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating Apostolic Movements [Grand
Rapids, MI: Baker, 2016]), but in traditional Protestant theology, these are functions or goals for purposes of the church. They defi ne
what the church does, but do not fully circumscribe what a church is. For example, there are many parachurch ministries that do
worship, discipling, and various kinds of witness, but they would never call themselves a church.

does not mean we earn the Lord’s Supper through our goodness, but that we come to God in re-
pentance and faith in the gospel. If we sin and refuse to repent, we should not partake.
Covenantal, mutual accountability for one’s life and practice. Luther and Calvin agreed on
the above two marks of a church.3 Traditionally, Reformed churches have gone on to add a third
mark, usually defined as “the practice of discipline for correcting faults.”4 However, it is fair to
point out that the right use of the sacraments entails communal accountability for beliefs and be-
havior. To baptize someone, a church must have standards of belief. What must the person profess
in order to be baptized? To call people to eat the Lord’s Supper worthily, the church must have the
right to define what those standards are and to call people to it.
Thus, we can either speak of three marks of the church or the two marks with an “enriched”
second mark, but we must create churches in which texts such as Hebrews 13:17 make sense. It
calls Christians to “have confidence in your leaders” for they “keep watch over you.” A church
that has no authority to hold people accountable for their faith and practice—a church that has
no leaders to be obeyed—may not be a church at all (see Hebrews 3:13; James 5:16; 1 Corinthians
5:1–5, 13; 14:33, 40).
RATIONALE FOR CHURCH PLANTING
There are two primary rationales for church planting: we plant churches because the Bible calls
us to participate in God’s mission in this way and because it is one of the most effective ways to
evangelize people. To examine these rationales, I find the work of Dutch theologian and author
Stefan Paas helpful. I include Paas’s material below because he takes a scholarly and skeptical ap-
proach to common views about church planting that evangelical church-planting networks have
held for so long. In the end, his insights are basically confirmed with good refinements and by
similar insights of others in his field.
PLANTING CHURCHES AS PARTICIPATION IN GOD’S MISSION
The “Pauline Cycle.”5 Paul’s ministry of church planting as discerned in the book of Acts and
some of his epistles is the biblical basis for church planting most often cited among modern min-
istry leaders. Paul did not merely make converts—he planted new congregations. We see through
his example that after missionaries arrive and evangelism and conversion take place converts
congregate and leaders are appointed (Acts 13:43, 14:23). After enough growth, the church sends
out their own missionaries to evangelize and create new congregations. While there is no explicit
3
See Article Seven of the Lutheran Augsburg Confession, Project Wittenberg, https://www.projectwittenberg.org/pub/resources/
text/wittenberg/concord/web/augs-007.html; and Calvin’s Institutes 4.1.9, http://www.vor.org/rbdisk/html/institutes/4_01.htm.
4
See Article 29 of the Belgic Confession, Protestant Reformed Churches in America, http://www.prca.org/about/official-standards/
creeds/three-forms-of-unity/belgic-confession/27-35/article-29.
5
David F. Hesselgrave, Planting Churches Cross-Culturally: North America and Beyond (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2000), 42–51.

command in the New Testament to make this normative for all mission, this pattern should have
a great deal of influence on our own mission work. The Pauline cycle becomes even more appli-
cable as societies move away from Christendom and become increasingly less Christian.
The distinction between planting the gospel and the church. 1 Corinthians 3:5–7 speaks of
what we call church planting, and the language of “planting” is even used. However, a careful ex-
amination of this passage shows that Paul never directly says he planted a church. He “planted the
seed” and Apollos “watered it,” but through it all God was the one who made it grow. Paul says he
sowed seed into a field (the people of Corinth) and God grew it (the conversions). While we must
take care not to press metaphors too far, it seems the seed that was planted and watered was the
message of the gospel. Only through the mysterious work of God, then, does a church grow out of
our planting and watering the gospel.
In other words, “the church [is] the result of planting, rather than its object.”6 Paas makes this
point in order to temper the modern (and American) overemphasis on technique. We often speak
as if we are the ones who can bring about a new church through our programs. Modern church-
planting literature nearly always includes evangelism, but in a remarkable number of these books,
it constitutes a short chapter in a volume that puts far more emphasis on management techniques.
The Bible’s language is more nuanced. The Bible emphasizes the skillful and faithful ministering
of the gospel, and, if he wills, God grows the church.
The distinction between faithfulness and fruitfulness. Paas rightly critiques the church
growth movement by asking, “Is growth the [main] purpose of mission?”7 If numerical growth is
the main goal of mission, then evangelism is only a means to an end. If numerical growth is the
goal, the implication is that our mission has failed, or is at least seriously incomplete, if we have
not won virtually all the world to Christ. What if numerical growth is something we seek so we
can continue to aim at our main goal: the multiplication of changed lives and Christ-centered
communities of faith? Thus, numerical growth is the means, and evangelism and the creation of
community are the ends.
Paul says in Romans 15:17–23 that he “fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ” (verse 19) in a
particular part of Asia, and that there was therefore “no more place for [Paul to] work in [those]
regions” (verse 23). Paas notes that if the main purpose of mission is numerical growth, Paul
could not have claimed this. Quoting fellow theologian Lesslie Newbigin, Paas reasons that Paul
could not have meant everyone in the region had been converted, or even that everyone had heard
the gospel preached. It seems better to say that our goal is to plant the gospel in order to create a
church that confesses Jesus as Lord, and we seek numerical growth as a means to that end.8 These
distinctions are fine ones, but they are much more than philosophical. We must watch our own
hearts. Even if God is clearly working in our midst, we can become despondent if our numbers
6
Stefan Paas, Church Planting in the Secular West: Learning from the European Experience (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2016), 13.
7
Ibid., 114.
8
Ibid., 116.

are fairly small—or we easily become satisfied with merely drawing a crowd rather than seeing
people truly transformed.
THE EVANGELISTIC EFFECTIVENESS OF NEW CHURCHES
The second main rationale for planting churches is that it is evangelistically effective. Paas notes
that the standard claims about church planting are the following:
 Orthodox and evangelical churches reach people better than liberal and state churches.
 New churches reach more non-Christians than older churches.
 New churches reach new generations, people groups, and residents better than old
churches.
Paas sets out to empirically test these claims in Europe under the assumption that if these theses
hold true in a post-Christian environment with difficult soil for church planting, they are likely
to be broadly true for the rest of the globe.9
Thesis 1: Conservative religion has an advantage over liberal religion. Paas repeatedly
demonstrates that “sects” (churches that are stricter and more out-of-step with the values of the
broader culture) grow better than churches. There are two reasons for this.
First, by emphasizing the difference between those inside and outside the church, they are
able to limit “free riders.” “Since they set high demands on membership,” Paas writes, “these con-
gregations have comparatively few members who … must be respected in decision-making but
contribute little in return.”10 In other words, a far higher percentage of members are deeply com-
mitted, contribute significant time and money, make the church more effective in its ministries,
form stronger mutual relationships, and are more unified in vision and spirit.
Second, because they are different from the world, these churches are able to present their
distinctive culture as an asset that cannot be acquired anywhere else. No one will come to a
church if they can get whatever it offers elsewhere without the effort of attendance and invest-
ment. “After all, people do not find it worthwhile to pay the costs of membership without getting
anything in return that they don’t possess already.”11 This is a major barrier to people attending
liberal churches—if someone simply wants to pursue justice, for example, they don’t need to get
up early on Sundays to do so.
Though it may seem counterintuitive, stricter and more conservative religion will generally
grow more effectively than its counterparts, and its institutions will be stronger than the religions
that make their peace with the spirit of the age. (As mentioned in the previous DNA papers, these
types of “sect” churches can tend toward issues that must be avoided, such as legalism, with-
drawal from culture, and hostility toward non-Christians.)
9
Ibid., 124–180.
10
Ibid., 134.
11
Ibid.

