Planting by Pastoring: A Vision for Starting a Healthy Church

by Nathan Knight

Recentering the Goal of Pastoral Ministry to Cultivate Christ-Treasuring Church Plants As churches rapidly expand, Christians risk viewing the church with an entrepreneurial mindset. Church planters can be tempted to fixate on gaining numbers and achieving financial stability as their only metrics for success. They fail to focus on lifting up Christ’s people within the church.  In  Planting by Pastoring , author Nathan Knight challenges our view of church planting and centers the goal of pastoral ministry on a basic biblical a church plant is in fact a church, and a planter is in fact a pastor. A healthy church plant is not measured by size, speed, or level of self-sufficiency but by good pastoring that produces faith, fruit, and a flourishing community. Once pastors and church leaders redefine their plant as a church, their ministry will begin to align with Jesus’s mission to shepherd the flock and bring glory to God alone. 

Genres: Ecclesiology, Theology, Discipleship, Church

176 pages, Paperback

Published July 25, 2023

Reviews

[Thomas Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book trying to re-emphasise what is important when church planting. He is trying to correct what he perceives is an overfocus on the “planting” part of church planting - focusing on goals such as financial self-sufficiency, size of church, the influence of the church, and its ability to plant additional churches.
Instead, he wants to remind us that while pastoring doesn’t always include planting, planting always includes pastoring. Planters are pastors first - shepherds of Gods sheep. And the church is ultimately people who are loved by Jesus and have been saved by Him. Churches need to be places that slow down in order to press that gospel truth into the lives of people - by loving people, with intentionality and care.

"Faithfulness may not be flashy, and it might look quite boring. But is leads to fruitfulness - every time"

"We want to plant oak trees, not dandelions. We want to know names, not numbers - stories, not statistics."

"Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions [only] exists because worship doesn’t [everywhere]" - John Piper

3.5/5 stars

[Samuel Kassing · Rating 3 out of 5]

A helpful course correction for broadly evangelical church planting movements.

The key ideas of each chapter are strong.

[Luke Schmeltzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This helpful little book is a compelling corrective to much of the pragmatic, numbers-oriented church planting methodology present in even conservative denominations. To plant a church, one must know what a church is, be qualified to lead a church, care more about names than numbers, and trust God to work through His established means of grace.

[Dan Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book about the proper and healthy way to plant churches. The focus should be on health and not speed of growth. Churches plant churches.

[Eric Durso · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is nothing new or innovative about this book - and that’s the beauty of it. This is how it’s done.

[Andy Ardern · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely read on the priority of pastoring in planting a church. I commend this book to every church planter. It's a refreshing and balancing perspective in much of the conversation out there on church planting. At times it feels like there can be a bit of throwing the baby out with the bathwater in critiquing other church planting books.

[Coby Neal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredibly encouraging read. In our modern church culture that obsesses over strategies, visions and rapid multiplication, this book serves as a call back to the heart of Christ, which is to love and serve and disciple the people of God with the Word of God.

Read this book!

[Will Cunningham-Batt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nathan Knight makes some good points about the dangers of pragmaticism in church planting, but if you’re already convinced, this book doesn’t have much to offer that you can’t find elsewhere (and in greater depth).

[Andrew Watkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having been around the church planting world for almost a decade now, I can’t even begin to tell you how good and needed this book is!

[Preston Norman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hands down the best ministry book I’ve read outside of scripture. Just such clear, concise wisdom.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

A helpful book if you are processing the idea of a church plant, or even why a church might want to desire to plant another church! For the layman and the pastor this book helps you see not only the why, but also the how!

[Matt Glidden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful and refreshing point of view on church planting.