Elmer Towns, in Getting a Church Started, and Frank Tillapaugh, in Unleashing the Church, present their ideas for starting and expanding a church. Towns is concerned with the initial planting of the church and his book gives a step by step plan to begin a new church. Tillapaugh took an established church and expanded it until it scarcely resembled the church with which he had begun. Tillapaugh does not talk about planting churches except in response to Bear Valley Baptist Churches' need to split in order to remain in their present facilities.
Both men agree that the purpose of the church is given in the Great Commission, which is repeated in several places in the Bible. Tillapaugh interprets Acts 1:8 as a commission to serve and meet the needs in your home congregation's area first then consider going out in the mission field or planting another congregation (Tillapaugh, 1982, p. 220). This contrasts with Towns' view that the great commission is intended to command every Christian to actively evangelize, and every churches' duty is to equip its members, those who are called by God, to plant churches (Towns, 1993, pp. 6-7).
Towns gives Christians, who have been called by God, an outline for how to begin a successful church. He includes a detailed chapter on the steps that are usually necessary to plant a church (Towns, 1993, pp. 95-148). His list includes items which may not be thought about until they are needed, (for example hymn books), and take time to acquire. Towns acknowledges that his list of steps must be altered to fit each situation but it does give guidance.
Tillapaugh entered a church which was already established but that needed an overhaul. The church was riddled with committee bureaucracy. The solution was to retake control of the church by giving responsibility for housekeeping and budget decisions back to the deacons (Tillapaugh, 1982, p. 71). This let Tillapaugh concentrate on bringing the church ...