Thesis 2: New churches reach non-Christians and new groups better than old ones. Paas
cites studies that show that new churches attract two to three times more newly migrated people
to an area than older churches. Older churches present systems that are harder for newcomers to
break into and can feel more closed off to outsiders. New churches are far easier for newcomers to
enter and find acceptance. No one mentions, “You’re new around here,” because everyone is new.
There are no worried statements from church members like, “We’ve never done things that way
before,” because new churches haven’t done things before.
Paas shows that many of the claims of church growth from new congregations are anecdotal,
impossible to verify, and exaggerations used for promotion. This is common among evangelical
missions, unfortunately. Most new churches’ attendees are Christians who switch over from other
churches or returnees who stopped going to church but are drawn back. Nevertheless, there is
evidence—even in Europe—that newer churches attract more new converts than older churches.
One useful study shows that new churches were four times as effective at seeing conver-
sions as older churches, even without taking the most highly successful church plants into ac-
count. One movement of new churches Paas studied in the Netherlands showed that 20 percent
of its members were “initiates,” or new converts through the church.12 That may be higher than
usual—there isn’t enough research to tell—but it is an encouraging statistic and is far higher than
the number of conversions seen in older churches. Additionally, we see that churches planted
in more difficult, slow-growing soil show a larger proportion of converts from a non-Christian
background (though such churches are usually smaller and more gradual in growth) than faster
growing churches in “easier” territory.13
In summary, new churches are significantly better at reaching new groups of non-Christians.
Smaller churches in more resistant soil may be even more evangelistic than ones that grow larger
in places where there are more Christians.
However, Paas argues against the belief that new churches are automatically more evangelis-
tic. It is, perhaps, an American tendency to look for a “magic bullet” technique that cannot fail.
Scores of books give the impression that it is the newness of a congregation that creates this evan-
gelistic effectiveness. But Paas offers a study of a denomination which found that, in any given
country, the denomination’s newer congregations were not growing as well as its older churches.
There is nothing inherently, magically evangelistic in newness. Instead, Paas argues that the fol-
lowing factors cause evangelistic effectiveness to be more present in newer churches than older
ones, but they are not necessarily inherently present:
 Location: Churches grow best where there are population changes—where there are new
people groups or immigrants, or where there is high turnover among moving residents.
“Generally, churches are planted in areas with population growth while older churches
are more often located in areas with stable populations [people set in their life patterns,
12
Ibid.
13
Ibid., 179.

less open to change,] or declining populations.”14 And, of course, new churches can and
do give much more attention to location than older churches.
 Missionary focus: “Pastors in newer churches experience more missionary expectations
in their congregations, they are setting explicit missionary goals, and they are prepared
to make sacrifices to reach out to their community. In other words, they work harder in
terms of evangelism and social action.”15 The ministers and leaders of older and larger
churches are necessarily more absorbed—even exclusively so—with the needs of mem-
bers. Church planters are understandably much more concerned about reaching new
people.
 Leadership: “Church planters are much more entrepreneurial than pastors of older
churches.”16 They tend to be more hopeful and confident in missionary outreach. They
also tend to be more innovative and sensitive to new opportunities.
These three factors are much more conducive for evangelistic effectiveness than newness in and of
itself. Paas concludes that the reason research shows newer and smaller congregations to be more
evangelistic is because older and larger congregations are less perceptive of their environments
and give far less attention and energy to outreach.
PROFILE OF A CHURCH PLANTER
What about the church planter personally? What sort of person should someone be in order to
start a new congregation effectively? What sort of experience, temperament, and relationship
with God should they have, for example?
Church planters and authors Craig Ott and Gene Wilson speak of three basic kinds of
planters:17
1. Pastoral church planters plant the church and then stay to lead it.18 This can also be
the case for a church planted by a team that stays and leads the church as it grows
with APEST gifts.19 This works best in more affluent cultures where the congregation
can support full-time ordained ministers once initial financial support from outsiders
is concluded. Depending on the society, affluent cultures constitute anywhere from a
small minority of the population to up to 33 percent of the population. This is the sole
model many denominations use.
14
Ibid., 175.
15
Ibid., 175–176.
16
Ibid., 176.
17
Gene Wilson and Craig Ott, Global Church Planting: Biblical Principles and Best Practices for Multiplication (Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker, 2010).
18
In cross-cultural situations, the missionaries pastor until national or indigenous leaders are called to take their place.
19
For more information on APEST gifts, see the next DNA paper on movements.

2. Catalytic church planters plant a church that then becomes a catalyst that mothers
other churches. The catalytic planter or catalytic planting team then moves on to one
of the daughter churches. This model may work best in less affluent fields but is also
dependent on the gifting of the church planter or team members. Catalytic church
planting is highly entrepreneurial and works well in fluid, start-up situations, though
not as well in more settled, institutional settings.
3. Apostolic church planters serve as visionaries, mentors, equippers, and train-
ers. Sometimes, the apostolic church planter plants a hub church and then stays as
resident there while others do the lion’s share of ministry in the hub church. Th is
frees the apostolic leader to be a “circuit rider,” raising up new planters and planter
teams, providing close supervision and on-the-job training. Sometimes, the apos-
tolic church planter constantly moves to new locations and helps form new “hubs”
but never serves as the up-front, visible minister for any church. Theoretically, this
apostolic model could work in any setting, but this often works well in less affluent
settings where ministers are bi-vocational and receive lots of input from the apostolic
leader or apostolic team. Th is model is far less expensive than the above models. If
the pastor’s church grows enough, the bi-vocational pastor can transition to holding
a full-time position.
TRAITS OF AN EFFECTIVE CHURCH PLANTER
Before we examine some useful traits in church planters, it is important to note two key points.
First, 1 Corinthians 13 reminds us that talents and gifts are useless or even harmful if they are
not accompanied by strong growth in spiritual maturity and Christian love. Theological depth
and Christlike character should always be primary facets of a church planter. Nevertheless, many
people of wonderful Christian character are simply not equipped or gifted to plant a church. This
balance—the primacy of character yet the necessity of certain gifts—must be evident when as-
sessing church planters.
Another crucial principle in assessing a church planter is that their qualities and creden-
tials must fit the church-planting model that is being utilized. Some planters have failed, not
because they couldn’t plant a church but because their gifts did not fit the kind of church the
situation required. No one person can have all the gifts needed to plant a church. A church
planter leading a house church model may not need the public teaching skills that another
model requires.
Nevertheless, many churches are planted by a solo leader for a variety of institutional and
financial reasons. Even most church-planting teams have an identified, main leader who is most
visible to the emerging congregation. Thus, it is still right to detail an overall profile of a church
planter, which can be broken down into four levels.

LEVEL 1: BASICS OF CHRISTIAN MATURITY (COLOSSIANS
3, EPHESIANS 4, GALATIANS 5)
At the first level, the candidate should be a mature Christian. This is necessary but not sufficient;
as stated before, even the godliest person may not be cut out for the job. But every planter should
maintain the following.
 Self-management disciplines: The planter gets work done on time, is not controlled by
outside circumstances, keeps commitments, and remains consistent and honest.
 Interpersonal disciplines: The planter is sensitive to others, gentle when confronting, a
good listener, teachable, patient, and not controlling.
 Gospel disciplines: The planter is gracious, not irritable; repentant, not defensive; and
grateful and joyous, not despondent or self-pitying.
 Knowledge disciplines: The planter is knowledgeable in the Bible, as well as theological
topics and Christian living.
 Spiritual disciplines: The planter is consistent in prayer and studying Scripture, handles
temptation well, has no unreconciled relationships within the church, and retains a good
reputation with those inside and outside the church.
LEVEL 2: BASICS OF BEING A PASTOR
At the second level, the candidate must maintain the basics of being a pastor anywhere. This,
again, is necessary but not sufficient. There are plenty of great pastors who would be ineffective
church planters. Pastors should possess:
 Basic grace: They should understand the gospel and apply it to their heart so as not to
become too self-effacing or too self-aggrandizing. Pastors must remain bold, humble,
and aware of their strengths and weaknesses. Ministers also should not need constant
affirmation and approval. Instead of possessing a fragile self-image, they should be able
to take criticism well, using the means of grace and formative practices diligently and
skillfully to spiritually grow and mature. Essentially, they should identify personal weak-
nesses but should not display chronic, overt character flaws.
 Basic theology: Pastors must be doctrinally balanced between legalism and liberalism.
They should also be ecclesiologically balanced in aspects of evangelism, worship, dis-
cipleship, fellowship, and social concern.
 Basic gifts: Preaching is an important skill. Ministers must be able to teach the Bible even
if they are not gifted in public speaking. A second basic gift is leading by being personally
organized. Third, they should be godly enough to inspire people to follow. Fourth, they
should possess the skill to form and maintain relationships. If leaders are godly enough,
a lack of gifts in one of these particular areas will not make them inadequate. No one is
equally gifted in all four.

