Great book with a raw, refreshing, kingdom centered approach to church leadership & church planting. Peyton Jones speaks plainly about business as usual & CEO approaches that have turned the movement of Jesus into an enterprise. Also, gives great instruction to returning to Ephesians 4:11-12 leadership – Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds, Teachers – describing the roles of each with how they function together. Adding this one to my Church Planting Bibliography.

A few quotes:

• Shame on the church planter who is church planting simply because nobody will give him a church of his own! Equal shame, however, is also due to the pastor who is afraid to lose people because he needs their money for fuel to keep the machine running.
• Church planting is essentially bringing the unique gospel community presence of Jesus Christ into the midst of a surrounding non-gospel community.
• Jesus was an army of one… You’re not.
• church planting is less Field of Dreams & more True Grit.
• the Western church today is obsessed with size, the first-century church was obsessed with reach, & that made all the difference.
• The church’s command from Jesus was not to “hold till I return” but to “secure the beachhead” of every distant shore.
• The focus shouldn’t be cramming more people into churches, but seeing more people rescued from the tyranny of Satan, sin, & self. If that means merging churches, halving churches, or helping other churches, then we’d gladly do it to see people rescued…
• church planting is not a spectator sport. It’s a full contact sporting event. You’re going to sweat. It’s going to hurt. You’re going to get muddy.

Check out Church Zero: Raising First Century Churches Out of the Ashes of the 21st Century Church by Peyton Jones.