Archive for March 18, 2009
Church Planting Books
A friend of mine is exploring a calling to plant a church and recently asked me if there were any books that I would recommend. Below is a list of some books and resources I’ve used and a few comments on each regarding how helpful I found each.
Planting Missional Churches, Ed Stetzer. All of Stetzer’s stuff is pretty good for my money. If I just starting to sniff this stuff out, this is where I would start. Lots of great research and stats which God really used in turning my heart for church planting.
Breaking the Missional Code, Stetzer and Putman. Again, good stuff from Stetzer.
Redeemer Church Planter Manual, Tim Keller and Allen Thompson. I’ve perused this a lot, skimmed it and delved in at particular points, but I haven’t spent nearly as much time in this one as I yet intend to. It’s Keller so you know it’s good.
Planting Churches in the Real World, Joel Rainey. Short and insightful.
Starting a New Church, Ralph Moore. Some good nuts and bolts stuff, but not the greatest overall.
Church Planting for a Greater Harvest, C. Peter Wagner. Ripped some good stats from this one. Wagner gets quoted often (by Keller and Stetzer) particularly from here with his quote that, “Planting new churches is the most effective evangelistic methodology known under heaven.”
A couple of really good articles as well:
“Why Plant Churches”, Tim Keller
“The Missional Church”, Tim Keller
If you read this and have others to recommend that have been helpful to you, please leave your recommendations in the comments section.
