How Do You Plant a Church?

By Terry & Wendy Broyles

New term; new city; new neighborhood; new people; no church.

When we returned to Brazil in December 1996, we knew we would be moving to Jundiai to begin a new church. The strategy was for us to work with an experienced, respected Brazilian pastor. But circumstances made it impossible for him and his wife to join us. What to do? We knew where we wanted to go, but didn't know how to get there! Following are the steps the Lord had us take.

PRAY. Sounds simple, but prayer is hard work. We prayed for Jundiai for two years before actually moving there; now we could put faces with our prayers!

MAKE CONTACTS. We did this by making friends on our street and generally making ourselves known throughout the area. That wasn't too hard since we are the only Americans we know of in this neighborhood of about 16,000.

START BIBLE STUDIES. When Terry is asked what he does, he responds by saying that he is a professor of the Bible. For our first three studies, students themselves asked to study the Bible: a missionary's dream!

BEGIN SUNDAY SERVICES. We didn't do this right away. We wanted to become credible while making contacts. For example, on New Year's Eve our family mingled with neighbors, taking part in the general well-wishing. When we returned home that night, we prayed that the new year would bring a harvest. We knew we couldn't have a church without believers. Our great God responded so quickly it astounded us! During the first two weeks of January, 13 people confessed their sin and received God's gift of salvation. We held our opening service the first Sunday of May 1998. Throughout 1998 we saw slow, steady growth with an average of 15-24 each Sunday.

The work is still new, still needs prayer, and is still daunting sometimes. Our prayer is to see spiritual growth, to move the church out of our home into a rented facility, to see the couples we've been studying with be saved soon, and to initiate more aggressive evangelism. That's how you plant a church.