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Evangelism through church planting.July 27, 2010 Peter Wagner stated some 25 years ago that "church planting was the most effective evangelistic methodology known under heaven". His statement still rings true today. New churches, by a large margin, are reaching new people with the gospel with far greater efficacy than their established counterparts. That may not be a very popular statement, but research has verified Wagner's assumption. If that is true, then why aren't more churches intentionally focused on pouring their resources into new churches? Instead the typical church today pours the vast amount of its resources into taking care of the sheep rather than expanding the fold. In doing so, these churches lose their missional passion for the lost and soon drift into an era of plateau, decline and death. Typical church programming often steals energy and time from the original mission focus of the church. I have always believed that "church planting" while never explicitly used in the Bible, was implicitly understood within the context of the Great Commission. In other words, every church should be involved in the process of evangelism through church planting. Imagine what might happen if churches caught the vision for evangelism through planting and started investing thier limited resources in new churches! But is this truly evangelism? Tim Stafford says it best in his article, in Christianity Today: so follow this link and read this great article. | |
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Posted 7/27/2010 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment |
Fade AwayJuly 9, 2010 In 1979 Neil Young came out with a song on his Rust Never Sleeps album called, “My, My, Hey, Hey.” Now, that song my not ring a bell with you, but out of that song comes a lyrical phrase that most have probably heard, “Better to burn out than to fade away.” That phrase became even more popular after it was found April 8, 1984 in the suicide note of Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana. In both cases, that lyrical phrase had to do with the death of a rock icon. The first was Elvis Presley, the second was Kurt himself. No one desires to simply fade away into oblivion when they die. In fact, most spend a lifetime trying to build some kind of legacy that will last beyond their time on this earth. Local churches are really no different. Like individuals, most churches desire to leave a lasting legacy as well. Sadly, many churches have experienced vision drift and their original passion has faded away. If you do a google search on the average size of the American church, you are likely to be frustrated by the facts. No one really knows for sure, but it is estimated that attendance, in 75 percent of American churches, ranges somewhere between 75 -100 or less on any given Sunday. To make matters worse, the median age of those attending church is on the rise while the median age of the unchurched, continues to decline. Many churches are quietly fading away with little to no trace that they ever existed. Some mainline denominations are experiencing a major crisis due to the age of general membership. According to David T. Olsen: “In the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the average age of church members is 58. For United Methodists, 61 is the average age. Sixty percent of Episcopalians are over age 50; 38 percent are over age 60. The older the members of a church are, the slower the church grows. Why? Older members do not have children, so they do not help the church grow through reproduction. Older members also tend to adjust slowly to cultural changes.”
The early years of a church plant are chaotic, to say the least. As the church begins to mature and grow, the church experiences greater financial stability, membership starts to climb and the chaos of the early years begins to fade. Many planters welcome this sense of calmness. It is often during these times that the planter must re-engage the vision. The planter or planting team will need to choose between change or stability; between being conservative or remaining bold. | |
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Posted 7/9/2010 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment |
A Thousand VoicesJune 23, 2010 In 1976 Sally Field starred in the Emmy Award winning movie Sybil. Sybil was a young adult who suffered severe abuse as a child and as a result developed a coping mechanism that enable her to disassociate with the reality of her pain. Over the course of her young life, Sybil developed thirteen different personalities. Some of these personalities made her appear psychotic; some of them made her appear as a sweet reserved little girl. One of these alter egos made her want to kill herself on a daily basis. However, as Sybil grew up and started to live in the adult world, her once helpful coping mechanism made it increasingly more difficult to be a productive person in society. Her different personalities became a barrier to maturity. No one knew the real Sybil. In fact, the noise of a dozen voices, made it hard for even Sybil to discover and make sense of her own identity. | |
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Posted 6/23/2010 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment |
Life In The Fast LaneJune 7, 2010 Church planting requires focus, and hard work. Never a dull moment and never a moment of peace. The demands grow greater as the church begins to grow and soon we find that every waking moment is spent "doing" something in the church. "It’s our baby and we have to make sure it survives and thrives." We have invested our lives into this work and so we get busier and busier trying to make it better and stronger. The fact is the harder we work the more buried, behind and busy we get. God has created us to have rest. Don’t live life in the fast lane. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels like the day always ends about three hours too early. There are some days that pass me by and I’m wondering what happened. Dance lessons, ball games, music lessons, homework - before we know it, bath time and bedtime. Where does the time go on weekdays? We as adults are busy with these daily responsibilities in our fast-paced society. Microwaves help prepare quick meals, drive-throughs provide food on the run and while an occasional evening of "running" is okay, a lifestyle of being on the run can be very stressful. In fact life on the run exemplifies most families today. Does that resemble your life in any way? It does for millions of Americans everyday. Your day may not be exactly the same, but it’s just as hectic. Here is what I am learning. I hope it helps you to avoid my pitfalls. 1. Constantly running at break-neck speed is exhausting in every aspect of life physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Our bodies can only handle so much activity and when we live a hurried life we will begin to see signs of this lifestyle become evident in our health. We suffer with personal illness and depression. Stress, heart attacks, constant illnesses of all kinds and chronic fatigue. Some of you here today are seeing doctors right now for things that are related to the constant stress which you allow in your life. 2. Living a life without margins breaks down the family. I have found that my children suffer because I am not there to give them the full attention they need. Pro 22:6 says, “teach your children to chose the right path, and when they are older, they will remain upon it.” (NLT) Actions speak louder than words. If you want your children to grow up living the hurried life, teach them early and they won’t depart form it. My challenge, as well as yours is to sit down and learn to set proper margins in your life. Proper rest, quiet time with God, fun with the family are all godly endeavors. Sometime, as pastors, we get it into our mind that the harder we work for God the stronger our spiritual life becomes. In reality that is rarely the case | |
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Posted 6/7/2010 in Church Planting | 1 Comment - Add Comment |
Moving At Light SpeedApril 25, 2010 Church planting requires focus, and hard work. Never a dull moment and never a moment of peace. The demands grow greater as the church begins to grow and soon we find that every waking moment is spent "doing" something in the church. "It's our baby and we have to make sure it survives and thrives." We have invested our lives into this work and so we get busier and busier trying to make it better and stronger. The fact is the harder we work the more buried, behind and busy we get. God has created us to have rest. Don't live life in the fast lane. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels like the day always ends about three hours too early. There are some days that pass me by and I’m wondering what happened. Dance lessons, ball games, music lessons, homework - before we know it, bath time and bedtime. Where does the time go on weekdays? We as adults are busy with these daily responsibilities in our fast-paced society. Microwaves help prepare quick meals, drive-throughs provide food on the run and while an occasional evening of "running" is okay, a lifestyle of being on the run can be very stressful. In fact life on the run exemplifies most families today. Here is what I am learning. I hope it helps you to avoid my pitfalls. 1. Constantly running at break-neck speed is exhausting in every aspect of life physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Our bodies can only handle so much activity and when we live a hurried life we will begin to see signs of this lifestyle become evident in our health. We suffer with personal illness and depression. Stress, heart attacks, constant illnesses of all kinds and chronic fatigue. Some of you here today are seeing doctors right now for things that are related to the constant stress which you allow in your life. | |
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Posted 4/25/2010 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment |
School of Hard KnocksFebruary 8, 2010 Church planting reminds me of the Indiana Jones movies. Every plant is a new adventure full of excitement and potential doom. Indiana was always chasing the elusive prize and never knew what pitfalls he would face around the next corner. None the less, he pushed ahead and faced each problem in a new and creative way. Church planting will make you feel alive, and it can push you to the brink of insanity. It will give you a new sense of God’s presence and convince you that Satan is alive and well. You will celebrate the birth of a new church with unearthly joy, and experience betrayal from friends and family in ways you never thought possible. As a church planter, you will experience high highs and low lows. It’s dangerous and dramatic. As they say on television—kids, don’t try this at home. After 16 years of pastoring established churches, God called me into the arena of church planting. God called me, Stephen Gray, a skewed and flawed individual. What kind of a guy am I? I’m one of those driven individuals. I don’t like to win; I like to dominate. My little ducks, though they stand in rows, need to be smiling and looking directly into the camera. I’ve been diagnosed as a type "A" personality along with a very useful case of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. And God called me. My preparation for this new ministry adventure was both difficult and frustrating. As I prepared for this new adventure, I quickly discovered that church planting was not a very refined process. A multitude of varying models, philosophies, and conflicting opinions existed under the umbrella of church planting. With confidence and authority, each expert offered their opinion about the process and procedure and every seminar or book led in a different direction. In a short time, the whole church planting idea became overwhelming. I felt like writing these expert names on a dartboard, putting on a blindfold, and chucking a few darts. In truth, all of the books, the seminars, and the opinions were helpful, but none of it actually prepared me for my actual church planting experience. Bottom line is this: planting a church is tough and most, if not all will go through the school of hard knocks as they set out to plant their church. The only thing that will help you through those trying times is an overwhelming sense of God's calling for this ministry. Likewise, we should always keep in mind "that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes." Dan 4:25 If you understand that simple truth, you will be able to weather any storm that comes your way. God has called you. God has placed you in your position because he chose to do so. Your position of authority is not based on your wisdom, your knowledge, or your good looks. Nor is it based on another's desire for you to be in a position of authority. | |