LEVEL 3A: THE TRAITS OF A CHURCH PLANTER
At the third level, the planter must have basic traits for being a church-planting pastor. Here are
suggested prerequisites to planting a church anywhere:
 A successful record of ministry initiation: The planter should demonstrate the ability to
start ministries from scratch, such as youth programs, small groups, or campus ministries.
 Family commitment: Church-planting pastors always need the full support and com-
mitment of their spouse and family. It is fair to say that the spouse must also sense a call
to the church plant. Some spouses are ministry partners in the most literal and practical
sense, taking on staff roles within the new church, but this must not be required of all
spouses. Regardless, every spouse must agree with and take part in the vision that the
whole family is planting a church together.
 Accordance with the sending body: The candidate should fit the doctrine and DNA of
the mother church or organization planting the church. They should also fit the type of
church the sponsoring group envisioned creating.
Beyond these three considerations, here are suggested requisites to being a church planter:
 Planters should be entrepreneurial in their personality and gifts: This includes being:
– A vision-caster: Planters need to be able to visualize a specific future and describe it
compellingly to others.
– A self-starter: Unusually productive, self-starters are intrinsically motivated rather
than requiring intense supervision and cushy incentives to get the work done.
Conscientiousness, which is defined as a concern with order and willingness to work
hard, is an element of this trait.
– A team builder who is also independent: This type of leader empowers others rather
than controlling them. They also feel confident in acting independently when needed
rather than always working alone or always relying on others. They may not feel a
strong emotional need to be on a team, yet they can form one and work on one. A
successful planter creates a sense of ownership in others, instituting that it is “our”
ministry rather than just the church planter’s, and gives strong direction while allow-
ing others to see their fingerprints, or contributions, all over the ministry.
– Relational: If the planter is not an extrovert, they should at least be able to muster a
high capacity for meeting new people warmly and making them feel welcome. They
need to be good at staying in touch rather than being inaccessible.
– Persistent: It is advantageous to be unusually resilient after disappointments and fail-
ures, as opposed to responding with anxiety, irritability, and discouragement.
– Flexible: Planters must have the capacity to be organizationally adaptable when things
don’t go as planned, as well as resourceful in finding alternate routes to success.

– Innovative and creative: The planter is not too reliant on rules and procedures and not
overly traditional in temperament.
 Planters should be good preachers and skilled at speaking in front of people: This
means not just being a good speaker, but a better-than-average one. In church plant-
ing, first impressions are crucial; listeners often won’t give the church a second chance.
Some traits of a good speaker (besides, of course, being biblical, theologically sound,
and Christ-centered) include being clear and interesting; engaging listeners’ imagina-
tions; being contextual and practical by preaching material relevant to listeners’ lives;
and combining warmth and force in preaching from the heart.
 Planters should be evangelistic: Along with being able to preach to Christians and non-
Christians alike, they should be evangelistically active in personal relationships and show
some fruitfulness in these efforts.
 Planters should feel called to reach a particular people group: They should be adaptive
as they try to engage this group, and should care for and love their community and the
people in it. They should also humbly respect the people group. Sympathy is not enough;
planters should admire many of the traits of the people in the community and expect to
learn from their common grace.
 Planters should be sympathetic to the group: Along with a loving desire for people’s
conversion, they should hold deep sympathy for their fears, concerns, and difficulties.
Planters should maintain a solid understanding of what makes those in their community
“tick”—what their hopes, aspirations, needs, and motivations are. It also helps to know
quite a bit about the issues of their daily lives.
 Planters should have chemistry with the group: Ideally, they should also have a track
record of effective communication with them.
LEVEL 3B: THE TRAITS OF AN URBAN CHURCH PLANTER
When it comes to urban church planting specifically, these are the suggested prerequisites for planters:
 Experience in urban living: Preferably, the planter and their family members have experi-
enced at least two years of living in a city and are acclimated to living in an urban environment.
 Appreciation and love for urban life: Pity for the city is not enough. The city should
energize the planter, not just drain them. However, this is not the same thing as roman-
ticizing the city, as everyone needs to leave cities to find restoration from time to time.
 An understanding of urban sensibilities: Like all cultural differences, this is hard to
quantify and describe. It’s better for someone to experience the characteristics of the
city for themselves rather than be told about them. Note that these urban sensibilities
include things like an appreciation for excellence without being overly slick, a lack of

sentimentality, a higher tolerance for ambiguity and disorder, and a lower tolerance for
cultural insensitivity.
 Acute sensitivity to racial and cultural differences: Urban church planters should pos-
sess a willingness to learn and be highly sensitive to the particular viewpoints and sensi-
bilities of different racial, national, and cultural groups. The ability to work with different
ethnic groups and build multiethnic teams is a must.
 Ability to relate to secular people: Planters will come across people in urban settings
without traditional moral values or a background of attending church. They will encoun-
ter postmodern and even “post-Christian” people that they must relate to, befriend, and
evangelize. It is also important for the planter to be able to interface well with individuals
who experience same-sex attraction.
LEVEL 4: THE TRAITS OF A TRANSFORMATIONAL CHURCH PLANTER
At the fourth level, the leader may have some traits that are associated with what could be called
transformational pastoring, which can be defined by the qualities below. These qualities are not man-
datory, but the potential presence of them should not be ignored in planning and supervising a plant.
 Strong preaching skills: Sometimes a church planter is so exceptional as a leader that

their preaching can stand to be more average. However, transformational church planters
are ordinarily exceptionally talented preachers.
 Transformational leadership: There are three basic components of leadership.
– Catalyzing: Casting vision and setting goals.
– Organizing: Strategizing how to accomplish goals; recruiting people and assigning
them to the right roles; and setting up programs.
– Operating: Supervising and evaluating; keeping people satisfied and cared for as they
work; and dealing with problems and conflicts.
A strong leader recognizes all three of these components and makes sure they are all done well.
The strong leader may be so versatile that they can accomplish all of these by themselves to some
degree, or, more likely, they are extremely wise in knowing what they can and can’t do and so
create a team to cover the bases they cannot.
This is a leader who is not just strong, but who can also make major changes in the way they
lead as the church experiences various stages of growth. In churches of 100, 300, 500, and 800
members, the leadership roles vary and are distinct. Many strong leaders can’t make changes and
adapt, but transformational leaders can.
The church planter with transformational gifts needs careful assessment and supervision.
Many strong leaders of this kind have shown character flaws—such as pride and abusiveness—
that have led to major church breakdowns. This may cause some planting organizations to avoid
such leaders altogether. Instead, look for church planters with this gifting set and test their

character by letting them devise thorough accountability systems for themselves. If they chafe
at this or create poor models, they may not have the spiritual maturity for the job, despite their
talents.
EVALUATING FRUITFULNESS
Here are a few questions that evaluate whether a church planter has produced fruit after five
years:
 Is their spouse happy with their family life and spiritual health?
 Are around 15 to 25 percent of their laypeople engaged in lay ministry?
 Are 40 to 50 percent of the congregation in small groups?
 Is the church growing 5 to 7 percent a year, with 15 to 20 percent of that growth consist-
ing of new believers?
 Are church members growing in maturity and holiness? Do they have a way to evaluate this?
MODELS FOR CHURCH PLANTING
The examples explored below are paradigms, or ideal paths of growth for common church plants
that seldom exist in pure form. For innovators, these can be mixed or blended. This is not an ef-
fort to fit City to City’s church planters into only two models or sub-models of planting a church.
Various authors describe the two basic approaches to church planting differently. Since most
have a favorite, there is a tendency to name them in such a way to show one as preferred. To avoid
this, the two models will be described rather than named.
Model #1 Model #2
Plant from scratch or with a core of no more Plant with a core group of forty to eighty
than fifteen people. volunteers drawn from a mother congregation
or involuntarily gathered from other
congregations.
Evangelize first and do not begin corporate Begin corporate worship as fast as possible
worship until later. and focus on evangelism later.
Pioneers plant the church. Another church (or more) plants the church.
Slower growth. Can experience rapid growth.
Model #1 Model #2
Low up-front costs, but financial support grows High up-front costs, but financial support may
slowly. grow quickly if the plant is successful.
Will grow with more conversions and Will grow mainly by drawing existing Christians
unchurched people. from other churches.

