Passing the Baton

by Tom Steffen

"Passing the Baton" not only zeros in on the central task of Christian missions, it does so in a way that is creative and engaging.

Genres: Christian, Theology

264 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1997

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book overall! The great thing about this book was how it provides both a broad overview and a detailed picture of most major aspects of pioneer church-planting, with a focus on reproducible ministry that can soon be left in the hands of nationals. This book covers (from both a big-picture and a detailed up-close look) selecting team members, structuring team and team functioning, language learning and cultural research, how to find an evangelistic message that's both contextualized and challenging to the people, the storying approach for effective evangelism/discipleship, how to train emerging leaders, how to develop long-term teaching/training programs for the church, and the role changes missionaries (and nationals) go through to get to the point of a fully indigenous self-governing church. Basically, a captivating look at successful pioneer church-planting from beginning to end.

I'm impressed by the way the author was able to solidly maintain the big-picture and foundational values for the work, while at the same time being able to be very intentional about the details needed to make it feasible. This is something lacking in the vast majority of other books on missions I've read - usually they have a great big picture but lack any practical idea of how to get there, or they get bogged down in the details of one aspect but don't well discuss how it relates to the overall big picture and goals. Steffen certainly does not have that challenge. The end of the book seemed to be maybe a little repetitive or maybe lacking the depth and detail of some of the earlier parts of the book. But that may be because those are the stages of cross-cultural church-planting of which I've also read the most other books and had the most training - so maybe it just appeared repetitive to me. If the practitioner finds they need more help/detail for any area discussed in the book, there are plenty more resources available on each of those individual topics. But I've never found another book that covers it all in such a comprehensive and functoinal method, such as Steffen does in this book.

Either way, this is an excellent book for any aspiring cross-cultural church-planter - either for those called to initiate the work or those called to join it. It would benefit everyone to read this book before arriving on the field and to reference it repeatedly throughout one's term of service. I highly recommend it!

[Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are a lot of three star reviews of this book, but I believe it deserves a higher rating if for no other reason than this: Steffen convincingly demonstrates why a church planter (in any cultural setting) must develop an exit strategy prior to starting the first church. In doing so, a church planter is setting up the strategy of church multiplication wherein the churchES grow and do not stagnate because they are constantly planting other churches themselves. This concept makes the book work. It is an older work and may turn some off by its lower budget style, but the book is an excellent resource not to be overlooked.

[Don · Rating 1 out of 5]

Talbot Course: Evangelism and Follow-up

[Rick Boyne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow read, but good stuff for church planting. We used it as a study as we planted churches among an unreached people group in West Africa.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author seems a little hard on McIlwain, but this is a must read for church planters.

[Stan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Passing the Baton is a book that is standing the test of time.

Steffen lays out an intentional plan for church planting teams to phase-out of their ministry by equipping national believers to carry on the work of making disciples and planting churches that multiply.

The book is developed for tribal/peasant people groups, but the author believes it is adaptable to urban contexts. His own work was among a people group of about 3,000. I am interested to know whether anyone has succeeded in using this method in a people group number in the millions. If so, what adaptations were necessary.

Steffen proposes five phases: preentry, preevangelism, evangelism, postevangelism, and phase-out. He gives well researched and well developed suggestions for each phase. The details are too elaborate to outline here.

This book is essential reading for church planters. It will definitely make you think, and probably cover concerns you have not yet considered. Well worth your time. Enjoy!