It is often said that doctrine divides. As a result, many pastors are discouraged from taking clear doctrinal stances. I have even heard some brothers say that after attending seminary, they held fewer doctrines with conviction than before. My experience, however, was the opposite. Through theological study, I better understood the importance of doctrine. By God’s grace, I’ve been able to experience how doctrine actually unites.
The DBA Church Planter Cohort provides theological training because we desire for our guys to be effective church planters. We unashamedly value the practical side of ministry. At the same time, we never want to divorce praxis from theory. Theology should drive effective ministry, not the other way around.
In his new book Theology for Church Planters, J.A. Meddors explains, “Theology helps you think rightly about God, sin, grace, the gospel, evangelism, forgiveness, and Christian growth – really everything in the Christian life. We neglect the study of theology at our own risk,” (p. 6). In this way, doctrine enables church planters to know how to make disciples, not just gather a crowd.
A.W. Tozer famously said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us,” (The Knowledge of the Holy, p. 1). Tozer’s insight reminds us that everyone is a theologian. The only question is whether our theology is shaped by Scripture or left unexamined.
The task of the church planter, then, is to plant a church grounded in our biblical doctrines. It is not successful if a crowd gathers, but false teaching is taught. Faithful doctrine matters because it makes faithful disciples.
While our planters may not become theology professors, we pray that sound biblical theology drives how they carry out the missionary task. As our 2026 Church Planter Cohort begins, please pray that our church planters would not only be practically effective but also deeply and faithfully theologically driven.