Model #1 Model #2
Helpful gifts for this model include evangelism Helpful gifts for this model include prophetic
and shepherding. leadership and teaching.
Advantages Advantages
More conversions; fishes in “blue water”20 to Fast momentum and excitement.
reach the unreached.
Lower up-front costs. Can generate new income quickly.
Grows the overall body of Christ and doesn’t Energizes and deploys many Christians who
drain other churches of attendees. were not active in evangelism or reaching their
communities.
Disadvantages Disadvantages
Can stay small and lose its outward face. May Can drain the mother church of energy and
become addicted to intimacy. resources, which can take years to recover from.
Can stay financially dependent on outside Can harm relationships in the city. They may
giving for a long time. receive accusations of “sheep stealing,” as
they fish in “red water” and only reach those
other churches are already reaching.
Can lack an apostolic mindset for Can be built around the personality and public
multiplication. charisma of the main leader rather than the
gospel.
I will call Model #1 the Pioneer Church Plant Model and Model #2 the Church Service Launch Model.
However, each model can be carried out in rather different ways, so there are a good number of sub-mod-
els for each of them. For example, the gathered church, house church, and “missional expression” models
are basically sub-models of the Pioneer Church Plant Model. Similarly, the new church, daughter church,
satellite church, and adopted church models are sub-models of the Church Service Launch Model.21
MODEL #1: THE PIONEER CHURCH PLANT MODEL
In this model, we see that the church grows more through evangelism than transfer growth,
and growth is usually slower. Through discipleship, these congregants are then dispersed
into small groups. It is only after these first steps that gathered worship happens. In pioneer
20
Using Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne’s business metaphor of red and blue oceans, Alan Hirsch speaks of new churches that
“fish” in “blue water”—converting people that no other churches are reaching—and those that fish in “red water”—reaching the more
traditionally churched people that other churches fight over (thus “red water” means conflict and “blood in the water”). See Alan Hirsch
and Dave Ferguson, On the Verge: A Journey into the Apostolic Future of the Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 29–30.
21
As some have pointed out, the two models might be combined into a hybrid where a larger gathered church sponsors many
pioneer church plants and, in some cases, provides the Sunday preacher (remotely) while the pastor-evangelist works directly
on-site.

church plants, monetary resources may come from mission agencies, funds raised from
friends and other churches, self-employment, the tithes of a small core group, or a combina-
tion of all of these. Generally, the pioneer church plant is more innovative and adapted to its
time and place.
The pioneer leader needs a coach and genuine accountability, but generally has more free-
dom than the church service launch planter. A solo approach to start pioneer church planting
involves a lone church planter moving to a new area with family (or alone if single) and begin-
ning from scratch. A team approach involves up to fi fteen to twenty “EOBs” (“evangelistically
oriented believers”),22 along with a church planter. Author Peyton Jones believes plants should
always be started by teams of a relatively small size.23 The church-planting team should all be
deeply committed to evangelism, but beyond this, it should function somewhat in the way
an existing church’s staff with multiple positions would function. Roughly speaking, a range
of gifts should be sought within the team. There should be specialization, with some serving
bi-vocationally.
Gathering the teams can be a process of mitosis, where all members come from a mother
church plant or another church in the same city. It can also be a process of migration, where all
members move from another town or place to a new city to establish a church. Or, it can be a mix-
ture of both. If the target neighborhood is multiethnic, the team must also be correspondingly
multiethnic from the start.
Training the team is often neglected, but this is an important part of church planting.
If possible, the church planter should take six months or more to train the team in the gos-
pel, in evangelism, in spiritual growth disciplines, and in the ways and means of church
planting.
The team approach can have two variations. The first is a core-group approach which refers
to individuals in a particular location coming together (usually out of several other churches) and
agreeing to start a new church and look for a church planter. There are some dangers with this
approach. If the church planter has not been part of the core group team gatherings, the team can
think of themselves as the empowered “board” and the church planter as their employee. Despite
this tendency, this approach can work.
The second team approach is indirect church planting. This refers to when a ministry that was
not originally purposed to plant churches (such as an evangelistic ministry focused on business-
people) finds that it has converts who don’t fit into existing churches. The ministry then seeks to
cooperate with a missions agency or local church to plant an entirely new church.
Below are some of the various sub-models of the pioneer church.
Gathered congregation. The goal for a gathered congregation is to worship in a public
building on Sundays with both a program-based design (featuring programs focused on the
22
Th is term and acronym come from ministry leader Craig Ellis.
23
Peyton Jones, Church Plantology: The Art and Science of Planting Churches (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2021), 161ff.

congregation’s children, youth, men, and women) and a network of small groups. The gathered
congregation is usually led by an ordained, full-time minister and normally grows by attract-
ing people into either the large gatherings or small groups. The center of gravity for the church
is in the large gathering—the most substantial worship, instruction, edification, evangelism,
service, stewardship, and communication from leadership happens here. Small groups are also
beneficial but optional.
The advantages of this sub-model are the following:
 Stability: When a key leader leaves, there are enough invested members to find someone
to take their place.
 Institutionalism: This type of group can last for years, decades, or even centuries.
 Evangelism: Through preaching and other attractional events, they reach non-Christians
who have been previously unwilling to commit to a community.
 Expertise: Generally, there are higher skill levels in pastoring, education, and teaching.
Conversely, the disadvantages of the gathered congregation sub-model are the following:
 The potential for bureaucracy or an overemphasis of traditionalism.

 Lower pastoral accountability.
 More passivity and nominalism from congregants, paired with a lack of discipleship.
 Institutional upkeep can keep the church absorbed in its own needs rather than willing
to give away, plant, and reach out to the broader community.
Cell-celebration church. The goal of a cell-celebration church is to form multiple base communi-
ties, or “cells,” that meet in homes. Growth comes through drawing people into those cells and
multiplying the number of groups. Cell group membership is not optional; because there are
virtually no other programs available, anyone who isn’t in a cell isn’t in the church. Education,
discipleship, and mission happen predominantly through the cell. The center of gravity is in the
small group, yet unlike house churches the cell groups exist within a single large church that
meets for worship celebrations that are usually weekly.
This model can supply “the best of both worlds.” It is more stable than the house church,
because even if key members leave a cell group, the group can readily merge with others and
continue. It is also highly flexible, as church functions can take place within the cells, and various
ministry objectives such as programs can take place across all of the cells. However, many of the
disadvantages of house churches are present in cell-celebration churches as well.
House church movement. House churches consist of one base community small enough
to meet in a home or storefront, are led by a lay pastor or bi-vocational pastor, and are de-
signed to continue meeting in smaller groups at other house churches rather than growing
into a larger church. House church movements grow through relationships and mission in
the neighborhood. The center of gravity for the church is the small group, and there is no

