10 Keys to Sane Church Planting

I recently saw a list of 10 Keys to Effective Church Planting. I want to whole-heartedly agree with some and humbly take issue with others (and one in particular)... I don't pretend to know it all- but here are my thoughts as I read through the list. Let's call my reworked thoughts 10 Keys to Sane Church Planting...

The list is:
1. Get on your knees and fight like a man.
2. Team-work makes the dream work.
3. Location, location, location
4. Determine your target audience.
5. It takes big money to plant a church.
6. If you build it they still might not come.
7. Clarify the “win”.
8. Set yourself up for success.
9. Focus on life-giving ministry
10. You get what you expect.

You can see a much more detailed description of these points here

So... in order.

1. Get on your knees and fight like a man.

Aside from the inherent sexism in the way the statement is made, this is a great, great place to start. "Unless the Lord build a house..." :)

2. Team-work makes the dream work.

Yes. It's important to not do this thing alone.

3. Location, location, location

Yeah... Okay. I hear you. I think our outside-the-box meeting space has done huge things for us. But...
I want to differentiate between planting a service and actually planting a community. Planting a service is easy. You just need a bunch of dough, a few people willing to work themselves to death and voila'... and yes, that's all about the location.
Planting a community, however, is a bit more ephemeral... a bit harder to quantify into easy-to-follow steps. It's a partnership between the Spirit and desperate people trying hard to listen to that Spirit. It usually results in a Sunday morning (or other time) gathering, and often people are told about it/invited to it... but that's not the heart of a true community is it?

4. Determine your target audience.

I guess on this one I would just say- Look in the mirror. Expect that the people who will be part of your community will largely look like you. Expect that, but pray for different.
And quit targeting people. I think it freaks them out :)

5. It takes big money to plant a church.

Okay...

If you'll excuse my language, that's a load of shite. And a dangerous lie to tell to church planters. I wish to God (literally) that people would stop saying this. Is it easier to plant with "big money"? In some ways... And I'm really glad for churches that are able to start with a lot of support. Seriously. The fact that someone is willing to put up that kind of money on a venture that statistically has an 80% or more chance of failure is amazing in the best sense of the word. A lot of people are putting their wallets where their mouths are to plant churches.

But.

It's not necessary. You don't have to have "big money" to plant a church... In fact, you might be better off without it.

We had $700 a month committed when we planted our community.

That's it.

But we kept overhead low, we have made due for the past two years with $600 worth of sound system, my associate pastor worked a full time job until this very month... somehow, we managed to launch a vibrant, growing community without big money.
In fact, I've seen churches struggle because of that damned big money.

They "launch" with a full contingent of paid ministry professionals, the whole Kid's Ministry In A Box™ that they bought at some convention somewhere, and the people show up to see the show.
And two years later, when their initial bankroll from momma church or daddy church-planting organization runs out, they fold because they have ministry jacked up to artificially high levels, that is, they have more programs and staff and equipment needs than their people can conceivably give for and support... and when that gap between actual giving and budget needs hits, they need to start laying off staff. And that's a spiral that the heavy-initial-investment, programmatic church model can't handle. When the staff starts going, that equates to a cut in services, and the people soon start edging out the back door for some place down the road with something new and exciting (and better funded!) going on...

Grim? Yeah...
Does it happen to everyone who starts with a big wad of cash? Of course not.
Could it? Oh yeah...

So why not start simple? Let it grow organically...
Different approach, different challenges (for sure)...
But do you need "big money" to plant?

No, no, no. A thousand times no! And you just might be better off with a different approach.

Sorry... got worked up there. I apologize if I stepped on your toes. This one is a serious button for me...

6. If you build it they still might not come.

Amen, brother. So... focus less on building and more on being. Be the kind of community (whether you are 10 people or 100) that others will find loving and welcoming, where they can find God and themselves be found. People will show up for that. You can figure out the bells and whistles later. I say, quit being a builder. Try being a gardener...
:)

7. Clarify the “win”.

Yeeeeahhh... got no idea what this means. I know about setting quantifiable goals and all that. But we're talking people's souls, not numbers. We're talking about community, not benchmarks.
Do your people love God?
Win!
Do they love each other?
Win!
Do they love others outside of your little thing?
Win!
Are you together figuring out how that all works together in community? What that looks like for you as a unique group of Christ followers? Are you feeding people who need food, clothing people who need clothes and generally being Jesus to those God brings in contact with you/your community?
Win, win, win!

Don't have your five-year plan together? No mission statement? No idea what comes next?
Join the club. :)
And don't sweat it.
Do the things Jesus is telling your community to do, love people and trust God to build His church and...
You'll know the win when you see it.

8. Set yourself up for success.

Can't argue with that!

9. Focus on life-giving ministry

Or that!

10. You get what you expect.

And hopefully... a whole lot more.

Amen?

Comments

[Innes]

Hi Bob

Excellent response to money! Thoroughly agree. However, it stimulated me to think beyond only financial resources.

