How we plan to plant from a church plant, 1 of 2

When Grace Bible Church of Menifee was started, the people and nearly all of the resources came from outside of Southern California. Over the long term, our goal is that both the people and the resources for new church plants in Southern California would come from within Southern California (this is what we mean when we use the word “indigenous”). But this won’t happen all at once. As we prepare for church plant #2 in Rancho Cucamonga, we have to admit that we don’t have all of the resources necessary to accomplish this on our own. We will need outside help. But at the same time, we are doing everything we can to make this a church plant from within Southern California.

As part of this commitment, we decided not to go on the road for years of deputation. We want to be an active part of GBC Menifee, gaining experience in Southern California and building strong relationships with the GBC family. This not only helps to prepare us for the next church plant, but even more importantly it increases the ownership of the church family at Grace in Menifee. In other words, it really helps the GBC Menifee family feel like they are an important part of this next church plant – and that is a big step toward “indigenous” church planting.

This model is possible because of our dental lab making up the income we need. Right now, I’m able to put 2 days out of 7 into the Church (including Sunday). That will obviously not be sufficient ministry time once the next church plant begins. However, we are working on a plan in the lab that would allow me to spend more time doing church planting work. When we start, our goal is to spend closer to 4 days out of 7 on church planting by GBC Menifee’s help, new families, outside support, and a trained employee or employees in the lab. This goal requires prayer and hard work raising more outside support and getting the lab functioning more without me.

We will seek to have a “fast start” to the church with the goal of a self-supporting church (little to no lab work) in about a year. In some ways this model/plan will be easier for our family than years of deputation. It will be a better stewardship of resources and our time. We hope it will lead to a more healthy church because of the connection with GBC Menifee. In other ways this plan will be harder on our family and church because of the bivocational transition, time, and uncertainties. It could be a problem if the church doesn’t become self-supporting quickly because it could require a long-term bivocational situation. Another challenge to the church would be the pressure to start fast.