other space—all functions of worship, evangelism, instruction, service to the community,
communion, stewardship, governance and leadership, and pastoral care and counseling hap-
pen in the house group.
This environment fosters intimate relationships due to the organic—rather than bureau-
cratic—nature of the group. Evangelism is then naturally encouraged throughout the process of
forming these relationships. House churches also create a system with high accountability and
the opportunity for informal lay or mutual pastoring, and they have relatively low costs. But they
can also prove unstable and have a lack of sustained presence. The only gifts available for leader-
ship, counseling, and more are those within the small house church. There is no opportunity to
offer specialized ministries for children, youth, singles, and so on.
“Missional expression.” All of the above sub-models aim to build churches that are self-
sustaining, self-financing, self-governing, and self-propagating. Each of these churches seeks to
mature into being interdependent with other churches and the whole body of Christ rather than
being dependent on other churches’ money, leadership, new members, or ideas.
Certain outreach and evangelistic ministries may never reach all four of these self-supporting
goals. Take campus ministry, for example: students do not have the financial resources needed to
support these ministries, and there is too much turnover among students for them to self-govern
with long-term leaders. This may also be the case for ministries to the extremely poor, marginal-
ized, or the skeptical (such as those within the arts).
Within a city, we must be open to reach out to populations who desperately need the gospel
but may not be grounded enough to establish a traditional, self-supporting church. “Missional ex-
pression” is a term that encompasses outreach ministries that are open-ended—where there is no
initial goal set for becoming self-sustaining, self-financing, self-governing, and self-propagating.
The initial goal may instead be to find long-term support from a mother church or a network of
churches.
CHURCH SER VICE LAUNCH MODEL
While the Pioneer Church Plant Model centers on evangelizing individuals first and gath-
ered worship later, the Church Service Launch Model largely reverses that order by aiming to
gather in worship immediately. It brings together a core group of people who already believe in
Christianity, either from within a mother church or across a reached area, through publicity and
networking. After launching gathered worship, the church focuses more on evangelism and dis-
cipleship. In these cases, money comes from the core group (which may pledge for a year to give
the mother church the ability to plan), a subsidy from the mother church, outside grants from
distant churches and individuals, or a combination of these avenues. These church plants grow
faster but are less evangelistic and innovative because the church planter has less freedom and is
usually supervised as a staff member of the mother church.

This type of church can also have various sub-models, as outlined below.
New church. Through publicity and networking—and without a mother church—the new
church draws together enough Christians to launch a worship service and plant a new church
from there. A classic example of this approach is found in Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas’
Launch: Starting a New Church from Scratch.24
Daughter church. This is when members of an established church separate to form a new,
closely aligned but soon independent daughter congregation. All governance, financial, and
membership functions separate from the mother church fairly quickly.
Satellite church. In satellite or site churches, a mother church forms an additional worship
service with dedicated staff in another location, but many functions (such as budgeting, gover-
nance, and membership) remain centralized. Some things, such as music, worship, pastoral care,
children’s ministry, and preaching, might be carried out by dedicated staff on-site, but all staff
and church members belong to the mother church.
There are several levels of decentralization possible. One example is preaching: other than the
mother church preacher speaking regularly in person or via video, the on-site pastor does virtu-
ally all of the preaching.
Decision-making in these scenarios can be highly centralized in the mother church’s gov-
erning board, or the site may receive more autonomy with its own advisory board. In the latter
scenario, satellite churches could have many decisions delegated to them even while they legally
and ecclesiastically remain under the mother church.
The satellite church could be considered a permanent or indefinite satellite, or it could be
given a longer projected ramp-up time (such as five years or more) to become an established
daughter church.
Adopted church. When an independent fellowship decides to join an established church (or
a struggling, older, or smaller church is “replanted”) through the help of the mother church, this
is considered an adopted church.
Several established churches can each contribute members to a common daughter church,
which may become the official daughter under the supervision of one of the contributing churches.
Or, it may become an independent church with an advisory council made up of people from the
contributing church. This is called a multi-mother or partnership church plant.
The church plant can also be focused on a particular people group or a multi-congregational
plant. A few scenarios of this kind of plant are possible. The first is when a church establishes a
new congregation among a particular language, ethnic, or social group, often using the same
building so the congregations can be linked and use common services. The second is when the
new church becomes a particular worship service and congregation within the mother church, so
all its members are members of the mother church.
24
Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas, Launch: Starting a New Church from Scratch (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2006 and 2017).

FOUR-STAGE PROCESSES FOR CHURCH PLANTING
Each of the two main church-planting models above can be broken down into two different four-
stage processes that explain their journeys in greater detail. While distinct from one another, the
first two and the last two stages do possess certain similarities. In the first two stages, the church
planter initially focuses on personal work with individuals; building a staff, planning corporate
worship, and organizing systems come later. In the final two stages, the church planter initially fo-
cuses on staff-building, preparing for a corporate worship launch, and organizing the systems of the
church. These four-stage processes could be broken down further, but these models are common.
THE PROCESS OF THE PIONEER CHURCH PLANT :

HOUSE CHURCH APPROACH 25
This pioneer church plant starts with a hyper-local focus, emphasizes serving the community,
and makes use of smaller gatherings of Christians such as cells or house churches. The process for
developing this type of church usually happens in the following way.
Stage 1: Prepare (the first six months to a year). In this preparatory phase, the church planter
is usually bi-vocational or completely unpaid. They are recruited and trained by being brought
into an existing missional community, often some distance from where the new missional com-
munity will be started. The pastor becomes rooted in the new target neighborhood by residing
there, enrolling family members in schools, getting involved in civic organizations, volunteering
in local service activities, and taking part in the economic activity of the new locale—buying,
selling, and working there. During this period, the planter begins to gather Christians who share
the vision for such a church and are willing to live in a particular place. The church planter also
evangelizes non-Christians in the neighborhood.
Stage 2: First missional community (the second year). In stage two, the church planter gath-
ers existing Christians, new believers, and non-Christians into a weekly missional community
that meets for fellowship, prayer, study of the Bible, and discussion in the neighborhood where
the planter lives. From this, the planter develops a “discipleship core” within the missional com-
munity—these are those who agree to living a fairly demanding life of daily prayers, reading, in-
struction, service, and other disciplines. The discipleship core exists in triads of disciples holding
one another accountable. At the same time, the planter leads the whole missional community to
begin thinking about parish ministry through the following phases:
 Vision phase: Establish a theology of place and create guidelines for taking root in a com-
munity. For example, how strict will the plant be about where members live and work?
25
See JR Woodward and Dan White, Jr., The Church as Movement: Starting and Sustaining Missional-Incarnational Communities
(Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2016); Paul Sparks, et al., The New Parish: How Neighborhood Churches are Transforming Mission,
Discipleship, and Community (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2014); Len Tang and Charles Cotherman, eds., Sent to Flourish: A Guide to
Planting and Multiplying Churches (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2019).

 Learning phase: Learn about the neighborhood, its history, demographics, needs, and
opportunities. Hold discussions with local leaders. Take walks together and listen to
those in the neighborhood.
 Discernment phase: Talk to people in the community about their needs and determine what
contribution the missional community can make to the common good of the neighborhood.
 Action phase: Determine what to do and how to carry it out. As the missional commu-
nity grows, evangelize organically and seek to build up the discipleship core so it com-
prises as much of the missional community as possible.
Stage 3: New missional communities (the second to third year). When the first missional
community grows to about thirty people or more, one or two new missional communities be-
gin—preferably in different neighborhoods—either using leaders from the original community
or by bringing in a new leader.
Stage 4: Worship celebration (the fourth or fifth year). When four or five missional communities
are established, a worship celebration of corporate praise and teaching begins. Recruiting staff is likely
now necessary. This can potentially become a kind of cell church or a network of house churches.
This four-stage pathway can have some variations, however. For example, the house churches
may form a loose network without the goal of larger public worship. With cell churches, the goal
may be to have a more centralized network of home cell groups that meet monthly for worship
once a critical mass is reached. Lastly, by the time three years have passed, the house church(es)
may become self-supporting, but this is dependent on whether parishioners are professionals,
blue-collar, or poor, as well as a mixture of other factors.
THE PROCESS OF THE PIONEER CHURCH PLANT :

PIONEER EVANGELISM APPROACH 26
This church has a local focus and starts out evangelizing disciples. The journey for this church
usually happens in the following way.
Stage 1: Learn and gather (the first five to six months). The church planter and their team
learn about a community by researching the area and the people they want to reach. In this stage,
they network, network, and network some more. They inhabit local places where people in the
neighborhood gather and build a network of relationships with at least fift y non-Christians. These
are usually people they have met more than twice. They also gather Christians who are both
committed to the vision and oriented toward outreach, as well as new Christians (and even some
enthusiastic almost-Christians). For Christians, prayer groups that cast vision are formed. These
groups brainstorm together—they don’t just begin a class on “the biblical church.” They begin
26
See Dietrich Schindler, The Jesus Model: Planting Churches the Jesus Way (Carlisle, UK: Piquant, 2013); Timothy J. Keller and J.
Allen Thompson, Redeemer Church Planter Manual (Redeemer City to City, 2002); Michael Green, Evangelism through the Local
Church (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1992).

