Our Planting Philosophy
The church planting philosophy of the Missionary Church Florida District can best be described as an "organic" model of reproducing followers of Jesus and churches. Rather than trying to create "instant churches" through expensive marketing campaigns and non-relationally based attractional events, we seek to cultivate environments for the growth, development, and reproduction of churches for the glory of God through...
*Incarnational ministry in targeted geographical areas (living as the light of Christ through servant evangelism, discipleship groups, and missional living). We know that ministry is about relationships, and relationships take time to develop.
*Hiving-off a group of people from an existing church is an effective way to evangelize an area and strengthen a mother church. We value sending people into mission as it provides a wonderful way for the sending group and the sent group to live by faith and experience God's miraculous provision as the church moves forward in presenting the gospel through word and deed.
*Network of churches is another way of describing the organization of the Missionary Church Florida District. We understand a church's propensity to become institutionally focused rather than outward focused. In order to help prevent this inward focus, we work at developing relationships among the churches so we can do mission together and keep our eyes looking toward the harvest.
*Leadership in church plants and in organizations are most effective through teams. We are more about collaboration than heirarchical structures and organizational titles. Flattened leadership structures (teams) are more functionally dynamic; heirarchical ones tend to be more static and can make spontaneous growth more difficult.