Pastor Ted R. House Bible Baptist Church, Mt. Orab, OH

“How we Plant Churches” (Part Two)

The Lord has blessed the state of Ohio with many new baby churches over the past 30 years. Not to sound arrogant, but, “We do not try to start churches in Ohio, we start churches!”  It is a part of our thinking, it’s a part of our DNA.

So, the question is asked ‘how do you do it in Ohio?’ In a short blog I will try to capture all of the ways for how we do it.

First, and foremost you must have a man. You must have a man who has the call of God on his life to start a new baby church. Most of the men who have started churches in our state have first been staff men. They have worked under a Pastor, or mentor, who has trained them in doctrine and philosophy of ministry. Some of these men have a Bible college education, whether on campus or online. But, many of these men have only been personally trained by a mentor. This is the key to our success.

These men have the benefit of attending state preachers meetings. This gives them the opportunity to see how God is working in other new church plants. In the process they catch a vision and burden. Another opportunity they have for training is a program we have called “Equip”, originally called “Grow”.  The pastors, who started baby churches 20 plus years ago, wanted to have a format for enhanced training for those considering starting a church. They wanted to gather the collective experiences and lessons they had learned in successfully planting a church and share it with the next generation. We meet two times a year in this format. At our February 2020 meeting we had an attendance of 220. In this setting the young men are challenged in the principles and best methods of birthing baby churches.

Once a man has determined the place that the Lord would have him birth a new church we involve the churches of the state. Remember that “Churches Birth Churches”. The man and his family are sent out of their mother church with the full support of the Pastor. We as a group endorse the man and present him to the pastors at a state meeting. The pastors then can take the man and his work on for support like they would a foreign missionary, although the support normally is only for up to two years. The support is sent to his sending church for oversight and accountability.

We continue to praise the Lord for how He has blessed church planting in the state of Ohio. If you are interested in the nuts and bolts of how we do it I would be glad to email you our guidelines for church planters.

pastorhouse@bbcmtorab.org