Empire Baptist Temple

The Pattern of Propagation

Dr. Erich McCandless

What is propagation? What does it mean to propagate? How does a church propagate? If we were to ask our readers what the meaning of propagation is, I'm sure we'd get many ideas that revolve around the same pattern of thought, but let's look to the dictionary for the exact meaning.

Propagator: "One that continues or multiplies his own species by generation." ( Noah Webster - 1828)

I would like to draw your attention to one of the Landmarks of the Historic Baptist Faith. The subject of propagation is one that is often referred to, often discussed, often challenged to be done but unfortunately it is not very often that it is truly accomplished in the pattern that the Word of God lays out for us. If we were to use the word propagation in the context of the family, it would go without saying that for me to propagate (continue or multiply my species by generation) the McCandless family name, I would need to have the ability to have children who would be raised in such a manner to where they are given the tools to then create their own family, etc., etc. In other words, MY job is to raise a young man properly...HIS job is to do as he was trained. In light of the CHURCH, we must also realize that propagation is much in the similar light.

A pastor of a local church must concentrate his propagation NOT on the churches to be planted, but on the MEN God has given him to raise and train to the point where they WILL start other BAPTIST churches! Preachers (apostles and other preachers) start churches, not lay folks, as a general rule and Bible doctrine. Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

John 2:19 - They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. May I state that if we train up our preachers fully, the way God told us to, before we ever leave them on their own, they would be solid, steadfast BAPTIST Preachers! Many pastors will send their young preacher boys to some "college" to be trained. Whatever happened to the old-fashioned idea of training our own? Both our Lord and Paul gave us this example. Like produces like - right? Kind produces kind - right? Professors will hence produce professors; and ONLY God Called PREACHERS will produce God Called Preachers. God initiated this "king brings forth kind." Pastor, please do not limit the call of God on your life when viewed in the alight of propagation. Many Bible colleges are filled with professors who are "wish they was" or "has been" type of people. Many have NEVER planted a church or even been in the pastorate! How do we expect their training to produce true propagation? I believe the Bible teaches that true propagation or reproduction of the Baptist Faith is going to come through TRAINING OUR YOUNG PREACHERS!!! Training of our preachers must be a thorough training from the ground up. It's very commonly known among child psychologists that the first TWO years of a child's life is the very foundation for which his or her philosophies and character will be built on for the rest of his or her life. The Catholics have long said that if we give them our children through the toddler stage, they'd give us back a Catholic for life. Hence, there is a need for Baptists to TRAIN our TODDLERS in the methods of the BIBLE, not just doctrines!! The Bible teaches us that the mother's place is in the home while children are there - not at the job (whether McDonald's or First Baptist!) Titus 2:5 - To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Proverbs 31:27,28 - She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; (a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.) her husband also, and he praiseth her. I Timothy 5:10 - Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children,... I Timothy 5:14 - I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house... Most of us go to our churches and preach that the wife should be a "home-keeper"...but there are several who preach that who have their wife as their Assistant Pastor, or their full-time secretary, or something that draws them away from the very precious few years that their children are in such a moldable age!! In the Bible there are approximately 400 women mentioned. Only 200 women are named. As you know, if you've researched this as I have, of the women in the Bible that were named, most were named for their notorious crimes against God (Athalia, Bathsheba, Delilah, Drusilla, Eve, Gomer, Herodias, Jael, Sapphira, etc.) and the few that were named in a good light almost without exception are named in relation to how good of a wife and mother they were! Elizabeth - mother of John the Baptist, Eunice - mother of Timothy, Lois - grandmother of Timothy, Jochabed - mother of Moses, Aaron and Miriam - Rizpah - guarded her son's bodies from vultures, etc, etc. We must realize that the place of MUM is IN THE HOME!! Once our children are ready to be formally educated, what do we do? Much of this depends on how badly we want to follow the Lord's admonitions to propagate. If we throw our children out to the government dumbing down experiment called public school I believe we have sacrificed our children! If we dot his, how do we ever expect to propagate our faith to our young men? This article is not focused on the right or wrongs of schooling, but let it suffice to say that the Lord did command us to be busy teaching them ALL thing and He is the One who stated that the church is the pillar and ground of the TRUTH and He expects us to help fulfill the passage that states to Him be glory in the church! Why not train them in a church school? We have school on Sunday, why not on Monday? Why do so many preachers of Independent Baptist churches hire out the education of our young people and then we wonder what happened? The truth of the matter is that the Lord gave gifts to the church to fully fulfill each area of teaching and training for the direct purpose of propagating His church and His faith! It CAN be done! how bad do we want to propagate? After this stage we find the collegiate level of training in order to produce propagation. in Acts 16, where Paul picked up Timothy, we find an intense mode of training being initiated. Look at the classes during that first term of schooling: vs. 4 - Baptist Polity (decrees, etc.), vs. 5 - Church Planting and Growth, vs. 6-10 - Holy Spirit Leadership, vs. 11 - How to Sail a Ship and Apply for Visa's!, vs. 11, 12 - Multi-Cultural Adaptation, vs. 13, 14 - Evangelism, vs. 15 - Ecclesiology (baptism was taught and performed), vs. 15 - Practical Pastoring (dealing with new converts), vs. 16-18 - Demonic Oppression, vs. 19-21 - Church/State Law, vs. 22-24 - Persecution Survival, vs. 25 - Worship, vs. 26 - Divine Intervention. We could follow Timothy's training for quite some time, but I do trust you and I see that his training time was quite different than the average college class, ie. - sitting down taking notes. Paul was not insecure to the point of not willing to have other men of God with him at all times. In fact, we're hard pressed to find Paul when he did not have propagation in action. Truly you'll not find a church in the New Testament with less than two men of God! You'll not find ONE Bible example of a singular missionary family going to the field - it was always two or more sent. Part of this was because of how strongly the first churches knew that propagation had to take place to please the Lord. The REAL training of a man is through his local church and by his pastor.

How badly do we want to train men for the ministry? It'll be tiresome! It'll be non-glamorous! It'll be hard! But then, how many people did Jesus Christ win to Himself? Was his ministry focused on door-to-door soulwinning? Or was it more concentrated on training eleven men who turned the world upside-down in the manner of propagation because they were so thoroughly trained? Please, please, please let us propagate the one faith that the Lord has so graciously given to us!