each meeting with a devotional, then ask, “What are the non-Christians in our community like?”
They draw up a spiritual profile of these people—their fears, prejudices, hopes, goals, and beliefs.
Group members envision the other’s half of the conversation by imagining what they would say
about Christianity. They also figure out what sub-types of people are in the community, then ask,
“How will this church need to be if we are going to reach these folks? What will our side of the
conversation be? And how will we communicate?” Finally, they pray this church into existence.
For new Christians and non-Christians alike, evangelistic groups and events are formed.
These groups start by engaging non-believers in conversations, simply letting people know they
are Christians who are planting a church. They show them hospitality in informal conversations
that take place throughout the course of daily life. The group also hosts service projects in which
Christians invite non-Christians to volunteer with them to benefit others in the community.
Members of the team can also invite one or more non-Christians to an event—a concert, a lec-
ture, an art presentation, a public debate, or a dialogue with a religious theme. Afterwards, they
might discuss what they both saw. Even the internet and social media can be helpful tools for
contacting local people about Christian themes and subjects, getting deeper into conversations
about what they believe or don’t believe and the reasons why.
The planter and the team also invite new Christians and non-Christians into a group focused
on processing the Christian faith. These could be called anything—“Discovering,” “Exploring,”
or “Questioning” Christianity groups—or they could have no name at all. There are many possi-
ble approaches to these gatherings: they may choose to read a book together, go through a topical
course of apologetic questions, or host a simple evangelistic Bible study that explains the gospel.
During this stage a clear, compelling, and accessible timeline of the vision is formulated for
the new church. By the end of this stage, a pioneer evangelism plant usually has about fifteen
to twenty Christians, new Christians, and almost-Christians who are committed to the plant;
and the planter and their team usually have at least fift y ongoing, face-to-face relationships with
non-believers. If the plant starts with ten to twenty “EOBs” (“evangelistically oriented believers”),
from a local church, this entire phase can take less than six months.
Stage 2: Grow in groups (the first six to twelve months). At this point, the plant begins to
form a small-group system. After an evangelistic inquirers’ group is established in the last stage, a
leadership group is begun in this stage. This group takes the most highly committed people with
the potential to lead and begins training them in basic and intermediate discipleship and group-
leadership skills. This group can function somewhat like an informal leadership council.
Then, evangelism is increased, and more large-group events take place. These could take the
form of open forums and evangelistic talks, events, or meals with special interest groups (such as
moms, women in business, or artists) that address concerns with Christian wisdom. More inter-
net inquiries, newspaper ads, or mailings can be dispersed to advertise preview worship services.
Planters aim to follow up with absolutely everyone who comes to these services. The plant can
host or participate in community service projects and invite non-Christians to volunteer. All the
Christians and non-Christians connected to the plant can be brought into small groups. (The

planter sometimes leads one or two, but if the groups grow beyond that, the planter usually trains
leaders and supervises them.)
Holding preview worship services twice a month is a great way to show everyone what the
church looks like. Such services are ideally held on Sunday afternoons or evenings so anyone who
may attend another church still has a chance to attend. When beginning the services, planters
usually say something along the lines of, “We are exploring the message, making friends, and
developing ministry organization at these services.” Regular “vision nights” also usually take
place, to reach new interested Christians. Activities such as picnics or social events can also bring
people together to build and strengthen relationships.
In phase two, planters meet regularly with their start-up team—those in their leadership
team, as well as others committed to bringing people into the church and helping with the launch
of weekly worship.
When things are going slowly, the planter usually limits themselves to holding a monthly
worship service while multiplying through more evangelistic small groups, more vision nights,
and community events until fift y to seventy people have committed. At that size, the plant is
ready to move on to stage three.
Stage 3: Launch worship. In this stage, the planter and the team begin weekly worship when
they are sure they will have sixty or more people present. They may use multiple means to draw
people to these services: word of mouth, websites and social media, radio, printed advertisements,
and so on. Those who attend are immediately invited to join small groups and expand the net-
work. After each week’s service, there is a brief meeting for newcomers to ask questions. There,
the planter meets with those wanting to explore Christianity or know more about the church
and its beliefs. Planters find ways to train and acclimate all newcomers to the DNA and ethos of
the new congregation. Some churches also hold membership classes after the service, as well as
beginning a bi-weekly or monthly ministry community meeting for its lay leaders.
This stage ordinarily leads to a leap forward in growth, as it attracts many Christians who will
not participate in a plant until they see critical mass and evidence of success. This growth means
many of the ministries in the church become more systematic, including worship, evangelism,
assimilation, stewardship, small groups, instruction and discipleship, community service and
justice, faith and work integration, and leadership development.
A new leadership team is usually constituted at this point, based on individuals’ character
and competencies during the launch process.
Stage 4: Organize (the first one to three years). In this stage, the church organizes by finding
its footing formally, legally, and ecclesiastically. Here are some signs that a church may be healthy
enough to organize:
 Attendance has grown by at least 5 to 7 percent each year.

 Half of worship attendees have joined small groups.
 Evangelistic activities have grown and shown fruit.

 Membership classes have grown.
 There is a sufficient number of new leaders and officers.
 The church supports itself financially.
Once it becomes feasible to do so, a healthy goal for an organized church is to reproduce by plant-
ing a satellite or a daughter church.
This pathway also has variations. The church may be started by a full-time church planter
with a small core group of ten or more people, or it may be started by a bi-vocational church
planter. A modified cell church model may meet three times a month for worship and once a
month in a cell group. They may become a self-supporting church by the end of the third or fourth
year, but if this church is set among the poor, it may never reach self-support.
THE PROCESS OF THE CHURCH SER VICE LAUNCH:

NEW CHURCH APPROACH 27
This version of the Church Service Launch Model is usually focused on a region rather than a small,
specific community or group of people. It starts by beginning worship services and preaching right
away. The pathway for this type of church launch usually looks something like the following.
Stage 1: Prepare. The right church planter is found in this step. Church planters in this model
need more skill in a couple of areas than those who follow the Pioneer Church Plant Model—
namely, public speaking and administrative management. These individuals need to know how
to delegate, supervise, and grow an organization. It is helpful for the planter to have some sort of
sending group that can provide oversight and accountability.
Next, a strategy is developed. The planter must research the location and community they
plan to reside in. This includes planning for mission, outlining the values and vision of the
church, and setting concrete goals (as well as benchmarks to reach before moving through the
stages of preparation, pre-launch, and launch). Planters need to raise funds and develop a budget
from financial partners—friends and churches that support the plant, denominational or net-
work grants, personal savings, bi-vocational salary, a spouse’s vocation, or a launch team tithe
(this final source is hard to count on).
The final step of stage one is to build the first iteration of staff. Hiring staff does not usually
happen when volunteers can manage the needs; however, hiring precedes growth. Members of
the worship team or children’s ministry team (unless their community has very few children) are
usually hired first. They may hire part-time help from within their launch team.
Stage 2: Pre-launch. In this phase, the emphasis is on preparing for the first weekly worship
service and gathering a launch team. The goal is to launch as publicly and as large in numbers
27
See Searcy and Thomas, Launch. The chapter on fundraising with partners is well worth note. Clint Clifton, Church Planting
Thresholds: A Gospel-Centered Church Planting Guide (New City Network, 2016).

as possible. A target date is set for a launch of weekly worship. This date allows sufficient time to
accomplish all other necessary preparation and falls within a good season—when school starts,
around Easter, or at the start of a new year. A location for monthly preview services is chosen,
as well as eventual weekly services. Ideally, this space is conveniently located, feels familiar and
comfortable for the community, and allows room to grow.
Monthly preview services begin four to six months prior to the launch date (and no less than
four months). These services attract more people to the launch team, give planters invaluable
practice, and allow for experimentation and minor failures in a low-risk and low-stress environ-
ment as they become more familiar with what to do. They also provide a way to test out spaces,
technology, and people as momentum builds. Finally, and crucially, planters follow up with abso-
lutely everyone who attends these services.
Planters gathering a launch team are ideally aware of the difference between a launch team
and a core group.
Launch Team Traditional Core Group