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Posted 2/8/2010 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment |
No More Lone RangersJanuary 11, 2010
The Lone Ranger is a piece of American entertainment history. On Feb 2, 1933 the Lone Ranger episodes were launched on the radio. On Sept 14, 1949 it air for the first time on ABC and aired until 1957. Throughout this run, Americans all across the nation tuned in to see their favorite masked hero, take on the bad guys. Every episode ended with this lone figure yelling out a hearty “Hi-Yo Silver Away!” while his horse reared up and they rode off into the wilderness. Americans loved The Lone Ranger because he stood for truth, justice and the American way. The Lone Ranger, riding solitary and into the sunset, became an American icon and a symbol for the rugged individualism that built this great nation. Today, the phrase “lone ranger” is used by many preachers to denote what may be a spiritual loner or an outcast who doesn’t seem to fit neatly into the body of Christ. Ironically, most pastors fit this bill very well and sadly, most pastors feel a lot like The Lone Ranger. These lone ranger pastors feel deeply that they are expected, by their congregations and denominational leaders, to embody the rugged, individualistic spirit of a self-made man. They are expected to ride in, save the day and ride off into the sunset while onlookers whisper amongst themselves, “Who was that masked man?” This expectation has cause an epidemic of health problems, burnout, infidelity, and depression among pastors in America today. While the American pastor may suffer from this syndrome, church planters are even more susceptible. Many church planters tend to be the rugged-individual type. Their natures tend make them willing to take on the world and their problems through their rugged, solitary will. It might even be that they prefer to take on every challenge alone. And as it stands, our current mode of operations surrounding church planting, encourages this sort of methodology. Church planters are sent out to do the work like The Lone Ranger. Most don’t even get a Tonto. As leaders I think we must ask ourselves: Is sending out our church planters without any shoulder-to-shoulder or personal support even biblical? In the sixth chapter of Mark, Jesus sent his disciples out to minister in groups of two. A quick read through the book of Acts will show that the early church sent their missionaries out in groups of two. Come to think of it, whenever I watch the television show COPS, even they are sent out in groups of two. Like law enforcement, ministry is dangerous business. Don’t we need to take some precautions? There is strength and safety in numbers! It’s time to bring this biblical concept back into the arena of church planting. It’s hard enough planting a church, let alone, planting it solo. Instead of one entrepreneurial planter going out to start a church on his own, why not send a team? In his book Planting Missional Churches, Ed Stetzer explains that a church-planting team provides “a division of gifts, and a strong leadership base”. Church plants that start off with a team and share the workload stand a much better chance of reaching the two hundred mark quickly. But, does the data back that up? Yes! One of the most significant discoveries in the study of church plants (Planting Fast Growing Churches) has to do with "Lone Ranger" leadership. Each planter involved in the study was asked if they planted the church on their own or if they started with a church planting team. A whopping 88 percent of the fast-growing church plants had a church planting team in place prior to public launch. By contrast, only 12 percent of struggling church plants had a church planting team. That is a difference of 76 percent between these two groups! Ouch—did I just hear the Lone Ranger take a bullet? Team planting does have a positive impact on the growth of a new church, and it is a major factor that distinguishes fast-growing church plants from the comparison plants. Before the results came back to me, it was my belief that a team approach to church planting would produce a synergy unlike anything else. Because of my own experience, I already knew in my bones that those who attempted to plant a church in true Lone Ranger fashion had a much greater likelihood of struggling. What I found even more interesting, perhaps even disturbing, was the degree of loneliness and isolation that those leading struggling church plants found themselves subjected to. Each planter was asked to indicate how many unpaid volunteer staff they had. The results were eye opening. Not only did the majority of solo planters have no paid staff, it is significant to note that 73.1 percent of leaders involved in struggling church plants indicated that they had a grand total of zero on their voluntary staff. By contrast, a majority of planters leading fast-growing church plants, 65 percent, had at least one or more volunteers to rely on. What should this tell us? NO MORE LONE RANGERS! | |
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Posted 1/11/2010 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment |
