'Is Church Planting Legitimate?' by John Valentine seeks to further the national and diocesan discussion around ecclesiology, looking specifically at the theological and biblical justification for church planting.
By John ValentineAugust 2022
John Valentine is a theologian, thought leader and trainer, working with teams to revitalise existing churches and start new innovative ones. His work sees him contribute to the ongoing theological conversation concerning church planting.
The heart of Is Church Planting Legitimate? is a response to its titular question with an answer of unity, representing the theological critique fairly and taking the objections seriously. It does so by moving from the large-scale theological issues in play (ecclesiology, missiology, trinity) to those that are most acutely germane around church planting (eschatology and the mission of God), before focusing in on particular contentions.
It traces differences of theology and practice with regards to church planting with what he describes as ‘essentialist’ and ‘functionalist’ views of the Church. It looks at Christology, the Trinity and pneumatology as helpful theological lenses with which to engage with ecclesiology, concluding that it is pneumatology which offers the most dynamic and potentially fruitful way forward in thinking theologically about church planting.
Valentine calls for courage and faith, an ability to let go of some cherished tenets of both ecclesiology and missiology, and a mutual imagination and discernment, as the Church works together to understand what God is doing today in our contexts in and through both church and mission.
