The desire has long been to church plant in a foreign country. The verse that God had given me was Romans 15:20-25 – “And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man’s foundation, but as it is written: ‘To whom He was not announced, they shall see; And those who have not heard shall understand.’ For this reason I also have been much hindered from coming to you. But now no longer having a place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come to you, whenever I journey to Spain, I shall come to you. For I hope to see

you on my journey, and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I may enjoy your company for a while. But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints.” The heart is to go where there is no church and see how the Lord might work in sharing His Grace and Love!

Below is an outline of the vision for church planting in Himamaylan: 

• To make disciples - Matthew 28:19-20 / Acts 2:42…
• There are 4 verbs in the Great commission – only one is a command (imperative mood in the Greek)… Make disciples.  The other three verbs amplify how to make disciples (go / baptize / teach).  The Calvary model of a church can be summed up in teach the sheep and love the sheep.  The desire is to simply teach and love the sheep – teach them and love them with the intent of making disciples.  The vision for Himamaylan would be to teach and love those the Lord brings.
• How - in Acts 2:42 the Holy Spirit lays out the 4 “Pillars” of the church.  Apostles Doctrine (teaching) / Breaking of Bread (communion) / Fellowship / and prayer.  You make disciples by simply 1. Teaching of the Word (Learning about Jesus) 2. Communion (Remembering the sacrifice of Jesus) 3. Fellowship (Encouraging one another in their walk with Jesus) 4. Prayer (Talking to Jesus) – in other words its all about Jesus.  Making disciples.

• A national (duplicatable) church - Acts 15…
• What would a church plant in Himamaylan look like:  In Acts 15 the counsel of Jerusalem deals most directly with the Law vs. Grace but there is also a missions application.  The church in Jerusalem decided that the gentile churches did not need to adopt the customs of the Jews in order to be saved.  Now, the decision was not that the churches in Jerusalem should stop their customs only that the gentile churches did not need to adopt them.  In other words – when Paul went out church planting he did not need to establish a Jewish church.  He came knowing only Christ and Him crucified (I Corinthians 2:2).  He let the Holy Spirit do the work of defining the church in the cities and cultures he was in.  What a lesson!  The desire is to not establish an American church in the Philippines!  The desire is to bring the gospel – then let the Holy Spirit define the church.  That allows the church to be reproducible in that culture.  The disciples who are raised up in the church will then have a model that they can follow and reproduce!  If an American church is established the national disciples cannot duplicate the work.  They are not American and do not have American resources.  By allowing the Holy Spirit to establish a nationally defined church the national now have a model to follow!

• Raising up national leaders
• The vision is to raise up nationals to minister and lead.  The best person to minister to a national group is someone from within that group.  I will never be accepted as a Filipino. No matter how proficient I become in the language or how familiar I become with the culture – I will always be an outsider to some extent. A national leader knows the language and culture of the people and is the best equipped to minister to them.  What is needed is to simply provide the opportunity for those nationals to step out in faith.  I saw this example last summer when I was in Jerusalem.  With the direction of Pastor Bradley (CC Jerusalem) the decision was made to begin a discipleship course that would provide opportunities for nationals to take responsibility within the church.  Through those opportunities the Lord raised up men from within the fellowship as leaders and pastors. Through the observation of the work of the Holy Spirit in those men, who stepped out in faith to minister through the opportunities that were given, it was obvious to recognize and appoint the leaders according to the anointing of God (Acts 14:21-23).
• For example – the desire would be to begin a Friday night Bible study teaching through the Bible. If the Lord blesses and the study grows to a place where it can no longer fit in a home – there is wonderful opportunity that is presented. I could make a decision about moving to and renting a facility. The Filipinos would accept my decision as I am a pastor (and American), but I would inadvertently teach them to listen to and follow me, not Jesus. In contrast the other option is to present them with the problem of where to meet. Encourage them to seek Jesus for a solution and let them make a decision on where to meet. This way they learn to go to the Lord for answers and to have to trust in Him. Maturity and growth in the Christian walk comes directly from plugging people into Jesus. The challenge is that it is much easier to do the work ourselves, and unfortunately those we are teaching would much rather listen to us. It is easier to follow and hear from a man than it is to follow God and hear from God.
• (Adapted from “Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s of ours” – Roland Allen) In the Book of Acts we also see that the Apostle Paul did not go about as a missionary merely to convert individuals: he went to establish churches from which the light might radiate throughout the whole country (duplicatable missions – raising up nationals to duplicate the work). The secret of success in his work lie in the training of the nationals. This sets the pattern for the future. If the nationals are taught to depend upon the missionary, if all work, evangelistic, educational, social is concentrated in his hands, the infant church learns to rest passively upon the man from whom they receive their first insight into the Gospel. Their faith having no room to grow and no opportunity to develop lies dormant. A tradition very rapidly grows up that nothing can be done without the authority and guidance of the missionary, the people wait for him to move, and, the longer they do so, the more incapable they become of any independent action. Thus the leader is confirmed in the habit of gathering all responsibility into his own hands, and of doubting the ability of the people, until he makes their inactivity an excuse for doubting their capability. The fatal mistake is made of teaching the nationals to rely upon the wrong source of strength. Instead of seeking it in the working of the Holy Spirit, they seek it in the missionary. If the missionary is not cautious he runs the danger of becoming indispensable. By teaching the national believers to turn to him, to accept his guidance, inadvertently he educates them to put their trust in him. The great need of the missionary is to believe that the same Holy Spirit that inspires and guides him will also guide and inspire them.
• It is through the opportunity for nationals to make real decisions, with real consequences (good and bad), that they are able to step out in faith and learn. That is how we learned; there are no short-cuts. The same Holy Spirit that speaks to and guides us will guide the nationals as well. Not that there will not be challenges, there are always challenges, but you will see a healthy, flourishing, growing fellowship when the nationals are given the opportunity to step out in faith and serve.
• Those nationals (disciples) then can go out and duplicate the work throughout the country.  The desire for Himamaylan is to seek to be replaced right from the start.  To raise up national believers to take the church (making it a national fellowship).  Also the desire to see a church established that it is not dependant on America, but defined by the Holy Spirit in such a way that it is duplicatable by national believers. Then from Himamaylan to see national believers raised up and sent out (missions) to reach other areas of the Philippines and beyond.

Pastor David