ABSTRACT BEST PRACTICES OF CHURCH PLANTING: A CASE STUDY OF ECWA AND OTHER CHURCHES IN THE WEST COAST REGION OF THE GAMBIA by Lawrence B. Jah The church is the primary vehicle of our Missionary God in fulfilling his redemptive purpose for the unreached, unchurched, disconnected and broken world in contemporary times as this. The irony, however, is that, even though Christianity had reached the West Coast Region of The Gambia for over two hundred years, nevertheless, Christians are barely eight percent of the population of 1.9 million, while Islam is ninety and Traditional Worshippers two percent. This is compounded by the fact that, the majority of pastors whether ECWA or not, in this geographical location, are non- Gambians. Ironically, most of these pastors are engaged in reaching out to believers who are already in a particular church setting, thereby forsaking their heavenly assignment of sharing the unchanging message of salvation to the unreached people groups among the Muslims in the West Coast Region of The Gambia. This study is therefore critical for all Pastors, Church Planters, Missiologists and the Priesthood of Believers, as it opens their eyes to the fact that Muslims are an integral part of God’s Missional mandate (Matt.28:18-20), and they could be won over for Christ with the help of the Holy Spirit, if only the best practices of planting indigenous churches are implemented in the targeted population of this study. The relevance of this project is underscored by the fact that, Islam is not only the seconod largest religion in the world (1.8 billion), but the fastest growing religion globally, as evident in The Gambia, a country with a population of 1.9 million. Missiologist, John Mark Terry’s five key approaches to Evangelistic/Church Planting Methods among Muslims (314-316), discussed in my Literature Review, provided a framework for this Qualitative and Pre-intervention study, on Church Planting in the Muslim Majority context of the West Coast Region of The Gambia. This study therefore explored the extent to which Mark Terry’s approaches to CPM hold true for the planting of indigenous churches in the subject population. In the light of this, I focused on identifying the best practices of planting indigenous churches, in ECWA and other churches in the subject population of this project. In order to achieve the purpose of this project, I recruited twenty- nine participants on the basis of their wealth of experiences and knowledge on church planting in the Muslim majority context of the West Coast Region of The Gambia. Through a Focus Group Study and Semi-Structured Interview Protocol among the recruited research participants, the data generated and analyzed, resulted in the discovery of seven best practices of Church Planting and seven major findings that should inform the practice of ministry in the targeted population of this project. In the light of these findings, coupled with the recommendations made in this study, the need for a paradigm shisft in the approach to Church Planting in a Muslim context is non-negotiable, if Pastors /Church Planters are to actualize the Missional mandate among the unreached people groups in their communities. The study therefore showed that, there is no one best practices of CPM. Subsequently, Church Planters have to depend upon the Holy Spirit both for the choice of methods for CPM, and the application of any of the findings for the practices of ministry in any given geographical location. This project is therefore a wake-up call not only for Pastors, and Church Planters in the Muslim context of the West Coast Region of The Gambia, but for the priesthood of believers in the community under study, and those outside the scope of this study. This is evident from the fact that, the church, as a partner in kingdom Building, is a Living Organism that should be concerned not only with numbers, programs, and attendance in a particular denomination, but with reaching the least, the last and the lost in fulfilment of the missional mandate of which the Muslims are an integral part of. DISSERTATION APPROVAL This is to certify that the dissertation entitled BEST PRACTICES OF CHURCH PLANTING: A CASE STUDY OF ECWA AND OTHER CHURCHES IN THE WEST COAST REGION OF THE GAMBIA Presented by Lawrence Borbor Jah has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for the DOCTOR OF MINISTRY degree at Asbury Theological Seminary Dissertation Coach Date Director, Doctor of Ministry Program Date Dean of the Beeson Center Date TITLE: SUBTITLE A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Asbury Theological Seminary In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Ministry by Lawrence BorborJah May, 2018 © 2018 Lawrence B Jah ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ … vii LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................... …… viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................. ix CHAPTER 1 NATURE OF THE PROJECT ...................................................................... 1 Overview of the Chapter .......................................................................................... 1 Personal Introduction ............................................................................................... 2 Statement of the Problem ......................................................................................... 5 Purpose oftheProject ................................................................................................. 6 Research Questions ................................................................................................... 6 Research Question #1 ................................................................................... 6 Research Question #2 ................................................................................... 7 Research Question #3 ................................................................................... 7 Rationale for the Project……………………………………………………….. ..... 7 Definition of Key Terms ....................................................................................... ... 11 Delimitations ............................................................................................................ 13 Review of Relevant Literature .................................................................................. 14 Research Methodology ............................................................................................. 16 Type of Research ......................................................................................... 17 Participants ................................................................................................... 17 Instrumentation ............................................................................................ 18 Data Collection ............................................................................................. 20 iii Data Analysis ................................................................................................ 21 Generalizability ............................................................................................. 22 Prosject Overview ................................................................................................................ 23 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW FOR THE PROJECT ............................................ 24 Overview of the Chapter ........................................................................................... 24 Biblical Foundations ................................................................................................. 25 Background Information on Biblical Foundations ...................................... 25 Church Planting Definition in the light of the OT and NT………………… 26 Church Planting in the OT……………………………………………….. 29 Predictions of the Church in the OT ……………………………………………… 30 The Church Prophesied……………………………………………………. 30 The ChurchTypified………………………………………………………. 31 Church Planting in the NT………………………………………………………… 32 Models of Church Planting in the NT…………………………………………….. 34 Church Planting in Jerusalam ……………………………………………... 34 Church Planting in Antioch ………………………………………………. 35 Church Planting in Ephesus………………………………………………. 36 Church Planting in Rome…………………………………………………. 37 Biblical Images of the Church………………………………………………........ 38 The People of God ………………………………………………………. 38 The Body of Christ ………………………………………………………. 40 The Temple of the Spirit………………….………………………………. 40 Theological Foundations……………………………………………………….. ..... 42 iv Theology and Methods of Church Planting…………………………………… .... .. 42 Missio Dei……………………………………………………………….. .. 44 Meaning of Missio Dei………………………………………………….. .. 44 The Church and Missio Dei…………………………………………….. … 44 The Neglect of Missio Dei………………………………………………. .. 45 Dimensons of Missio Dei……………………...………………………………… ... 45 Humanity with a Mission…………………...………………………….. ..... 45 Israel with a Mission …………………………………...………………. .... 46 Jesus with a Mission………………………………...…………………. ..... .46 The Church with a Mission…………………………………………….. ..... 46 Implications of the Missio Dei…………………………………………………. ..... 47 Holistic Ministry………………………………………………………… ... 47 Partnership …………..…………..……………………………………... .... 47 Incarnation………………..……………………………………………………... ... 48 Implications of Incarnation……………………………………………. .... 48 Kingdom