The call to plantDecember 7, 2009 Let me preface everything I am about to say with this firm conviction: The Local church is the only hope this world has! The church is not a human invention or a manmade organization created to oppress and control the people of the world. It is a divine, God ordained, Christ commissioned organism, designed to be extension of the work of Jesus Christ, offering salvation, wholeness, healing and transformation to a sin-sick world. It is the only hope humanity has of finding forgiveness and proper standing before a holy and righteous God. Without the church, the world has no hope. If you don’t believe that, then there is no use in planting any churches. Close shop, go home and forget you ever considered planting a church in the first place. I can hear a few of you saying, "No, without Jesus, there is no hope." True, but the church has been called ot be Jesus' hands and feet. The Church, His bride, has been called to do "even greater things" than he did. The Church, lives because God called it into existence and ordained it to be His representative. Just as Jesus and the Father are one, a dichotomy does not, or at least should not exist between Jesus and His Bride. Throughout his ministry, Jesus shared the importance of evangelism as a driving force in the church. The Great Commission in Matt. 28:19 was his call to the church to participate in the practice of evangelism: “Go and make disciples of all nations”. Just before his ascension, Jesus reiterated these words: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). In my opinion, the Great Commission was understood as a call to start new communities of believers wherever the Disciples traveled. Any serious reader of the Bible will quickly come to understand that God’s nature is at the root of mission. The living God portrayed in the Bible is a sending God. He sends because of his love for the world. The Church is called to be the living expression of the kingdom of God on this earth and to express the love of God by fulfilling the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18. However, the Great Commission given by Jesus in the New Testament is not a new calling to God’s people. This commission, given by Jesus, is built upon the call to Abram found in Genesis: "Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will provide for you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse; and all the peoples on the earth will be blessed through you." (Gen. 12:1-3) This call to Abram shows God’s desire for Israel to become a movement that would touch the entire world. God's call to Abram was not a call to become a regional, stagnate, inward focused tribe. God’s design in this calling was to push the future nation of Israel to think beyond socioeconomic and ethnic borders. God’s desire was to bless the world through Abram. Abram’s obedience to God, then, would be the beginning of the people called Israelites and, ultimately, today’s Christian. Clearly, God’s intention, from the call of Abram, was to create a people group that would reach out to every nation. They were to be God's Blessing to an entire universe! So, Genesis 12:1-6 stands as the foundation upon which the Great Commission rests. According to the New Testament, Israel is no longer those who were, by blood, considered to be of Abram’s linage. Rather, the true Israelite is understood as he or she who receives adoption into the family, through the blood of Jesus. paul stated it best in Romans 9:8 “It is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring” Clearly Paul knew thast those who are the followers of Jesus Christ and part of his Church, are now called the “children” of Abraham. This classification becomes significant, as followers understand that the Great Commission is a reaffirmation of the original call given to Abraham. The Church, like Israel, is not to become a stand-alone organization, rather a life-giving organism that can influence the world. Church-planting is not new to denominational bodies. It was and is the lifeblood mission of the church from the very beginning. Church planting is the “intentional pursuit of lost people” that flows out of the Great Commission. God’s original call to be a blessing to the world is alive in the Great Commission. My firm conviction is that this calling was a call to spread the kingdom of God primarily through the means of planting new churches. As the church involves itself in this work, it is fulfilling the original call, given to Abram, to be a blessing to the nations. ∫Many New Testament Scriptures can be used to show the importance of church-planting. The book of Acts offers the reader a unique opportunity to witness the actions of the early Church in response to the Great Commission. Acts becomes an important dynamic because it best illustrates the early believer’s behavior after Jesus commissioned them. In essence, the book of Acts becomes the history of a church-planting movement. Although the phrase “church-planting” is not explicitly mentioned in Acts, I believe it is implicitly understood as a “normal expression of New Testament Missiology”. Church-planting was, without question, at the center of early Church activity. It was a primary means of spreading and establishing the gospel of Jesus Christ. | |
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Posted 12/7/2009 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment |
The Power of 10November 16, 2009 God is doing some amazing things through the "Power of Ten" challenge. Some churches have adopted the "Power Of Ten" as a church-wide challenge and others have used it as a Sunday School Challenge. Everday God is bringing us new churches, leaders, and church planting opportunities. God is up to something big and it is exciting to know that we are a part of His great plan. Over the next few months I expect to see our opportunites expand to even greater possibilities. Don't miss out on the opportunity to be a part of this big vision! If you have not taken the challenge, why not! Imagine the life-change we will celebrate this year as God continues to work through our movement!
