Planting by Pastoring: A Vision for Starting a Healthy Church (9Marks)

by Nathan Knight

Publisher:

Crossway

, 2023

Overview

Recentering the Goal of Pastoral Ministry to Cultivate God-Honoring Church Plants

As churches rapidly expand, Christians risk viewing the church with an entrepreneurial mindset. Church planters can be tempted to fixate on gaining numbers and achieving financial stability as their only metrics for success. They fail to focus on lifting up Christ’s people within the church.

In Planting by Pastoring, author Nathan Knight pushes back against this warped view of church planting and centers the goal of pastoral ministry on a basic biblical foundation: a church plant is in fact a church, and a planter is in fact a pastor. A healthy church plant is not measured by size, speed, or level of self-sufficiency but by good pastoring that produces faith, fruit, and a flourishing community. Once pastors and church leaders redefine their plant as a church, their ministry will begin to align with Jesus’s mission to shepherd the flock and bring glory to God alone.

Provides Wisdom: This book reminds church planters of the heart of the church and the core purpose of pastors

Offers a Unique Perspective: Addresses foundational elements of church planting other books fail to address

Appeals to Pastors, Elders, and Church Planters: Great for those in the process of planting a church

Key Features

• Reminds church planters of the heart of the church and the core purpose of pastors
• Addresses foundational elements of church planting other books fail to address

Contents

Section One: Church Planting Residency

• Chapter 1: Jesus as Shepherd (The prince of planters)
• Chapter 2: Pastors, Not Entrepreneurs (The posture of a planter)
• Chapter 3: Qualified, Not Charismatic (The character of a planter)
• Chapter 4: A Church, Not a Crowd (The markers of the planter)
• Chapter 5: Unexplainable, Not Explainable (The culture of the planter)
• Chapter 6: Christ, Not You (The goal of a planter)

Section Two: Church Planting Mobilization

• Chapter 7: Sent (and sustained) by a Church, Not a Parachurch (The mother of a planter)
• Chapter 8: The Team, Not the Man (The team of a planter)
• Chapter 9: Needy, Not Hip (The place of a planter)
• Chapter 10: Love People, Not Programs (The mission of the planter)
• Chapter 11: Bricks, Not Straw (The desire of the planter)
• Conclusion: Defining Success

Appendices:

• How to Facilitate a Covenanting Service
• Founding Documents: Statement of Beliefs, Church Membership Covenant

Praise for the Print Edition

This book is a long-expected and theologically compelling wake-up call for future planters and existing pastors to come back to the good old way of starting churches by taking care of souls. Here you’ll find provocative and passionate thoughts that make you value the godly and the biblical before the trendy and the flashy. I can personally attest that Knight’s teachings and stories mentioned here are not only real but heartfelt, as I’ve personally benefited from his living example and his pastoral leadership to treasure Jesus above everyone and everything. I hope you can also be encouraged to do so as you read this masterpiece.

—Alejandro Molero, Pastor, Iglesia Biblica Sublime Gracia, Washington, DC

If you want to ‘pastor-plant’ a church that can be explained only in terms of the power of the gospel at work, and if you want to plant a church that takes New Testament ecclesiology to heart, this book is for you. Knight takes us down ancient paths and shows how they lead to healthy church growth. His advice may not be what you want, but it is certainly what you need as a church-pastoring church planter. The path is hard, but it will produce a church that can endure hardship; it may be laborious, but it is the surest way to plant. It may be painful, but it will result in a healthy, strong church that presents and protects the gospel. Read this book, preach the gospel, love God’s people, rest in faith, and watch the Lord of the church do his work.

—Dieudonné Tamfu, Pastor, Bethlehem Baptist Church, Yaoundé, Cameroon; Assistant Professor of Bible and Theology and Executive Director of the Cameroon Extension Site, Bethlehem College & Seminary

Biblical faithfulness and faith in God are twin essentials for church planting. Follow the Master’s guidelines and trust the Master for the growth. This is the thrust of this book, and I am glad to commend it to those who seek to plant and grow biblically faithful churches for the glory of King Jesus.

—Daniel L. Akin, President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

Product Details

• Title: Planting by Pastoring: A Vision for Starting a Healthy Church
• Author: Nathan Knight
• Series: 9Marks: Building Healthy Churches
• Publisher: Crossway
• Print Publication Date: 2023
• Logos Release Date: 2023
• Pages: 154
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Church development, New; Church growth
• ISBNs: 9781433588112, 9781433588143, 9781433588129, 1433588110, 1433588145, 1433588129
• Resource ID: LLS:PLNTNGPSTR9MRKS
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2023-07-28T15:09:08Z

About Nathan Knight

Nathan Knight (MDiv, Southeastern Theological Seminary) is a pastor of Restoration Church and serves on the lead team for the Treasuring Christ Together church planting network. He and his wife, Andi, live in Washington, DC, with their two sons.