Church Planting as Evangelism

Bud’s dissertation examined church planting as evangelism through two lenses: how people are influenced to come to Christ and how their perception of the world impacted their decision to follow Christ in church plants. Interviews were conducted with church planters in a church planting movement in Brazil where it has been reported that the church plants grow by at least 50% conversion growth.

The study showed that there were intentional activities church plants practiced and characteristics they exhibited that played important roles in how people were influenced to come to Christ in these church plants. The church planters also engaged with the worldview of their audience to communicate the gospel in ways that made sense. Shame/honor and fear/power worldview were the two dominant worldview perspective that shaped the practices and interactions of church planters and their audience. Visiting, hospitality, and achieved honor were shame/honor characteristics displayed by church planters. Deliverance from demonization, healing, and encounters with folk religions were fear/power characteristics that impacted the audience of the church planters to create receptivity to the gospel.

The data showed that personal relationship through visits served as a catalyst for church planting as evangelism in this cohort, a similarity with the early Methodist movement. The second point was the importance to understand the work of the Spirit in the life of the those the churches wanted to reach. Both served as important ways to positively engage the audience and increased receptivity to the gospel.