You have an opportunity to be a part of this great vision! Take The Power of Ten Challenge. Be one of the 10,000 people who will be praying for 10 minutes a day as well as giving $10 a month until 10/10/10.
If you would like to sign up CLICK HERE. | |
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Posted 11/16/2009 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment |
Friendly FireNovember 11, 2009
According to Webster’s dictionary the word fidelity means “The quality or state of being faithful.” Fidelity is synonymous with words like devotion, faithfulness and allegiance. No doubt these are qualities every planter or planting team hopes to find in the people that surround them. Yet, far too often those on the front lines, planting new churches experience the exact opposite. Sometimes even from the most unexpected people. In war they call it friendly fire.
As in the case of Jesus, sometimes our most avid and staunch supporters end up denying they even knew you. Many church planters have been blind-sided and sidelined by the loss of fidelity from co-workers, primary investors, friends, team members, denominational supervisors, district leaders, even family members. You may think that it will never happen to you, but think again.
So why do church planters experience a loss of fidelity from friends, family, supervisors and colleagues once they start the church planting process? Every planter has experienced this at some level. While our list is not exhaustive, by any means, we believe that these are the top five reasons.
1. The Call This particular reason is most prevalent as it concerns your extended family. Can you imagine what Abrams family thought when he told them his plan for moving? God called to Abram “Get out of your country, from your family. Imagine the humor in the conversation Abram had with his family about his new journey. The conversation probably went something like this. “Abe. What are you doing?” “Leaving.” “Where are you going?” “I don’t know!” “Then how will you know when you’ve arrived?” “I don’t know.” “How will you provide for yourself?” “I don’t know.” “What will happen if things don’t work out?” “I don’t know,” “So, why would you do something so crazy?” “Cause God told me too.” Maybe you have already had conversation like this. When God places a call on your heart and you begin to follow through, many will not understand it. We have heard of parents turning their backs on their own children because the parent felt their son or daughter was off on a fool’s errand. 2. Money More battles have been fought over this issue than we care to mention. Church planting takes an endless stream of money and many in the established church don’t understand. Furthermore, some feel that the money should go to help struggling churches rather than toward a new church. If we have heard it once, we have heard it a dozen times, “Why are you spending so much money on planting new churches when you should be helping us?”
3. Territorialism This is probably one of the most prolific complaints against church planting. The problem is this complaint doesn’t come from those outside the walls of the church but by those in the church. Most of the time the person heading the charge is the pastor.
It doesn’t really seem to matter how far away you are, you will always be too close. After all, the little church of 50, already established, has a claim on the 200,000 people of their city. The own the mud! They have been in this city for 50 years and have reached an average attendance of 50. But they are on the verge of breaking out, if only they had a bigger building, more money, less competition from other churches, etc…
We call this an “Empire” mentality. Honestly, most pastors seem to be more interested in building their own little empire than building the Kingdom of God. They will passionately fight for their ability to hold sole rights to the souls of their community even though their facility will not hold even a fraction of those who live on their own block. 4. Style of Worship The style of worship you chose to use could also become a sore spot and cause a loss of fidelity, A young planter in the Tennessee area fund this out the hard way. After launching his new church with a format and style foreign to the rest of the churches in his district, he was ostracized and shunned. Still to this day, even though he has the largest, healthiest, and strongest church in the district, his own colleagues won’t have much to do with him. 5. Jealousy Truth be told, this is probably where most problems rest. Almost every pastor I know talks about how they would like to see the hand of God on their church in a powerful way. They would like to see the Holy Spirit move and bring hundreds of new people into a live-changing relationship with Jesus. The only problem is their prayer is more focused on them and their ministry than on the actual move of God. Most love to talk about growth and salvation unless it is someone else’s.
