You hear a lot of talk today in man made religious circle/websites (denominational/evangelicalism) about planting churches. It is the process by which men go out from a religious organization and aim to establish a new church group of their brand or flavor (denomination) where there is none currently.
Is this a biblical principle or one made of man?
To properly answer that question we must understand what a church (that is being planted today) really is?
A church is an "organization or gathering of people" in this case.... to do religious services of man.
Is that even the true biblical body of Christ per God's Word?
No not at all.
Fact:
The word church was wrongly placed into the bible since the 1500's via a poor translation effort of King James. The proper word that Jesus used to describe His body was ekklesia; which means assembly of called out ones.
"Today to call yourself ...a church... puts you in the same groups with pagans, witches, cults and all false man made religion"
It was NOT a religious organization/denomination at all God designed but it is His people who were following after Christ through their new birth. (John 3:3) God did not ordain man made churches but He called a set apart, holy people to be His own to keep His ways only. There is a big difference here that you must grasp to be in truth.
Note: Please go to this article to see the HUGE difference between man made church and Christ's biblical holy ekklesia:
http://spiritandtruthdiscernment.blogspot.com/2017/01/church-vs-biblical-ekklesia.html
This is a VERY important matter. ( church vs ekklesia)
You can join a man made church anytime as it is made of man but you MUST be born into God's ekklesia through repentance and new birth. Also, it would have been impossible to plant a Christian church (as we know them today) in Jesus day-the first century-as they did NOT exist then. Man invented them in the centuries to come. (4th to 21st centuries/pagan roman catholicism to todays false denominatons) So based on this fact alone church planting as done today is indeed unbiblical and not found in scripture. Please read on as there are more points that make it a very false way per God's Word.
Now that we have established the planting of the church system of man is unbiblical vs God true ekklesia, lets go deeper into the question: Is church/body planting biblical?
Can any man even set out to establish God's body? ( a church/religious group in man's case)
In Acts 2:47 we see this scripture:
Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
(keep in mind the word church there should be .... assembly of called out ones)
Here we see it is God alone who builds and grows His ekklesia/ body so a man cannot plant it.
(He can plant false organizations to join though.)
Jesus said this is in Mathew 16:18
upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
(church meaning...assembly of called out ones)
Here we see Jesus say He will build His body, not any man!
"Man builds his false religious systems but ONLY God builds His true ekklesia/body"
Note: We often hear modern pastors claim THEY and THEIR efforts built their church and it may be true. But it is NOT the true called out ones of Christ but a man made gathering for religious services.
Do you see the difference? Those people are following man made religion NOT Jesus Christ in spirit and truth see John 4:24.
The next issue is that man made religion will claim that Christ told them to go plant churches but did He say that? No, you won't find it in scripture. They will try to twist God's Word but it is a lie.
In Matthew 28 Jesus said this:
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
If you want to see biblically go read Acts 15:35-36 and you will see what Paul was up to in His efforts:
Is this a biblical principle or one made of man?
To properly answer that question we must understand what a church (that is being planted today) really is?
A church is an "organization or gathering of people" in this case.... to do religious services of man.
Is that even the true biblical body of Christ per God's Word?
No not at all.
Fact:
The word church was wrongly placed into the bible since the 1500's via a poor translation effort of King James. The proper word that Jesus used to describe His body was ekklesia; which means assembly of called out ones.
"Today to call yourself ...a church... puts you in the same groups with pagans, witches, cults and all false man made religion"
It was NOT a religious organization/denomination at all God designed but it is His people who were following after Christ through their new birth. (John 3:3) God did not ordain man made churches but He called a set apart, holy people to be His own to keep His ways only. There is a big difference here that you must grasp to be in truth.
Note: Please go to this article to see the HUGE difference between man made church and Christ's biblical holy ekklesia:
http://spiritandtruthdiscernment.blogspot.com/2017/01/church-vs-biblical-ekklesia.html
This is a VERY important matter. ( church vs ekklesia)
You can join a man made church anytime as it is made of man but you MUST be born into God's ekklesia through repentance and new birth. Also, it would have been impossible to plant a Christian church (as we know them today) in Jesus day-the first century-as they did NOT exist then. Man invented them in the centuries to come. (4th to 21st centuries/pagan roman catholicism to todays false denominatons) So based on this fact alone church planting as done today is indeed unbiblical and not found in scripture. Please read on as there are more points that make it a very false way per God's Word.
Now that we have established the planting of the church system of man is unbiblical vs God true ekklesia, lets go deeper into the question: Is church/body planting biblical?
Can any man even set out to establish God's body? ( a church/religious group in man's case)
In Acts 2:47 we see this scripture:
Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
(keep in mind the word church there should be .... assembly of called out ones)
Here we see it is God alone who builds and grows His ekklesia/ body so a man cannot plant it.
(He can plant false organizations to join though.)
Jesus said this is in Mathew 16:18
upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
(church meaning...assembly of called out ones)
Here we see Jesus say He will build His body, not any man!
"Man builds his false religious systems but ONLY God builds His true ekklesia/body"
Note: We often hear modern pastors claim THEY and THEIR efforts built their church and it may be true. But it is NOT the true called out ones of Christ but a man made gathering for religious services.
Do you see the difference? Those people are following man made religion NOT Jesus Christ in spirit and truth see John 4:24.
The next issue is that man made religion will claim that Christ told them to go plant churches but did He say that? No, you won't find it in scripture. They will try to twist God's Word but it is a lie.