How many church plants start off with a “full” team? By full team I mean they can do the whole church thang without the help of the new joiners. Without the perception that they are needed and indeed crucial to the future of the community, why should they invest themselves? It comes back to a point you made about consumer churches: “what you win them with, you win them to.” Too many church plants start off with a big team and have an expectation that they will make themselves redundant, that others will step up and take their roles. In reality they risk creating a dependency culture that they cannot break unless they are willing to remove (some of) the team and create spaces/opportunities for the community itself. Is this risky? You bet! The community may not rise to the challenge; they may not want to invest themselves. It may all end horribly.

But at least you will know.

Thanks for the challenge!

Innes

[eric]

Clarifuing the win comes from Andy Stanley's book the 7 Practies of Effective Ministry. It means that you know what it is each area calls and celebrates as a win. It has to be quatifiable, but it also has to be something worth celebrating.

The book gives the example of transformed lives as one of the "wins." He talks about baptisms a quantifiable demonstrationg of that, and He reinforces that "win" by having the person do a video testimony discussing how their lives have been transformed by the power of God.

Having just finished up my pastoral responsibilities with my church plant after 6 years, I would say that I agree. Money is as much a help as it is a hindrance. They may never come, but you have to ask yourself, what is success apart from the numbers? I quantified it as the number of people we served in our community. Being a "go and do" church vs. being a "come and see" church.

[Nuno Barreto]

That's totally true. People that think about church planting like if it was some kind of business creation, give me the creeps!

[Steve Carr]

"Money, it’s a gas. Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash."

Pink Floyd and church planting makes for strange bedfellows.

I couldn't agree more about the finances of starting a church. I had no desire to do extensive fundraising to get our church started. I figured if God wanted it to happen then we might as well sacrifice and step out in faith. It's helped our community to adopt an "us against the world" mentality that keeps us going.

We're five months in and we've spent about $5,000 to get established. Most church plants in my "denomination" are running about $200,000 to get going. I really believe emphasizing "high quality" church plants prohibits us from planting the number of churches we should. We are definitely in need of a paradigm shift here.

Sure we're not quite as flashy as these "professional plants;" our website doesn't have flash on it, and our business cards are white with black ink, but we preach Jesus. Last time I checked, that's a win.

[Josh H]

Bob, nail on the head! I wholeheartedly believe that far too many people God desires to use don't ever go anywhere becuase they are waiting for the sugar daddy or the mega church to step up. I also had a huge budget lined out and got convicted, we have descovered how little it truly takes to build a community. Compared to your story we are filthy stinking rich.

Thanks for your commetns, I always appreciate your heart and passion.

JOSH

[Josh H]

Steve: I think you can go ultra-cool and not spend too much. There are so many resources out there. Also, if you stick to what really matters then you have so much less to spend money on.

[Mark Mc]

great thoughts on the $$, and the difference between planting a church vs. a community. If we want to perpetuate the consumerish church seems like big Bucks and flash is a good place to start new churches. If we want to create new communities of faith and caring, maybe we could serve rather than consume.

[joe]

hi bob-

once again, thanks for your insight and genuine concern for church planting/planters. i'm in the very beginning stages of church planting, terribly excited and a little freaked out all at once...however, i think what strikes me most about things like the '10 keys to church planting', denominational imperatives and the like, is that these standards and earmarks usually describe a church that not even i would want to be a part. in some ways, it's as if the powers that be are spending their efforts creating churches for an era, and a people that no longer exist...

in reference to the money bit, our first year operating budget will look something like this: rental space/refreshments ($5000/yr); part time staff (me! $10000/yr); communication tools/supplies ($1500); Misc. start-up costs ($5000). Grand Total: $21500. (CDN funds no less!) not bad, eh? :)

am i being naieve?

any words of wisdom, fellow planters?

joe
www.thinkerlabs.ca

[Drew Caperton]

Linked you, always good to see what you have to say about church-planting.

[kyle]

im with you on the money thing for sure. Im currently church planting in east Vancouver, Canada (theopenhouse.ca) and we have no existing budget. But because of that we have had to hold off doing anything "big" and have become much more relational and community based. so my two cents, money can also limit your work because you can become outside-in (outsider from a distance) orientated rather than inside-out (local and community driven).

[Tadd Grandstaff]

Just for the record those were not my thought on church planting...I received those from the ARC Association at their church planting CPR Conference...I posted those to share with whoever...they do not directly effect my views!

Just wanted to make that clear :)

I did enjoy your post!

[Dave Lynch]

Okay, don't want to turn this into a who spent less competition, but just to show what can be done, we are eight months in...we have spent about £200 on renting a place to meet on Sunday afternoons (only part of what we do), the people are loving God more and the whole thing is growing...not sure what we could spend anymore money on anyway?

Am I doing something wrong?

Dave

[david]

all this $$ talk raises an issue?
are people giving of their finances?
what do you do with that?

does saving the money allow you to invest in other "ministries"/social causes?

i'd like to hear a discussion of church planters talk about how they handle the whole offering thing and distribution of the collection?