Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research and LifeWay Christian Resources’ Missiologis in Residence, has just posted an interview on his blog with J.D. Payne, associate pastor of church planting and evangelism and director of the Church Planting Center at Southern Seminary. Payne will be interacting with anyone interested today in the comments of Stetzer’s post.
Payne’s book is called Discovering Church Planting: An Introduction to the Whats, Whys, and Hows of Global Church Planting. Stetzer led off the post by asking Payne what the purpose of the book is. Here is Payne’s response:
“The purpose of this book is to provide a single, practical, work that addresses the biblical/theological foundations, several critical missiological principles, a few historical perspectives, and many contemporary issues related to church planting in the 21st century.
“I have been involved in church planting in the U. S. for the past decade, including almost twelve years of teaching in the classroom. While there are many excellent books on church planting which I use, and will continue to use in the classroom (especially Planting Missional Churches J ), I wanted a book that was a good introductory work written for both church planters and other church leaders. Since there are many church planting books available, I had the benefit of drawing from the wisdom and experience of others when writing. The subtitle summarizes the book: ‘An Introduction to the Whats, Whys, and Hows of Global Church Planting.'”
Stetzer also asked Payne the following questions:
- I’m assuming that there is something significant about the words Global Church Planting. Am I correct?
- What is unique about this book?
- Can you give me a quick overview of the content?
- This is a massive work. Is this book just for the scholar?
- Church planting has really come into the spotlight in the last several years. Are we getting better at it? If we are, what do you think has been the key to that success. If we aren’t, why?
- What are a few other books on church planting that you believe are important to understand?