Lives in the target area of the church. Can live anywhere.
Exists only through the first weekly service. Exists indefinitely.
Is engaged only to accomplish a task. Engaged to build intimate fellowship and grow
spiritually.
Focuses totally on those outside the group. Focuses mainly on those within.
Can include enthusiastic non-Christians. Includes generally only mature Christians.
A core group tends to perceive itself as “the church” the moment they begin doing anything
together. This may lead to them failing to understand their role in outreach in order to create a
new church because they feel they already are the church. While they may invite people to come
in and share, the core group inevitably focuses less on outreach. By comparison, the launch team
does read the Bible and pray together, but the main focus is always on the future and those outside
the church. If this orientation is not kept, the core group works more on inside relationships that
become relatively harder for newcomers to break into. The launch team can start small, and each
monthly preview service can bring new people to the launch team. In this scenario, planters look
for those who seem enthusiastic and supportive, those who live in the target area, those who are
most like the people they are trying to reach in the target area, and new believers with a lot of
non-Christian friends.
During the pre-launch stage, preview services are promoted. Advertising can be accom-
plished by working with professionals to design marketing materials. These materials clearly
communicate that this is a new church that wants people to join the service, and are promoted in
event-oriented newspapers, trade journals, radio, cable, and the web—not in Christian outlets. A
buzz can also be created through word of mouth by making a large number of personal invita-
tions. This can be as simple as the church planter and everyone connected to the church invit-
ing everyone they already know. The plant can host events that attract new people: coffee house

nights, picnics in the park, movie nights, holiday celebrations, service projects, and more. Events
like these are easy to invite friends to, and from there, attendees can be given an invitation to the
church service.
Stage 3: Launch. If the launch team has done its work, there will be both Christians and non-
Christians present at the first regular worship service. In general, those in attendance will likely
be there in response to personal invitations, not advertising or marketing. This model assumes
the launch service will have a compelling preacher who contextualizes effectively and relates well
to Christian and non-Christian audiences.
Almost immediately in stage three, the church comes into a new existence: the launch team is
disbanded; and new systems are set up for worship, evangelism, assimilation, stewardship, small
groups, instruction and discipleship, community service and justice, and leadership develop-
ment. A new leadership team is constituted based on individuals’ character and competencies
during the launch process.
Stage 4: Reproduce. After the church has grown to a healthy size and is self-supporting, the
church explores the idea of reproducing by planting a satellite or a daughter church.
THE PROCESS OF THE CHURCH SER VICE LAUNCH:

DAUGHTER OR SATELLITE CHURCH APPROACH 28
The goal of a daughter church is to deploy several of a mother church’s members to plant a local
church somewhere in the same city or locale that quickly becomes independent from the mother
church (though it may stay in close relationship indefinitely). A satellite congregation may func-
tion as another site of the mother church for a longer period (such as five to seven years) but be
expected to eventually become a stand-alone church. It may also stay dependent on the mother
church indefinitely.
The process for this approach is nearly identical to the new church approach. This church is
also regionally focused and leads with worship services, with the main difference being that the
core group of believers originates from a mother church rather than through personal invitations
and marketing. Nevertheless, planting a daughter or satellite church is still a unique journey that
requires description.
Stage 1: Realistic kingdom orientation. Rather than describing the daughter or satellite
church, this first meta-stage focuses on the sending church. It is important to determine if the
mother church has realistic expectations about the planting experience. Mother churches should
note that daughter or site churches require time, money, and effort. Additionally, for every two
people who leave the mother church, there will be one or two new people drawn into the daugh-
ter or site church who were not going to their church before (a good percentage of whom are
28
Ralph Moore, Starting a New Church: The Church Planter’s Guide to Success (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2002); Aubrey Malphurs,
The Nuts and Bolts of Church Planting: A Guide for Starting Any Kind of Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2012).

unchurched or non-Christian). Therefore, the overall network of Christians grows much more
than it could have otherwise.
Third, the mother church will be incentivized to reach out and grow. While the loss of the
church-planting core group is a challenge, it can also make room—sometimes literally in the
seats—and provide a new impetus for outreach. A launch leads to accelerated growth between the
mother and daughter or satellite. After the initial loss, the mother church ideally grows back to
the size it was (and even beyond), and the church plant sees kingdom growth faster than it might
have done otherwise.
Another consideration is supporting staff and volunteers. Daughter church plants tend to at-
tract a disproportionate number of the more ambitious people, and so many of the best lay leaders
will go with a new church plant, leaving a high number of “job vacancies” in the mother church. The
plant will be costly in terms of relationships (even leading to a sense of bereavement) and a sense of
lost energy with fewer people in services. The mother will actually feel like a different church, which
takes some adjustment. Both the losses and new growth that come with planting mean the mother
church changes more rapidly over a period of two to three years than it has in some time. Leaders
ask, “Who are we now?” They look for new needs to meet and opportunities to capitalize on. There
is also a loss of income—many people who leave are stronger givers than the new people who come.
The mother church must, in a sense, reboot and relaunch its own outreach and extend its own
future vision as it plants the new church. Many have found that the mother church will need to
organize its own major initiatives in outreach and mission to coincide with the same year it sends
the church plant out. This is actually a great opportunity to begin new ministries—particularly
new outreach efforts—in the mother church. In his book Planting Churches, Stuart Murray writes:
[Mother] churches will be well advised to integrate this preparatory work into all
aspects of their program and community life—sermons, home groups, prayer
meetings, main gatherings, business meetings, pastoral visiting and informal
conversations … Inadequate or half-hearted preparation risks problems further
down the track as well as squandering an unusual opportunity to explore missional
and ecclesial issues together and to introduce new initiatives within the church.29
The mother church not only enhances outreach but also puts before the congregation a vision for
its own future. Murray continues:
A vision of its own life beyond the process of church planting is crucial … otherwise,
once the planting team has been deployed and the new church is up and running, the
planting church can become very lethargic and begin to stagnate … This might be
29
Stuart Murray, Planting Churches: A Framework for Practitioners (Carlisle, UK: Paternoster, 2008), 118.

a social action project, an evangelistic initiative, a proposal to reshape or renew the
church’s premises … or something else.30
Nonetheless, does the mother church, looking at the gains and losses to come, have a vision for
the kingdom? Do they have a joy in the kingdom’s growth that is greater than their desire for
institutional security? Any church that is more concerned by their own losses than by kingdom
gains betrays its narrow interests. In the long run, the benefits of planting new churches are
greater than those of maintaining an undivided, older congregation, even if they may not be
initially obvious.
Stage 2: Plan. The planning stage for a daughter or satellite church includes some
decision-making.
Church planter: This is usually a staff person of the mother church or someone who joins its
staff for a period of time. It is important for the whole mother church congregation to be support-
ive of the daughter, and this ensures they can form a relationship with the planter.
Size: The core group from the mother church can vary in size, especially depending on the
size of the mother church. A typical number is around 10 to 20 percent of the congregation, so
twenty-five to thirty-five people leaving a church of 150 to 200 people is normal. The size may also
depend on other considerations, such as the character of the church. A new church may need a
smaller, more carefully recruited core group.
Location: The church plant is usually located relatively close to the mother church, yet far
enough away to exist in a distinct neighborhood or region. It’s best to find some key barrier such
as a beltway or river that differentiates regions in the minds of locals.
Rationale: The reasons for planting a church can be manifold.
 To reach a locale that is harder for the mother church to reach, due to location or other
issues.
 To give believers greater scope for their gifts—many people who go with the daughter or
satellite church end up giving more money and time to the new ministry than they did
in the mother church.
 To grow the whole body of Christ—and the denomination as well.
In this planning stage, relational expectations are defined between the mother church and
the daughter or site. What is the path toward organization and becoming self-supporting? (A
daughter church will become independent more quickly while a satellite may do it more slowly
or never at all.) How different will the daughter or site be from the mother church? How will
decisions be made, such as what can be done only with approval, what can be done with routine
reporting, and what can be done without consulting or reporting? What will the budgets and
financial expenditures be?
30
Ibid., 118–119.

