Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
The Gospel Coalition
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Freedom Without Constraint Is Bondage - Bob Thune
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![Planting a Church [The Everyday Pastor - Ep. 54]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/oMY9ZaTAeIs/mqdefault.jpg "Planting a Church [The Everyday Pastor - Ep. 54]
What does it actually take to plant a healthy church?
Matt Smethurst and Ligon Duncan discuss the joys, challenges, and realities of church planting. Drawing from Matt’s experience planting River City Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia, they explore everything from assessing a call to church planting and gathering a core team to fundraising, developing leaders, and cultivating a healthy church culture.
🔗 MENTIONED
▫ Planting by Pastoring by Nathan Knight - https://www.amazon.com/Planting-Pastoring-Vision-Starting-Healthy/dp/1433588110?tag=thegospcoal-20
▫ Church Planting Thresholds by Clint Clifton - https://www.amazon.com/Church-Planting-Thresholds-Gospel-Centered-Guide/dp/1985441845?tag=thegospcoal-20
▫ Why Plant Churches? by Tim Keller - https://s3.amazonaws.com/rpc-download/Why_Plant_Churches.pdf
▫ New Churches Podcast | ”Zero Year” | Season 1 | Episode 655 - https://www.newchurches.com/podcasts/new-churches-podcast/the-zero-year/
▫ Church Planting Journals by IX Marks - https://www.9marks.org/journal/church-planting/
If youre ready to go deeper, Southern Seminarys PhD program is where that begins. Visit https://bit.ly/SBTS-TEP to learn more.
00:00 Why every church should care about church planting
03:30 Church planting in the Book of Acts
06:30 How Matt became a church planter
08:00 Building a sending team
10:30 Church planting and gospel partnership
12:00 Assessment and preparation
13:30 Conversion growth vs. transfer growth
16:00 Why church planters need pastors
21:00 Knowing when youre ready to plant
24:00 Core team meetings and membership process
27:30 Raising support and fundraising
29:30 Starting simple and avoiding program overload
33:00 Developing elders and leadership
37:00 Recommended church planting resources
39:00 Final encouragement for church planters
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