What are the methods/strategies used by Apostle Paul to plant churches?

Despite his well-known physical and geographical limitations, Paul, a tremendous

missionary, managed to find ways for church planting. This paper will highlight and
describe in detail, the methods or strategies that were used by the Apostle Paul to
plant churches. His strategies for church planting involved taking a partner or a small
group to whichever city he chose to go and plant a church, holding churches in
houses, contextualizing the Bible wherever he went to better reach the audience,
focussing on large cities in order to make a greater impact, the oral proclamation of
the word to the masses, and not limiting his audience based on ethnicity, gender
class or culture (ReachingThroughTeaching).

Cities that Paul and his compatriots visited were very focused on urban areas versus
rural areas when it came to church planting because they believed that this was
where they could capture the largest masses of people at once, and they also knew
that this was where they would be more likely to find travelers converging from all
works of life like business people, and other professionals. Some of these cities they
visited were well-known trading ports that also attracted immigrants and this served
the cause very well because these people could help usher the spread of the
Gospel. Paul regarded cities like these to be of the highest priority because these
could help in spreading the Gospel to rural areas by word of mouth after they were
done with their evangelism there.

Paul also saw value in holding church services in houses, which was an effective
strategy in that, it allowed Paul to connect across family trees into household friends
and acquaintances. This approach also allowed him to minister to groups that would
otherwise be confined to their households like in countries where Muslim culture was
upheld, where women who were married were to stay within the bounds of their
houses. For homes that Paul managed to convert, these ended up becoming very
important because they became bases for the growth of Christianity especially in
Muslim communities, and with a lot of Muslim husbands out at work during the day,
this presented opportunities for female Evangelism during those times too (Akinyemi
O. Alawode, 2020).

Paul was a strong believer in teamwork to achieve goals, and so his approach was
very well centred on forming teams to go and minister the Gospel in communities.
He essentially practiced what is now referred to as ‘Corporate Evangelism’ which
involved traveling with other believers which indirectly led to other non-believers
being reached and at the same time, through testimonies, led to stronger conversion
foundations because people found that they could relate more to what was being
preached ( Akinyemi O. Alawode, 2020). Paul always emphasized the importance of
traveling in groups and not working alone with a motto that follows the one that says
“ He who travels alone travels fastest, but he who travels with a group travels
farthest”. Let us not forget how there was more credibility that came in ministering in
groups as well as the opportunity for fellowship and sharing of spiritual gifts, which is
why this was an important strategy for Paul- one that proved to be very effective in
the long term.

Another observable characteristic of this method is that it set up a platform for

following up with the converts. Paul never abandoned the converts and this ties in
with the concept of fellowship and why it was so important that this was ongoing. As
Paul himself would know so well, leaving converts without support was never a good
thing, and so Paul ensured that he and his followers followed up with converts so
that they didn’t fall back into their old ways. So this meant that Paul never rushed to
open new churches without having ensured that the ones he has built would be able
to flourish after he has moved on because then that would defeat the whole purpose
of his mission to spread the Gospel across the world. So Paul and Barnabas would
frequently ensure that their group visited these new establishments to check up on
their progress, which is now in modern evangelism, is a method that is actively used
to enable the growth of the Christian church. One can refer to the point at which Paul
and Barnabas split up and partnered with Silas and Mark, respectively, but
essentially, this in itself helped reinforce the point of ensuring that no one was left
without support when they fall behind.

When it comes to contextualizing the message to the people, Paul used an approach
that was similar to the 80-20 rule which runs on an 80% preparation and 20%
execution-style. Paul believed by first understanding the religious environment of the
people he was preaching to for longer time periods, then he would only need lesser
time to then relate the Word to them in a way that was in context with what they have
presented to him. According to Stan May, contextualization is the process of
presenting the Gospel in its unchanging form to people but in mutable ways so that
the people receiving the word are able to understand it and also embrace it. This is
what Paul did when he visited communities with different beliefs and cultures
(Ikechukwu Ugo, 2012). This allowed Paul to connect with these people on so many
levels, and when it comes to planting the seed, this was more effective because of
the great first impression created, and the long-lasting impression left after he put all
the pieces of the puzzle together, and cemented that with the support in fellowship
that he and his followers would provide regularly. A great example is of the sermon
that Paul delivered on Mars Hill (Acts 17:22-32) that conveyed the language so well
that the Pagan Greeks could comprehend and relate with (Ikechukwu Ugo, 2012).
The method would always change, but the message remained the same and this
was why it managed to reach the masses better because it felt more personalized
and tailored to the people they were trying to reach.

It is also important to note that Paul never discriminated when it came to the
audience he preached to which signified what the Gospel was all about, and
indirectly, this resonated well with the groups he preached especially since he spoke
about how in Christianity, there was no such discrimination by gender or ethnicity or
culture. This also allowed Paul to just focus on preaching to responsive people in a
larger sample and when the word was spread, it would follow those patterns. This
bundled together with the manner in which the Gospel was spread which was oral, in
multiple tongues ensured that the Word was not limited to certain groups which could
have led to the spread not being as effective.

In conclusion, Paul knew that in order for him to fulfill the principles of the Great
Commission, he had to plant the foundations, which were in form of local churches
across communities, and overseas, and using these strategies, which are still utilized
to this day, he ensured that Evangelism to this day would continue, and planting
churches has been seen to the best strategy for Evangelism.

References

St Paul’s Church Planting Strategies As Revealed in Passages in the Book of

Acts- Ikechukwu Ugo; April 2012
http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/814/1964

Paul's biblical patterns of church planting: An effective method to achieve the

Great Commission- Akinyemi O. Alawode; Herv. teol. stud. vol.76 n.1 Pretoria; 02
Apr. 2020
http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-
94222020000100023

Paul’s Method of Church Planting; ReachingThroughTeaching

https://www.reachingthroughteaching.com/uploads/3/9/9/8/39985359/
pauls_method_of_church_planting.pdf