Stage 3: Pre-launch. Designation of the staff is based partly on the size of the core group and
partly on the money raised but, in any case, is provisional and an estimate. If the church grows
faster or slower than anticipated, changes in staffing should occur. In general, wise staffing pre-
cedes growth rather than responds to it.
During pre-launch, the core group is gathered. This can be done through a general call to the
members, an invitation of existing cell groups, or an invitation to members who live in the vicin-
ity of the new church plant.
The greatest challenge facing daughter and satellite launches is turning the core group into a
launch team that is outward facing rather than focused on creating a church that fits their needs.
Being aware of this tendency, planters prepare the core group by holding prayer meetings that
cast vision, teaching the DNA of the new church, encouraging public faith (reaching out to one’s
friends and colleagues as a believer), and possibly holding preview services (though not as many
as in the Pioneer Church Plant Model).
Stage 4: Launch. After new systems are set up for worship, evangelism, assimilation, steward-
ship, small groups, instruction and discipleship, community service and justice, and leadership
development, a new leadership team is constituted, again based on character and competencies
during the launch process.

ADDITIONAL READING RECOMMENDED BY CITY TO CITY
ON CHURCH PLANTING GLOBALLY
Hesselgrave, David. Planting Churches Cross-Culturally: North America and Beyond, 2nd edition.
Baker, 2000.
Jones, Peyton. Church Plantology: The Art and Science of Planting Churches. Zondervan, 2021.
Keller, Timothy. Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City.
Zondervan, 2012. Chapter 29.
Keller, Timothy, and J. Allen Thompson. Church Planter Manual. Redeemer City to City, 2002.
Ott, Craig, and Gene Wilson. Global Church Planting: Biblical Principles and Best Practices for
Multiplication. Baker, 2011.
ON CHURCH PLANTING IN WESTERN CONTEXTS
James, Christopher B. Church Planting in Post-Christian Soil: Theology and Practice. Oxford
University Press, 2017.
Murray, Stuart. Planting Churches: A Framework for Practitioners. Paternoster, 2008.
Noort, G., K. Avtzi, and S. Paas, eds. “Evangelistic Mission in Europe: Seven Historical Models,”
“Challenges and Opportunities in Doing Evangelism.” Sharing Good News: Handbook on
Evangelism in Europe. WCC, 2017, 21–51.
Paas, Stefan. Church Planting in the Secular West: Learning from the European Experience.
Eerdmans, 2016.
Paas, Stefan. “Religious Consciousness in a Post-Christian Culture.” Journal of Reformed Theology,
2012, 35–55.
Paas, Stefan, ed., and Timothy Keller, author. Center Church Europe. Franeker, 2014.
Schindler, Dietrich. The Jesus Model: Planting Churches the Jesus Way. Piquant, 2013.
Searcy, Nelson, and Kerrick Thomas. Launch: Starting a New Church from Scratch, revised and
expanded. Baker, 2017.
Stetzer, Ed, and Daniel Im. Planting Missional Churches: Your Guide to Starting Churches that
Multiply, 2nd edition. B & H Academic, 2016.
Woodward, JR, and Dan White, Jr. The Church as Movement: Starting and Sustaining Missional-
Incarnational Churches. IVP, 2016.

About the Author
TIMOTHY KELLER was the chairman of Redeemer City to City and the founding pastor of
Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, which he started in 1989 with his wife, Kathy,
and three young sons. For over 25 years, he led a diverse congregation of urban professionals that
grew to a weekly attendance of over 5,000. After stepping down as senior pastor of Redeemer
in July of 2017, he continued to serve City to City, a ministry that has helped start more than
1,000 churches in over 150 cities and equipped more than 79,000 leaders. Tim authored numer-
ous books, with some of the best known being The Reason for God, The Prodigal God, and The
Meaning of Marriage, which he co-authored with Kathy. Overall, God allowed him to author 31
books that have sold over 6 million copies and have been translated into 29 languages.
347
Gospel-Centered City Ministry: The
City to City DNA aims to cultivate a
deeper understanding of the core values of
Redeemer City to City. In eighteen white
papers, organization founder Timothy Keller
elaborates on five key concepts—gospel,
culture, city, mission, and movement—that
motivate City to City’s work of planting
churches, engaging culture, and catalyzing
movement around the world.
City to City’s hope is that church leaders across the globe

will evaluate these DNA principles, dialogue with others
about how they can be contextualized for ministry in
their cities, and work together to serve a greater gospel
movement. Through robust discussions with Christians
around the world, we can collectively have a stronger
grasp on the biblical principles found within the DNA
outlined here and pass it on to the church of tomorrow.
TIMOTHY KELLER was the chairman of

Redeemer City to City and the founding
pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in
Manhattan, which he started in 1989 with
his wife, Kathy, and three young sons. For
over 25 years, he led a diverse congregation
of urban professionals that grew to a weekly
attendance of over 5,000. After stepping
down as senior pastor of Redeemer in July
of 2017, he continued to serve City to City,
a ministry that has helped start more than 1,000 churches in over 150 cities and
equipped more than 79,000 leaders. Tim authored numerous books, with some
of the best known being The Reason for God, The Prodigal God, and The Meaning
of Marriage, which he co-authored with Kathy. Overall, God allowed him to
author 31 books that have sold over 6 million copies and have been translated
into 29 languages.

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TIMOTHY KELLER

Redeemer City to City

First published in 2023

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 347

THE DEFINITION OF THE CHURCH

Movement | Church Planting 294

THE PURPOSES OF THE CHURCH

THE MARKS OF THE CHURCH

Movement | Church Planting 295

RATIONALE FOR CHURCH PLANTING

PLANTING CHURCHES AS PARTICIPATION IN GOD’S MISSION

Movement | Church Planting 296

Movement | Church Planting 297

THE EVANGELISTIC EFFECTIVENESS OF NEW CHURCHES

Movement | Church Planting 298

Movement | Church Planting 299

PROFILE OF A CHURCH PLANTER

Movement | Church Planting 300

TRAITS OF AN EFFECTIVE CHURCH PLANTER

Movement | Church Planting 301

LEVEL 2: BASICS OF BEING A PASTOR

Movement | Church Planting 302

Movement | Church Planting 303

LEVEL 3B: THE TRAITS OF AN URBAN CHURCH PLANTER

Movement | Church Planting 304

LEVEL 4: THE TRAITS OF A TRANSFORMATIONAL CHURCH PLANTER

 Strong preaching skills: Sometimes a church planter is so exceptional as a leader that

Movement | Church Planting 305

MODELS FOR CHURCH PLANTING

Slower growth. Can experience rapid growth.

Movement | Church Planting 306

Lower up-front costs. Can generate new income quickly.

MODEL #1: THE PIONEER CHURCH PLANT MODEL

Movement | Church Planting 307

Movement | Church Planting 308

 The potential for bureaucracy or an overemphasis of traditionalism.

Movement | Church Planting 309

CHURCH SER VICE LAUNCH MODEL

Movement | Church Planting 310

Movement | Church Planting 311

THE PROCESS OF THE PIONEER CHURCH PLANT :

Movement | Church Planting 312

THE PROCESS OF THE PIONEER CHURCH PLANT :

Movement | Church Planting 313

Movement | Church Planting 314

 Attendance has grown by at least 5 to 7 percent each year.

Movement | Church Planting 315

THE PROCESS OF THE CHURCH SER VICE LAUNCH:

Movement | Church Planting 316

Launch Team Traditional Core Group

Movement | Church Planting 317

THE PROCESS OF THE CHURCH SER VICE LAUNCH:

Movement | Church Planting 318

Movement | Church Planting 319

Movement | Church Planting 320

Movement | Church Planting 321

ON CHURCH PLANTING GLOBALLY

ON CHURCH PLANTING IN WESTERN CONTEXTS

Movement | Church Planting 322