Church Planter Chapter Summary

Tyler Hinchcliff

Professor John Chambers

Book Review of Church Planter

19 April, 2017

In this book, Church Planter, by Darrin Patrick, the overall qualifications and the life of a church planter will be like. A book is nothing compared to the real life experience that will come from being in the field, but this book is a good base to have when it comes to church planting, or, at least a decent introduction. The book is divided into three sections. The first section is talking about the Man, which focuses on the man himself. The next section focuses on the message, which is what the man will preach and teach. The final chapter is the mission, and this focuses on what the goal of the man with a message is aiming. Now, while these topics sounds

In particular he covers one aspect that was not only convicting but surprising. Darrian Patrick says, “The word 'gentle' does not refer to soft, passive, dead-fish handshake guy who need rearview mirrors implanted in their heads because they back down so much." He goes on to say," Gentleness in this context means to be lenient, willing to yield when yielding is possible." This is a particularly interesting topic to cover. I have also never heard gentleness as a positive attribute among men. Often times, the idea of gentleness is ignored and even mocked among men. While this is a good attribute for men in general, and one I think that many men need to hear, the fact that he would spend any time on gentleness is surprising. Many men see compromise as a form of weakness, not a form of

It's not a step-by-step method of what makes a good church planter. This is what makes this book hard to read at some points. By hard I mean it's hard hitting because it makes you do self-reflection. Instead of giving you a model to copycat him leaves room for personality and even own personal methods and strategies. Overall, the book is to instruct but also make any man looking to do ministry to seriously stop and think about whether they want to be a church planter. It makes them face harsh realities such as their own sin and shortcomings and ultimately realize that it's about Jesus. Their ministry, their work, their plans, their goals, and everything else points to one person, Jesus Christ. It’s a Christ centered ministry book. If a person is looking for a step by step method then this is not the book you want to