Though Sibbs and Baxter had a good deal to say about the redemption of the world, they were never involved in an actual church planting effort. John Eliot, on the other hand, was the founding pastor of a church in Roxbury, from where he further worked to plant an Indian church.

It took Eliot almost 25 years to establish a self-sustaining Indian church. The process was accomplished in four stages and has been well-documented in a number of missionary tracts.   

1643: Early fruits and help sought. The first missionary tract, New England's First Fruits (1643), indicates that already during the first decade of the plantation in Massachusetts, concern for the Indians was present and that individuals were concerted, and at least one and perhaps more were admitted into membership of the church. These initial blessings were considered as an earnest of the greater harvest to come. For this gathering, help from England was sought to support full-time church planters among the Indians.

1646: Preaching to groups and dealing with individuals who responded and sought further counsel. The second tract, The Day-Breaking, If Not the Sun-Rising of the Gospel with the Indians in New-England (1647), gives increasing hopes for advance in the Indian work. Four meetings between the English and a group of Indians are described.

There were five parts to these religious exercises: (1) After an opening prayer, (2) Eliot catechized the children. Then, (3) Eliot preached and taught a sermon and applied it unto the condition of the Indians present. Following the sermon, (4) the Indians asked questions. The meeting ended with a prayer of fifteen minutes. Moved by the gospel, some Indians came to Eliot for (5) further personal council and admonition, to which the Indians submit themselves reverently. (6) After encouraging the Indians in their purpose, the English went home.

Prayer. Eliot was known for his love of prayer. At visits with friends, meetings with ministers, and gatherings in the church, one could expect an encouragement to prayer. "Come let us pray..." was often heard by him.

Preaching and teaching. Eliot emphasizes the preaching of the simple truths of the gospel and the teaching of the history and doctrine of the scripture both in winning converts and in their growth in grace. His manner of preaching and teaching was simple and plain so that even children and unbelievers could understand.

Questions. During the Q&A, the Indians asked many questions, some philosophical, others ethical or practical. "How may we come to know Jesus Christ?", "What does 'humiliation' mean?", "Why do the English call them 'Indians'?" "What is the Spirit?", "Should we believe dreams?", "Could they have a place for a town and learn to spin?" "How may one know wicked men, who are good and who are bad?", "Why did not God give all men good hearts that they might be good?", "How should we know when our faith is good faith, and our prayers good prayers?" "Why did not God kill the devil that made all men so bad, God having all the power?" "Why did the English wait twenty-seven years to teach the Indians about God?", "Since I am still so sinful and perhaps may fall back into sin, is it wrong to wish that I might now die?" "What happens to our children when they die?" "What must we do when we are sick, now we go no longer to the powwow?" "Should a man whose wife commits adultery and runs away receive her again when she repents?", "Why does God, who loves the repentant, still afflict them?", "What do English men think of Mr. Eliot because he associated with wicked Indians to teach them?" (prompted by a sermon on Eph. 5:1, "Have no fellowship with unfruitful workers of darkness")

Answering some of these more philosophical questions demands a learned gospel ministry; answering practical questions requires a decision whether or not to grand the request and how to provide for it. Thus, an important "obstacle to the gospel work among the Indians" was the lack of money to hire translators, preachers, teachers and ministry managers, which could not come from the poor Indians themselves.

The third tract, The Clear Sun-shine of the Gospel Breaking Forth upon the Indians in New England (1648), therefore, consisted of a straight-forward request to all English churches to give prayers and assistance. "Let those who have tasted God's mercy, be merciful." The sixth missionary tract, Strength out of Weakness (1652), was a further request for sacrificial giving on the part of the English.

Counseling. Many of the Indian converts wrestled with faith and doubt, with sin and assurance of pardon. To Eliot, these "recurring attacks of doubt and temptation"  could only mean one thing, " a greater need for the means by which God strengthens those weak in faith": the means of grace. 

