Professional Dissertations DMin

Date of Award

2002

Document Type

Project Report

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Doctor of Ministry DMin

First Advisor

Ricardo Norton

Second Advisor

Alfonso Valenzuela

Third Advisor

Nancy Jean Vyhmeister

Abstract

Church planting is one of the basic tasks to which God has called his disciples. The gospel commission of Matt 28:19, 20 implicitly calls for church planting. This dissertation presents biblical and theological foundations for church planting. In addition, it explores the writings of current authors, looking for appropriate church planting strategies. Success in church planting is achieved by applying certain strategies. These include having a clear vision of what God expects, completing a demographic study of the chosen location, pinpointing the place where the new congregation will begin, form the founding group and training them, having the first meetings, supporting the church plant with finances and personnel, and lastly making provision for the new church to have its own building.

These steps were followed in Puebla, traditionally a very Catholic city, hard to reach with the gospel. The church plant was initiated in February 2002. Demographic studies looked at two possible areas. To create a vision in the Puebla Central Church, the plan was presented to the church board and to the church, following a special week of prayer. With the support of the church board, and following a detailed demographic study, the place chosen was Colonia La Libertad. An Adventist family living in that area offered their home for the meeting of the nucleus of the new church. On May 13, 2000, a group of twenty-six members of the Central Church was dedicated to the task. On the next Sabbath they met at their new location. Church responsibilities were distributed and over the following weeks members were trained to lead out in their new church.

In time the home where they were meeting became too small. In May 2001, a property on which to build a new church was bought. A building on the property was remodeled to serve as a temporary meeting place. During the first year there were seven baptisms. In February 2002 a series of evangelistic meetings was held; four more were baptized. By July 2002 the congregation had thirty-seven members and some eight visitors attended each Sabbath. The members put on a Vacation Bible School. After being trained in different aspects of missionary work, the members are carrying out an aggressive work plan. Growth, both qualitative and quantitative, is promising. The support of the mother church has been evident throughout the process. The two congregations have profited from their work together. The remaining challenge is the construction of a church building for La Libertad.

Subject Area

Seventh-day Adventists--Mexico--Puebla; Church development, New--Seventh-day Adventists

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/dmin/602

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