Lyle E. Schaller is America's most influential religious leader among all denominations, according to a survey of more than three thousand religious leaders conducted by the Hartford Religious Research Center and reported in the Los Angeles Times.

What does it take to be a church planter or ministry entrepreneur? According to veteran church planter Tim Morey, you need more than just vocational capacities—you need spiritual competencies. Featuring real-life stories from leaders plus practices and discussion questions, this book is a practical guide to spiritual formation geared to the unique needs of church planters and teams.

David Garrison, PhD University of Chicago, defines Church Planting Movements as rapidly multiplying indigenous churches planting churches that sweep across a people group or population segment. Garrison's Church Planting Movements: How God Is Redeeming a Lost World signaled a breakthrough in missionary church planting. After the publication of Garrison's book in 2004 it became impossible to talk about missions without referencing Church Planting Movements. Church Planting Movements examines more than two-dozen movements of multiplying churches on five continents. After presenting these case studies, Garrison identifies ten universal elements present in each movement. He then broadens the circle of examination to identify a further ten common characteristics, factors identified in most, but not all, of the movements. He concludes his examination with a list of "Seven Deadly Sins," i.e. harmful practices that stifle or impede Church Planting Movements. Important for evangelical readers, the author returns to his findings to see how they stand up to the light of Scripture. What he discovers is that Church Planting Movements are much more consistent with the New Testament lay-led house-church movements that swept rapidly through the Mediterranean world in the face of hostile opposition than today's more sedentary professional institutionalized Christianity. Learn more about Church Planting Movements from the book's website: www.ChurchPlantingMovements.com.

The four gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - present Jesus Christ, God Himself, breaking into human history.... The story of Jesus and the early church should not end. Jesus Christ laid the foundation for the church through His life, death, and resurrection as recorded in the four gospels.... The followers of Jesus Christ then continued His work by spreading the gospel through preaching and teaching and the planting of new churches.... To continue the work begun by Christ and His disciples, new church planting should be at the top of our list of priorities, as it was in theirs. From the Prologue

"Starting a new organization is risky business. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, most startups fail; half of them do not reach the five-year mark. Protestant churches are not immune to these trends. Most new churches are not established with denominational support-more than 50% are actually non-denominational-and, therefore, have many of the same vulnerabilities other infant organizations must overcome. Research on both congregants and congregations has shown that millions of Americans are leaving churches, half of all churches do not add any new members, and thousands of churches shutter their doors each year. These numbers suggest that American religion is not a growth industry. Yet, more than 1000 new churches are started in any given year. What are the forces that move people who might otherwise be satisfied working for churches to the more risky role of starting one as a religion entrepreneur? In Church Planters, sociologist Richard Pitt uses more than 125 in-depth interviews with church planters to understand their motivations. First, he uncovers themes in their sometimes miraculous, sometimes mundane answers to the question: "why take on these risks?" Then he examines how they approach three common entrepreneurial challenges-recognizing opportunities, marshalling resources, and framing success-in ways that reduce uncertainty and lead them to believe they will be successful. The book combines their evocative stories with insights from research on commercial and social entrepreneurship to explain how these religion entrepreneurs come to believe their organizational goals must be accomplished, that they are capable of being accomplished, and that they would accomplish them over time"--

If the church is to thrive in the twenty-first century, it will have to take on a new form as it ministers to the 120 million unchurched people in the United States. Planting Growing Churches for the 21st Century is still virtually the only available text on church planting in North America and beyond. In this third edition, readers will find material on the importance of healthy, biblical change in our churches, updated appendixes, insight on our postmodern ministry context, and strategies for reaching new population demographics such as Generations X and Y. Pastors, ministry leaders, and church planters will find the information and advice found in this book invaluable as they carry out their ministries.

Far from being a how-to manual for a certain model of planting, this book is designed to infrom your thinking and working to bring a christ-centered, spirit-empowered, socially-responsble church to your unique context. Taking into account the scriptures unique calling, your unique wiring, and the demands of the host culture, this book will serve as a helpful guide as you develop a biblical, contextual, and authentic philosophy of ministry for the new church.

Using a biblical, strategic plan, this book presents a dynamic, effective plan for planting churches. It presents God's heart for kingdom expansion-planting local churches. Herron discusses characteristics and methods of successful church planters. He thoroughly diagrams how a potential church planter can survey a community with the intent of developing a heart for the community, how to plan strategically, and how to pray strategically. Also included are keys to effective church planting-strategic planning, gathering the core group, reaching the lost, structuring for disciple-making, and developing leaders. Common pitfalls are also discussed. Expanding God's Kingdom Through Church Planting is a book to be read, reread and shared. It deserves a "front row seat" on a bookshelf. Herron writes, "This book was written to provide a high-quality guidebook for church planters, churches that plant churches, schools that teach church planting, and denominational or post-denomination leaders that over church planting."

J. D. Payne explores the biblical, historical and missiological principles of global church planting, and suggests ways that readers can apply international church planting practices to their own contexts.

J. D. Payne explores the biblical, historical and missiological principles of global church planting, and suggests ways that readers can apply international church planting practices to their own contexts.