Church Planting Basic Training, Part 8

Why is a Spiritual Filter Vital?

What is a spiritual filter? It is the standard which every part of your ministry must use as the test of a worthy endeavor. Here are some guidelines for forming the spiritual filter.

Do Not Try to Form the Direction of the Church Without a Filter

A core group (or a developing church already with a founding pastor) should not make the mistake of a visionary free-for-all. This disaster looks something like a meeting in which the core group gathers, and someone asks the question, “Okay, what do we want our church to be about?” Oh boy. Now is when all those who are overly eager to form the church in their image will come out of the woodwork:

• “We should minister to the homeless.”
• “We need to be King James Version focused.”
• “We ought to have all our men rotate preaching.”
• “The church is not a building, so we should meet in homes until Jesus comes.”
• “We should meet in Starbucks so we can evangelize people with coffee.”
• “We should use my uncle as the founding pastor. He preached a sermon once.”

Do you see what I mean? When everything is up for grabs, those with the least understanding of the purpose and focus of the church will become the most vocal.

Form the Filter from Scripture Alone

I know of one church uses as its filter Ephesians 4:12, “The equipping of the saints.” Everything they do is channeled through this simple question: “Is this ministry assisting in the equipping of the saints?” My particular church context uses Colossians 1:28, that we are to proclaim Christ and mature the saints. Thus, our filter asks the question, “Is this ministry assisting us in proclaiming the name of our Savior and growing the members in Christ-likeness?”

It makes Scripture the standard and not man-made ideas the ultimate authority.

Know the Difference between a Slogan and a Filter

Many many churches have slogans; few have filters. A slogan is catchy and perhaps even attracts people but does not give guidelines to proper ministry.

• “Go and grow.”
• “Sit. Talk. Learn.”
• “Relating Jesus to All People.”
• “Jumping for Jesus.”

You get the idea. These might be emotional and fit some man-made marketing parameters, but no slogan helps you decide how high a priority to make children’s ministry or evangelism or how much to pay the pastor. But a filter literally assists and guides every decision and direction of the church. In our church context, every single thing we do from the preached Word down to how we configure our parking lot for Sundays is filtered through Colossians 1:28. It makes Scripture the standard and not man-made ideas the ultimate authority.

“Church-Planting Basic Training” is a series of 15 short bullet-point style articles aimed at encouraging Christians in the appropriate situation to consider engaging in a long-term church-planting project.