In Matthew 28 Jesus said this:
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Jesus in no way is commanding "church planting" of man but He is commanding the Apostles preach the gospel and make disciples. (A true disciple follows Jesus Christ NOT man made religion.)
If that is done biblically, God then gathers His people into His true body ( ekklesia ) and they will obey and keep His ways, thus His true body is created.
Man setting out to create something makes it made of man and thus it is NOT of God.
In the book of Acts you will find the word Christian used only twice but the word disciples 30 times.
This is telling........
To be a disciple of Christ means you are born of Him and you follow Him and His ways alone not man's ways. Today the average American Christian is following man made religion via a denomination or organization that has left or never had the fullness of truth. This is also very telling is it not?
The fact is Jesus never commanded "church planting" at all but He commanded preaching the gospel and making disciples.
( His body/ekklesia then follows naturally via Him and His spirit NOT man made efforts via church planting) This is why you see thousands of false denominations and organizations all over the world but ONLY one true body of Christ...His ekklesia.
Next, many will try to say the Apostle Paul was a church planter. Again this is a lie as man made churches (as we know them today) DID NOT EVEN EXIST in Paul's day. Paul was a man who focused on preaching the gospel just as Jesus commanded Him to do. It is ALL over His epistles in holy scripture and here is one example:
Romans 1
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
Do a word search in the epistles on the word 'gospel' and it will show you what Paul was preaching and focused on.
Today religious men go into a area, they set up a religious system (often a building with programs/entertainment) then invite people (the world ) to come and attend their religious services.
This is a church but it is false and of man made religion.
You will not find Apostle Paul inviting anyone into a man made "religious services" but he did call men of the world to repent via the gospel and be made new in Christ. (See Acts 17) Then as they were discipled in truth; God alone formed and grew His body in His holy assemblies, the ekklesia.
Do you again see the big difference here between man made religion/church and God's true ekklesia/called out ones?
Men ask you to conform to their religious system but God calls men to conform to His ways, not mans.
A bible verse todays church planters will use to say Paul planted churches is 1 Cor 3:6
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
Correct bible study shows Paul was NOT planting churches at all. What he was planting was the gospel in men and others watered it. And who does the increase per Paul in that same verse? God.
It is God who established His ekklesia/body, not men.
****If you study history you will see the entire bloated and corrupt system of modern man made religion (roman catholic to evangelicalism) was contrived, created and put in place by man ( popes and Luther and today's modern pastors) NOT God so it is void of His full truth and it is NOT His ekklesia.
Our website: www.dontperish.com is all about exposing this truth to those who claim Christ.
These church planters will also tell you that you must be "sent from another body" just as Paul was to plant churches. The problem here is in context Paul was sent by a true biblical ekklesia body in Acts, not a false man made one of today. Context matters folks. Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses send men out to go and spread their ill ways too. This in no way makes them legitimate does it? If they are in biblical error/apostasy ( like evangelicalism is today) they must be rejected. (see Romans 16:17 )
If you want to see biblically go read Acts 15:35-36 and you will see what Paul was up to in His efforts:
Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also. And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do.
They were not setting up religious systems, they were preaching the Word then God grew His ekklesia as He saw fit, not any man or religious group. (Later elders were installed to over see NOT lord over the ekklesia like modern day pastors do today.)
If you study church planting you will find it is a fairly new "tactic of religious man" to help spread his many flavors of so called Christianity but it lacks the truth of God's Word and ways so it must be rejected as false. One example we saw recently includes this as a Nebraska church plant:
A man called a pastor goes into a new town sent by another group of his flavor, gets a building set up, gets a music band, advertises all over, offers free food at a open house, puts on music shows/childrens programs, offers races cars and face painting...all if you show up to his church services. Over time they add to their offerings with comedy clubs, chocolate fountains and pool parties and of course they sit and preach some of God's Word in timed out man made services. (Then they watch football and movies together)
They aim at the worldly people, they entertain them and tell them to come relax be yourself and God loves you no matter what. They make it fun, relevant and appealing to the masses in their town. Often they link with public schools and worldly associations to network and grow. They gain in attendance from 50 people to 100 and beyond and they teach their false seeker sensitive ways of pagan holidays, ritual worldly faith, men idle in pews under hirelings and watered down gospels that cannot save anyone.
See this article about man made religious church entertainment today: http://spiritandtruthdiscernment.blogspot.com/2017/05/are-you-not-entertained.html
See this article about man made religious church entertainment today: http://spiritandtruthdiscernment.blogspot.com/2017/05/are-you-not-entertained.html
This they call modern church planting. It is shameful!!!
Oh ...this may grow people in pews, create bigger buildings, more programs and larger evangelical groups/denominations, but it does NOT create or grow the true holy body of Christ ( ekklesia).
It grows religious people and false converts headed for hell and that is why we speak out.
At Dontperish.com we are blessed to be His called out ekklesia. How about you?
At Dontperish.com we are blessed to be His called out ekklesia. How about you?
Are you part of the true ekklesia/called out holy ones of God headed for heaven with fruit of obedience? Hebrews 5:9
Or are you part of man made religion headed to wrath via your sin, false ways and disobedince? See 2 Thessalonians 1:8
We hope this short study will help you to see the continued lies/false ways of man made churches via this unbiblical practice of so called church planting.
It is NOT of God! ( Jesus rejected man made traditions in Mark 7 and so should you if you claim Him )
Go here to see the biblical gospel:
Go here to see the characteristics of the true NT body of Christ:
God be praised