Planting by Pastoring

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 foundation: 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.

1. Opening Credits
2. Dedication
3. Series Preface
4. Introduction
5. Part 1: Church-Planting Residency
6. Chapter 1: Jesus as Shepherd | The Prince of Planters
7. Chapter 2: Pastors, Not Entrepreneurs | The Posture of the Planter
8. Chapter 3: Qualified, Not Charismatic | The Character of the Planter
9. Chapter 4: Church, Not a Crowd | The Markers of the Planter
10. Chapter 5: Unexplainable, Not Explainable | The Culture of the Planter
11. Chapter 6: Christ, Not You | The Goal of a Planter
12. Part 2: Church-Planting Mobilization
13. Chapter 7: Sent and Sustained by a Church, Not a Parachurch | The Mother of the Planter
14. Chapter 8: The Team, Not the Man | The Team of a Planter
15. Chapter 9: Needy, Not Hip | The Place of the Planter
16. Chapter 10: Love People, Not Programs | The Mission of the Planter
17. Chapter 11: Bricks, Not Straw | The Desire of the Planter
18. Conclusion: Defining “Success ”
19. Appendix 1: Covenant Ceremony
20. Benediction
21. Closing Credits