Dear church planter (by the way - “church planter” is not a ministry gift. I know some people like to use that term as if they are to say “I’m a church planter” - “I’m an apostle”. If every church planter were an apostle trust me the world would look a bit different. Just because someone is a church planter doesn’t mean he’s apostolic at all. So, when someone says, “I’m a church planter”, just ask him if they are an evangelist, a pastor or a teacher, that’s just healthier I think)
Praise God you if you are called to plant a church; let me remind you: 

1. Sinners don’t go to church
2. Our job is to take the gospel to them
3. Since sinners don’t go to church, we must go to them

So how about you cut down just a bit on the seminars and pastors conferences you visit every year and take your people on a couple outreaches?

#justsaying 

Furthermore, if your church is the result of a church split - I want to tell you to seek the Lord deeply in repentance and then decide on how to move forward. Church splits are something extremely unhealthy, I even saw that in my itinerate ministry when I wasn’t fully aware of who invited me - frankly, preaching to hundreds of congregations from lutherans to pentecostals to catholics - I never had a problem worth mentioning with any pastor - except with those who started from a church split.

You may ask why there are no problems: As a prophetic revivalist and a healing evangelist I follow a simple protocol: traveling ministers submit to the authority of the pastor and when they have the mic - release the fire. If they have no fire and no miracles, they shouldn’t travel (except of course there are traveling ministers who seem to have an anointing evident to teach on various important aspects from the bible to strengthen the church. If that is the case, God will open up doors for them too. But If there’s no anointing - there shouldn’t be itinerate ministry. 

Of course fire and miracles are not the only important thing, although they are clearly among the most important things).

When we started Revival Church I told people for over a year that we dont want them if they come from another church. No one has told me that I need to do that, it just felt right to me. This is also the reason why we launched „Revival Center“ as a bit of a separate ministry for people who are hungry for more of God, to separate our conferences somewhat from our church and not create wrong assumptions - for example that conferences attendees automatically need to become our church members. (Please understand that I’ve been to over 50 nations and when God called me to begin this work, I couldn’t simply start a normal church - I knew this would frustrate the heck out of me. But since we replicate in the nations simultaneously what we build in Austria, its a whole different story)

There were also churches who were against us in the beginning and when everyone saw how great it works out, they wanted to release „resources“. Yeah, right. Why would I need to ask for resources, it is my deep conviction that a vision is simply from God when He speaks to a number of people about the same thing, so He will set things up. I didn’t read one single book about church planting. I’m not saying it is wrong, I’m saying I didn’t do it.

We led over several hundred people to Jesus in a year or so, released over 60.000€ to worldmissions while still in the beginning phase (I thought it would be great to be after the Fathers business and not too much into spending money for a new church cafe so that people who are going to heaven anyways can have their best latte), there hardly goes a service without first time decisions for Jesus. My entire team are soul winners. You may ask: How many of those people have you discipled? A few. And we want to get better at that. But please read on: Our aim has been relentlessly to reach the lost and will always be, and to train the found to be revivalists, not just church goers. 

The lost are precisely the reason why we plant churches.

Jesus didn’t die for Christians.

Our team has conducted Miracle Crusades with the result of more than 10 pioneering works started afterwards. The miracles of Christ, prayer, and old-fashioned evangelism are still a good strategy.

#justsaying

It is my deep conviction that many many churches will have the DNA of Jesus more than ever before - which is souls - and their focus will shift from endlessly discipling the disciples to winning the lost. 

The commission is plain: 

1. Bringing the gospel to the lost
2. Training the found

Both are crucial.

But…

If the lost are found, they will go to heaven. If they dont receive the gospel, they go to hell. The found will go to heaven anyways. Do you see what I mean? 

Multitudes are on their way to hell because churches are not doing what they are here for. Stop your competition on who has the newest gear, who is the fanciest crowd, and take your team on an outreach. 

Most pastors think the great commission is „to make disciples“. It is wrong in a sense, that it is not precise enough. The great commission again, to be clear is: 

1. Bringing the gospel to the lost
2. Training the found 

That order changes everything. Now we don’t cater to what the found want, but we are about our Fathers business… we don’t need smoke machines to be more entertaining anymore. While there is nothing wrong with creating an atmosphere in which people feel warm and welcomed, it is much better to create an atmosphere with the great Holy Ghost - with signs, wonders and miracles being a common occurrence. Sadly, if you focus on the first - you will do so at the expense of the second, and most churches will not admit that because it is a reality that is too hard to swallow.

“It is in consequence of this that God has also so highly exalted Him, and has conferred on Him the Name which is supreme above every other, in order that in the Name of JESUS every knee should bow, of beings in Heaven, of those on the earth, and of those in the underworld, and that every tongue should confess that JESUS CHRIST is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.”

(Phil. 2:9-11, Weymouth New Testament)

With a relentless passion for the unsaved multitudes,
Philipp J. Schmerold - Global Kingdom Mission 

August 9th 2020