Many pray for growth and hope God does marvelous things and when it starts to happen in someone else’s church the pastor immediately disapproves God’s movement by claiming that the other church is either watering down the gospel or behaving in a way that is not proper. Isn’t that strange? We all want to see revival, as long as it happens in our way and on our turf. | |
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Posted 11/11/2009 in Church Planting | 1 Comment - Add Comment |
The Barnabas Factor - Part 2October 28, 2009
Handling the ridicule and resentment from your own tribe/family/denomination, can add almost intolerable levels of unexpected pressure. In my case, regular encouragement from the pastors within my district would have given me added strength to carry on when things became unbearable. Instead, the open suspicion and verbal attacks from my colleagues pulled me in the opposite direction. The resistance I felt from my colleagues ultimately led me to question my own abilities. The research can be found in my book Planting Fast Growing Churches. Here are the questions I used to discover the issue of emotional support. 1. How much encouragement did you receive from your superiors? 2. How well did you feel you were supported by your pastoral colleagues? 3. How well were you accepted by surrounding churches in your denomination? 4. Did you have regular fellowship with other pastors? 5. Was your work celebrated within the denomination? 6. How much negativity did you have to overcome from your sponsoring agency? Out of the six questions asked, five significant differences were discovered in this section. The only question both groups responded equally on was the encouragement they felt from their direct superiors. Overall, planters leading fast-growing church plants experienced higher degrees of personal and emotional support than did those leading struggling church plants.
Planters leading fast-growing church plants felt significantly more support from pastoral colleagues, acceptance from surrounding churches, had more fellowship with other pastors, were celebrated more widely in the denomination, and experienced less negativity from their sponsoring agency. Perhaps this data shows that praise only goes to the victorious. Perhaps it’s easier to support a church on the move, but I don’t really think this is the case, nor does it matter. If a church plant is floundering, it needs support. This data, if only looked at in this way can also show support being pulled out from under struggling church plants because it’s floundering. In any case, more plants that felt encouragement from outside sources thrived than failed. This is entirely clear.
It is vital that planters have adequate emotional support. The implications of this discovery reveal that the emotional health of the planter will have an effect on the emotional health of the entire fledgling congregation. If the planter is depressed, frustrated, feeling a lack of support and encouragement, then the church plant will suffer. Conversely, a strong sense of support from colleagues, churches and sponsoring entities can only be beneficial for the planter as well as the plant.
My wife, usually a very quiet and demure woman, spoke to a group of church planting leaders at a seminar in Jan 2005. She was prepared to make a few clear points about church planting, and oddly enough, I had never really seen things from her perspective until that day. She walked in with a dry erase board and drew two lines, dividing the board in half. Above one of her two lines, she wrote the words “Established Church”. Over the other line, she wrote, “Church Plant”.
“Tell me” she said, “what kind of things happen for the pastor and his family when they come to pastor an established church? What kind of perks do they have right off the bat?” These leaders bought in hook-line-and-sinker. Like rapid fire, they began to name the usual things. “Security,” someone answered. “A new spiritual family,” another offered.
The group continued listing things like: a paycheck, ready-made friends, a social network, and the list went on.
“Now,” she said, “what happens for the planter and his or her family when they arrive on the scene of a new city to begin their work?”
You could have heard a pin drop. Not one positive suggestion was offered, most had never really thought about it in those terms. Unlike transfering from one established church to another, planter's and their families, in most cases, have no support network. Like bricks falling from heaven, her point hit these men squarely over the head. It sunk in that the structures and support systems built-in to an already established church do not exist for the church plant.
What my wife did was simple enough, but it had an enormous impact on these church planting leaders. Without exception, each of them confessed their need to commit to a higher quality of emotional support for those on the field planting churches. Perhaps a few church planters or denominational leaders will profit from my wife’s presentation. I hope so. | |
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Posted 10/28/2009 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment |
Financing A Church PlantSeptember 29, 2009 There are all kinds of leaders and all kinds of leadership styles. There’s the lead-by-example leader, the dictator, the persuader, the gifted orator, or the hands-on leader. There are many kinds of leaders, but | |
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Posted 9/22/2009 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment |
Finding LeadersSeptember 7, 2009
Posted 9/7/2009 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment |
Reaching Critical Mass QuicklySeptember 1, 2009
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Posted 9/1/2009 in Church Planting | 2 Comments - Add Comment |
