• Directories
    • Business Directory
    • Church Directory
    • Organization Directory
  • Advertise
  • Donate
  • Help
  • Log In
MENUMENU
  • Learning
        • Leader’s Edge
          • Author Interviews
          • Book Summaries
        • Book Reviews
          • Book Look
          • EMQ Book Reviews
        • Publications
          • Anthology
          • Evangelical Missions Quarterly (EMQ)
          • Missiographics
        • Podcasts
          • The Mission MattersNew
          • Missio Nexus
          • People First HR
          • Members Only Feed
        • Blogs
          • Global Issues Updates
          • Member Highlights
          • Mission Advisors
        • Topics
          • COVID-19 ResourcesNew
          • Diaspora Missions
          • Mobilization
          • Muslim Missions
          • Support Raising
        • Media Library
          • Conferences
          • Global Issue Updates
          • On Mission
          • Thought Leader Briefings
          • Webinars
          • Workshop
          • View All
  • Programs
    • Accreditation
    • Alliance for Benefits
    • Bible CertificateNew
    • Church Missions Coaching
    • Cohorts
    • Cybersecurity
    • ImproveNew
    • Mission Jobs
    • Publish
    • RightNow Media
    • The Mission App
    • Women’s Development
  • Events
          • Calendar
          • In-Person Events
          • Virtual Events
          • Event Recordings
          • Awards
        • Premier Events
          • Mission Leaders Conference
          • On Mission
        • Upcoming Events

          • Women In Leadership - Special Events
            Fri Mar 5 2021
          • On Mission 2021
            Wed Mar 10 2021, 12:00pm EST
          • Four Things Every CEO Needs to Know About Fundraising
            Tue Mar 16 2021, 03:00pm EDT
        • View All Events
  • Research
          • Missiographics
          • Mission Handbook
          • Research Reports
        • Popular Research
          • Compensation Reports
          • COVID-19 ResourcesNew
          • Field Attrition Report
          • View All Reports
        • Contribute
          • Current Research Projects
          • Submit Data for Mission Handbook
          • Volunteer
  • About Us
        • Who We Are
          • Our Contribution
          • Meet the Team
          • Board Members
          • History (1917–present)
        • Our Beliefs
          • Statement of Faith
          • Community Standards
        • Awards
        • Partner with Us
          • Advertise
          • Donate
          • Sponsorships
          • Volunteer
        • Help
          • Contact Us
          • Advertising Specs
          • Branding Guidelines
  • Join
        • Learn
        • Learn what you cannot learn anywhere else.

        • Meet
        • Meet people you otherwise won’t meet.

        • Engage
        • Engage in a community like none other.

          • Benefits
          • Benefits for Churches
          • Pricing

Sponsored Content

Upcoming Events

  • Women In Leadership - Special Events
    Fri Mar 5 2021
  • On Mission 2021
    Wed Mar 10 2021, 12:00pm EST
  • Four Things Every CEO Needs to Know About Fundraising
    Tue Mar 16 2021, 03:00pm EDT
  • Webinar: Mission Increase: Discovering the Joy of Biblical Generosity
    Thu Mar 18 2021, 02:00pm EDT
  • Peer 2 Peer for Marketing and Communications Staff: Know Yourself and Know Your Audience
    Tue Mar 23 2021, 02:00pm EDT

View all events »

Topics

author interview Canada CEO Church Church Missions Church Mission Team Church Planting Conference Proceedings COVID-19 Cross Cultural Skills Diaspora Evangelism Focus Future Innovation Islam Justin Long Leadership Management Missiology Missionaries Mission Finance and Administration MLC2019 MLC2020 MLC2021 Mobilization muslim Muslim Diaspora Networks Partnership Personal Productivity Podcast Presenter Research Security Short-Term Missions Spirituality support raising Training Trends Unengaged Unreached unreached people groups Weekly Roundup Women

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Reproducible Pastoral Training: Church Planting Guidelines from the Teachings of George Patterson

Posted on July 1, 2007 by July 1, 2007

by Patrick O’Connor

If you want your thinking about the training of church planters to be stimulated and challenged, here is the book for you.

William Carey Library, P.O. Box 40129, Pasadena, CA 91114, 2006, 343 pages, $19.99.

—Reviewed by Robert J. Vajko, international church planting consultant, The Evangelical Alliance Mission

If you want your thinking about the training of church planters to be stimulated and challenged, here is the book for you. However, if you are hesitant to think outside the traditional church planting box, you will not find Patrick O’Connor’s book helpful. This is particularly true of the fourteen “Myths and Facts about Church and Cell Group Reproduction.”

The ideas in Reproducible Pastoral Training are not unknown by those who have read George Patterson. Nevertheless, O’Connor’s distillation of his ideas into five phases with sixty-eight guidelines provides a sequential approach that helps you apply the material. Five chapters deal with the gathering of new churches, developing their health, seeing these new churches multiply, training leaders as Christ did and then passing on “a light baton.”

O’Connor understands the importance of what Patterson calls “obedience-oriented teaching.” Refreshingly, the author does not propose a rigid plan. Under guideline one, “Permit the setting to shape your methods,” he affirms, “Building congregations that reproduce within a culture is a dynamic process with unpredictable factors, including the mystical work of the Holy Spirit. No single working formula fits all field conditions.” O’Connor’s guidelines will need to be worked out within your context. One senses in this book the influence on pastoral training in the context of Honduras and its receptivity to the gospel.

I wish I had had material like this in my hands before starting church planting. I probably could have done a better job in developing national church planters and have seen more multiplication of churches than I did. Individuals working in formal training would do well to work through the section entitled “Mentoring New Shepherds Compared with Classroom Instruction.” If your church planting is bogged down, you will find help in guideline fifty-one, which deals with “shepherds and missions with outdated policies that hinder flocks multiplying.” O’Connor suggests applying “God’s oil to rusty organization,” including a checklist and a discussion of “Nine Freedoms Common to Church Planting Movements.” Anyone working in church planting and multiplication should find this book a good read.

Check these titles:
Ferris, Robert W. 1990. Renewal in Theological Education: Strategies for Change. Wheaton, Ill.: Evangelism and Missions Information Service.

Mulholland, Kenneth B. 1976. Adventures in Training the Ministry: A Honduran Case Study in Theological Education by Extension. Nutley, N.J.: P & R Publishing.

Patterson, George and Richard Scoggins. 2002. Church Multiplication Guide: The Miracle of Church Reproduction. Revised. Pasadena, Calif.: William Carey Press.

Smallman, William H. 2001. Able to Teach Others Also: Nationalizing Global Ministry Training. Pasadena, Calif.: Mandate Press.

—–

Copyright © 2007 Evangelism and Missions Information Service (EMIS). All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMIS.

GoToOlder PostNewer PostAll PostsBook ReviewsEMQSectionVolume 43 - Issue 3

Comments are closed.

Subscribe to Our Mailing List

Keep up to date with our community.

Menu

  • Join
  • Directories
  • Events
  • Donate

About

  • Who We Are
  • Statement of Faith
  • Awards
  • Resources

Help

  • Contact Us
  • Terms
  • Cookies Policy

Connect

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Google+

PO Box 398
Wheaton, IL 60187-0398

Phone: 770.457.6677
678.392.4577

© Missio Nexus.
All Rights Reserved.

Membership website powered by MembershipWorks