Seven keys to building a church planting movement

Keys unlock what is hidden from plain sight. Keys also open up treasures that are stored for safe-keeping. Jesus said to His disciples that He would give them the keys to the kingdom of God. The seven keys to building church planting movements are not secrets for the elite or for those who have special knowledge, but they do unlock principles that seem to be hidden to most people.

By understanding and obeying the seven keys in this outline, things get bound that need to be bound, and other things get loosed that should be loosed. Here is how Eugene Petersen translates the binding and loosing passage from Matthew’s gospel:

"And that’s not all. You will have complete and free access to God’s kingdom, keys to open any and every door: no more barriers between heaven and earth, earth and heaven. A yes on earth is yes in heaven. A no on earth is no in heaven." (Matthew 16:19)

“It is time to repent from traditional ways of doing things. It is time to open our hearts to a new way of doing church, a new kind of Christianity.”

Open your heart to think about what the church means to God, not you. Learn to see church for how God intended it, not how it’s done in your culture. And if necessary, repent from being religious, of thinking about what you need or get from church, instead of giving glory to God by following the New Testament pattern and practices for being His bride, the church of the living God.

(To be continued)