Don't Be Married To The ChurchAugust 26, 2009 Don’t be married to the church? What? Why would anyone ever blog about that? As a preachers kid I understand this problem in ways I wish I didn’t. As a pastor of 21 years I have not only experienced the effects of this problem in my life, but also helped to promote it in many ways. In my father’s generation, it was widely accepted that the church always came before the family. Why? Somehow his service, to the church, was considered an act of sacrifice and showed real commitment. Anything short of total life sacrifice simply wasn’t true commitment to the high calling of pastor. Donald Joy, a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary, reminded me of this danger today as I was reading Men Under Construction. Joy said, “The church has one husband: Jesus. That’s enough! We can’t have bigamy scandalizing the church. Be the husband of one wife…and Jesus will affirm you for it, but don’t go flirting with His bride.” (page 108) I think that sums it up nicely. Don’t make the mistake of sacrificing the gift of family with a a new mistress called the church. God’s call to you is to be a Christian first, a spouse and parent second (if married) and a pastor third. The consequences of getting this out of a proper perspective can be catastrophic in more ways than one. | |
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Posted 8/26/2009 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment |
The Power of TenAugust 14, 2009 Our national event, the Missions & Ministry Summit, was a tremendous success. Wednesday night, July 29th, I was given a brief opportunity to share my thoughts and cast cision for what I believe God would do 2010 through National Missions. If you would like to sign up CLICK HERE. | |
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Posted 8/14/2009 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment |
Go After MenAugust 6, 2009 It has been a while since I wrote a new blog. I have spent the last month traveling far too much. April 21-24 I attended and spoke, at the invite of Ed Stetzer, at Exponential 08. Exponential is a national conference designed with the church planter in mind. The seminars covered everything from "Nuts and Bolts" of church planting to the "Organic Church" movement. I highly recommend this conference to anyone interested in church planting. Next year's conference will have an international flavor to it as they look to understand church planting movements across the globe. So, while I sit in the airport in Tampa Bay waiting for my flight home I thought I might share a few facts I discovered while reading The American Church in Crisis by David T. Olsen. This is a must read book for anyone in the church. If Olsen is right, and the church continues on its path without a fresh vision, and drive for planting strong, healthy new churches we are in serious trouble. Planting new churches is the only way to revitalize our declining church base and begin a revival in the U.S. One striking statistic Olsen shared blew me away! The stat is so shocking I think it needs some serious attention and should spark numerous conversations about how we plant churches. Olsen reports on page 89; "A Study in 2000 from Switzerland provides insight on the importance on male attendance on the religious development of children in the country. 'In summary, if a father does not go to church, no matter how regular the mother is in her religious practice, only one child in fifty becomes a regular church attendee. But if the father attends regularly, then regardless of the practice of the mother, at least one child in three will become a regular church attendee.'" Even though that research was done in Switzerland, I believe that it will hold fairly true in the U.S. as well. The disparity between "one in fifty" and "one in three" is huge! Just stop and think about those numbers for a while. That should cause us o consider how we are designing our church plants. From the color of the curtains to the use of PowerPoint backgrounds, we need to target the men. If we are honest, much of what we do appeals more to women. While we need and are thankful for those women who have faithfully served our churches over the decades, we must reach the men. I heard Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle share on a video The Good Soldier, if want to win the war, you have to win the men. Steve Gallimore, pastor of Tennessee Valley Community Church, recognized this need several years ago and launched a NASCAR series. The church was located in an old car dealership and the stage and worship room was completely set up for this theme. The stage had a set of gummy tires from a racing car and when the service started the speaker roared with the sound of squealing tires and smoke machine added a sense of realism to the burnout. While many may find that kind of service sacriligious God used this series to bring hundreds of men into a saving knowledge of Christ and kept them active in the church. Paul tells us to "become all things to all men". What does that mean? It means, in simplistic terms, we must use the | |
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Posted 8/6/2009 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment |
Life in the marginAugust 5, 2009
Dr. Swenson starts the book by sharing how progress, which was suppose to give us more time to do the things we want, has actually robbed us of proper margins in our life. The technology that was suppose to take our work and simplify it, has actually served to help us live marginless lives that are destroying our relationships, emotions, finances and spiritual selves. As I was reading this book I kept thinking to myself, "This is a really good book for church planters to read." Church planters live outside the margin most of their life. Planting a new church is a call, in many ways to live outside proper margins. We race around setting up meetings, organizing marketing campaigns, setting up gyms, theaters and cafeterias, only to tear it down again. Often the week becomes a blur and planters get burned out while running on the hamster wheel. Interestingly enough, I find myself on the same wheel. Traveling from state to state, working with multiple planters, staff members, lay people and board members. How easy it is to get trapped in the vicious cycle of performance. If you are a Type-A, you struggle with this more than most. What is the answer? Slowing down and creating proper boundaries in life. Remembering that God's call to us is primarily to be in relationship with Him and then with the family he gave us. Neglecting these areas of our lives was not God's intended purpose when he called us and yet I see the train wrecks many planters make of these two relationships. Here is a plain and simple statement: The best gift you can give your congregation and staff is a healthy emotional, spiritual and relational you. If you can keep that in perspective, God will do the rest. Don't fall into the trap of losing the margins in your life. Busyness does not equal effectiveness. | |