1651: Encouraging the formation of a community of believers and community development. Although word of the Christian faith spread and aroused, the Gospel, as the Puritans understood it, was a way of life, not simply a few doctrines to be accepted. Many Indians accepted the doctrines as "gospel truth." (Who were they to deny that the English, who were so obviously superior in nearly everything, were not also superior in the knowledge of God?) But the "gospel way of life" they did not easily accept. What was necessary was the creation of a community with a patterned way of life which would both be Christian in its structure and provide opportunity for unbroken training in the Christian doctrine of life.  

Eliot was not only concerned with the spiritual welfare of the Indian. He also responded with mercy to individuals in need, and worked for justice.

Mercy. An old Indian, who regularly brought his wife and children to the meetings, came naked to Eliot in the cold. Eliot gave him some cloths. At this the Indian was overcome with emotion and responded, God I see is merciful.

Justice. Eliot regularly brought cases to court to prevent defraud of Indian land, sought to secure lands for Indian use, pleaded clemency for convicted Indian prisoners, and fought the selling of Indians into slavery.

Community Development. Because of the unsettled way of life that the Indians led, Eliot believed that he should first bring the Indians to some form of a more settled way of life, with their own civil government and school system, before he could gather them into a formal, organized Indian church, with its own officers and teachers. Therefore, he worked with English volunteers to build bridges, erect houses, and establish schools for the Indian adults and children.

1660: Developing leaders and organizing local churches. Eliot agreed with Baxter that Christians should remain in their own parochial churches and be salt to others. This he has insisted upon for his Indian converts rather than they should leave the Indian villages and join the spiritually stronger English churches. "No, rather let them keep Sabbath: worship together, and the strong help the weak."  

This was not needless to say, because (1) the first Indian church members were not those organized in an Indian church but those worshipping in an English church, and (2) in reforming their lives, some Indians left all of the Indian customs, rejecting their names and abhorring to dwell with the Indians any longer.

Leadership Development. Because the Indians were "not furnished with any to be an able pastor and elder over them, by whom they might be directed and guided in all the affairs of the church, and administration of the household of God", Eliot put much work in developing native leaders: training Indians men and youths that had begun to speak to one or the other of the things they had heard to become elders and evangelists.

Eliot feared an underestimation of the significance of the office of ruling elders. Eliot not only assigned traditional duties to the presbytery (receiving new members, calling new officers, disciplining offenders) but also duties that concerned the execution of the mission task of the church. The presbytery was (1) to fast and pray for fit laborers for the service of Christ, (2) to send forth ministers to carry the gospel, and preach Jesus Christ unto the unconverted, and (3) work with these ministers to gather and plant churches among them.

For example, the Indian church was established during a public day of confessions, before the Lord and a council of elders and other 'messengers' from the nearest churches. After the public meeting the messengers met together and unanimously declared the confessions satisfactory and the Indians fit matter for a church-estate. Many adults and children were baptized, the Lord's Supper was celebrated with many Englishmen also participating. Two teaching elders were ordained to serve as pastors. Ruling elders and deacons were chosen, and encouragement was given for the planting of two new churches.

Lessons

As New England has become one of the least churched parts of the United States (see the item Church Planters target New England on this web site), let's notice a few important lessons.

First, new churches don't come falling from heaven. They must be planted and require help from established churches. First fruits require workers to bring in all the harvest. I think of the help that New York pioneers sought from the Mission to North America (before Redeemer could be planted) or the first letter to the RCPC from the Reformed churches in Amsterdam (before Via Nova could be planted). The missionary task of the local church concerns more than just an occasional or annual contribution. Church planting require sacrificial giving on the part of the established churches. And more than money, it requires prayer and "presence ministry", from the presbytery as much as from regular members or a special committee. 

Second, those who seek to evangelize their city (planters or pastors) do well to understand the inextricable connections between evangelism, counseling, community formation and social work. Preaching prompts existential questions and practical requests. Time is needed to express or share these concerns and capacity is needed to respond to them properly. Without it, preaching and teaching will be in vain.

Third, becoming a Christian (community) means leaving an old way of life and developing a new (corporate) way of life. This process must be planned for and guided. In recent years, missiologists have developed excellent manuals for doing this. Both planters and pastors do well to make use of them.