I’ve just recently finished reading Darrin Patrick’s Church Planter. The reviews for this book have been great across the board for the most part (excluding, of course, that whole John MacArthur incident) and my impression of the book was very positive as well. Most incredible for me was the way that Patrick approached the role of church planting from a biblical approach.
Though there are some practical and pragmatic features in the book that appeal directly to church planting, this book is by and large for and about elders and pastors in the local church (new or existing). Patrick is to be commended for his efforts to show that church planters are primarily God’s servants under his command and his qualifications.
I do believe, however, that this book’s greatest strength and the one aspect of the book that can have the most significant impact on the way that church planting is done is his list of qualifications for church planters. In an age where the extremes for qualifiying church planters include no vetting processes and year-long application processes, Patrick brings clarity and practicality with a biblical approach.
The church planter should be:
- A Rescued Man
- A Called Man
- A Qualified Man (biblically)
- A Dependent Man
- A Skilled Man
- A Shepherding Man
- A Determined Man
Certainly other things could be said and added to this list, but it is a great distillation and one that networks and denominations should heed.