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Posted 8/5/2009 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment |
Over the last few days I have been engrossed in a book called
Breaking 200July 11, 2009 A church plant is a lot like a boulder on a barren mountainside. You’ve seen this same rock in many adventure movies. Perhaps you’ve seen two nondescript cowboys desperately prying it loose, and then watching it fall. It quickly picks up speed, knocking other smaller rocks loose. Rocks smash against other rocks, breaking them from their resting places. All at once, a clamorous noise ensues, dust rises, and suddenly the entire mountainside is alive with the violent motion of falling boulders and debris. This landslide is what the cowboys were hoping for, and they whoop and holler at their success. A successful church plant is a lot like this scene.  | |
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Posted 7/11/2009 in Church Planting | 3 Comments - Add Comment |
The Granola FactorApril 28, 2009 Church plants attract all kinds of people from every walk of life. Many times they also attract every freakish, nut-job in the community. That is the nature of the beast. These fanatics will come into your church with all kinds of presuppositions about how a church should be governed, what it should be believe and how attendees should dress. Some will want to argue end-times eschatology. Others will tell you that any music played in a minor key is of the devil. You may even have some fruitcakes come into your church who want you to trim your mustache to a certain length or wear white, long-sleeved shirts like Jesus. While many will come in your doors to experience something new and exciting, make no mistake, others will come in with personal agendas seeking to impose their will on you. Jesus dealt with people like this all the time. The Pharisees wanted him to perform only the miracles and signs they insisted were proper. Jesus was never to perform any miracle on the Sabbath and he and his disciples had to wash themselves in the prescribed manner. Some of Jesus’ followers didn’t want him to talk about hard issues like eating flesh or drinking blood. Even, Peter himself tried to hijack Jesus’ agenda by trying to convince him that dying on a cross was foolish talk. What do you do with people like this? You use them to fulfill the work of God’s kingdom. Building critical mass is the challenge of every church planter. It is imperative that a planter builds momentum as quickly as they can. That means you can not be too picky! I heard Andy Stanley once say that momentum is caused by the concepts of something being new, improved or improving. That is why church plants are so successful in the very beginning. No doubt, in every new church plant, there will be people who show up, get involved, begin to give and then show their true colors. But you need them to build what God has called you to build. A new church plant will need everyone it can to join in on the fun. Basically, when we started, if you had a pulse, we could use you. We are not talking about providing care for our children but just about everything else was fair game. We connected with and included many people in ministry that we would probably not put into ministry at this stage of the game. We would even ask people to just show up and fill a pew. Those first weeks and months are so important from an energy and momentum standpoint. The more people involved, the more energy in the service. When new people would show up, they observed all this scaffolding and thought, “There must be something going on here.” Some of those new people will ‘stick.’ They will see the ministry going on, resonate with it, and join you in serving in the new plant. But it can get kind of tricky trying to see through their ‘offer to help.’ On the one hand, some are genuinely looking for a place to serve and help. Others may have a personal agenda or less than true motives. Judging someone’s motives and intentions is a difficult and dangerous endeavor, but you must try to evaluate everyone who gets involved in the church. Trust your gut instinct, it is often right. Many times, these freakish people want to serve but only on their terms. Many come from a ‘congregational’ governance background. Others have a bad experience in a previous church, and want to make this new church to fit their liking. They want to serve the church but they hav | |
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Posted 4/28/2009 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment |
Fast-TrackingApril 14, 2009 According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, putting something on the fast track means “to speed up the process or rapidly advance.” One of the greatest temptations many planters will face is the desire to launch their church before the proper time. Yet, launching the church prematurely could destroy the church’s potential. Rarely will the end turn out well if a planter fast-tracks the launch of their new church. Unfortunately, it happens more often than you might think. Why? This what we have experienced as the top three reasons. 1. Pressure 2. Pride 3. Poor Planning One of the strangest stories Jesus ever told is found in Luke 16. Jesus is talking with his disciples and begins to tell a story about a lazy manager who is mismanaging his master’s household. The manager finds out that he is going to get fired and starts to make friends by cutting in half what some business owners owe the master of the house. In effect, he is stealing from the master to ‘make nice’ with some potential future employers. Jesus closes the story out like this; “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”
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Posted 4/14/2009 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment |