Inside Church Planting 2.2
 | Inside Church Planting September-October, 2004 Volume 2, Number 2 | ||
Contents This Issue Feature Article: Planning the Church Plant, part 2 Summary: 2004 Northwest Church Planting Workshop Kairos Church Planters Feature Book: Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age Subscribing to ICP
KAIROS CHURCH PLANTERS
Kevin and Brenda Woods Background: 24 year career in youth ministry in the Pacific Northwest Church Plant: Renevatous, a Church of the Christ in Camas, WA Launch Date: October 2005 Team Status: 8 team members committed to the plant. The team is currently conducting research and readying plans to develop multiple community groups. Contact: KevinWoods500@comcast.net
Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age by Ed Stetzer, Broadman & Holman, 2003. Stetzer strikes a healthy balance between thoughtful reflection and pragmatic action as he walks the reader through a balanced dis-cussion of the church planting process. In Parts 1-3 Stetzer describes the missional journey needed to plant churches that will be appropriate for their context. Here is where the reader will get a rapid introduction to the post-modern world. Parts 4-5 move to a nuts and bolts, timeline approach that leads the reader through a detailed description of what a planter will do to start a new church. Part 6 ends the book with a call for reproduction so that new churches will plant other new churches. Stetzer's strength is his experi-ence and expertise as a church planter. He also uses well church planting research that has ac-cumulated over the past decade. The reader needs to keep in mind two weaknesses in the book. First, there is a limited theological grounding for the church planting enterprise (let alone theological considerations to guide the selection of practices). Two, despite the title, one gets the distinct impression that Stetzer's planting experience was in plant-ing modern rather than post-modern churches. The book is still to be written that truly addresses planting churches among the emerging generations. Despite the weaknesses in the book we give Stetzer a 4-star rating. In fact, this is the book Kairos provides to all our planters.
| Inside this Issue The spirit of God has been extremely active since the last issue of Inside Church Planting. This issue begins with our feature article: Planning the Church Plant, part 2, which describes the Launch, Growth and Stabilization Phases of the first 3 years of the church plant. Next Issue: Kairos: Church Planting, a facilitating ministry for church planting churches. Editor: Dr. Stanley Granberg, Cascade College. | ||
PLANNING THE CHURCH PLANT, part 2 In the last issue of ICP we described the planting of a new church as a six phase process beginning with the inception of the idea (the call of God in the heart and mind of the church planter) and reaching the completion of the cycle by reproducing another new church.
Each phase is described in terms of a major task and a series of essential objectives which need to be met in order to complete the task of each phase. Last issue we looked at the Conception, Team Building and Evangelize and Gather phases. Here we complete the process working through the Launch, Growth and Stabilization phases of a new church. Launch Phase, 10-12 months The primary task of the Launch Phase is to begin the public celebration worship services for the new church. Up until this time the church planter has been doing the foundational work. During the Team Building Phase the planting team is gathered, the planter continually casts the vision of the church to provide direction to the team and trains the team for ministry. In the Evangelize and Gather Phase the church planter continues to build the team into the launch team, multiplying community groups and training the launch team in the basic skills needed to support the church. Now, in the Launch Phase, the church goes public. Going public, there is something scintillating and scary about launching public worship of the church. The public launch is truly a hinge moment for the new church. A successful launch builds off the successful work done in the previous stages. It also carries its own weight. Ed Stetzer's (2003) research indicates that churches which use a big launch are larger in their 2nd through 4th years than those churches that did not (p. 263). The launch moves the church into a new stage of existence, bringing the church into the public arena where it will compete with all of the other market forces calling for peoples' attention and commitment. As a worshipping community the public launch is a major confession of faith for the new group of gathered believers as they bear witness to the divine-human relationship which lies at the heart of their community. The are 4 essential objectives to achieve in the launch phase. And notice there is little time given to meet these objectives. Actually, these objectives are seeded here and will reach maturity with time and practice. 1. Multiply community groups (4-5 groups). Multiplying the small groups of the church will be a continuing element. The temptation is to let the community groups slip into a maintenance mode as the bulk of the launch team's energy flows into the public worship. If, in the previous phases, the foundations of small group life have been well laid the process for multiplying new groups should continue to work. 2. Develop the public celebration services. There are two critical aspects to keep in mind here. The first is to create integrity between the vision for the church and its practices in worship. The worship experience should reflect the core values of the church so that everyone who attends will leave with a basic understanding that "this is what this church is about." The second key aspect is to develop the worship service so that it calls to the target group the church is trying to reach. The worship practices must encourage unbelievers to consider Christ and not put forward unnecessary obstacles. As a mission church the new church must consider its worship language (church-ese is a foreign language to the unbeliever), its music, the time and place of its worship meetings, even the dress code that it portrays, just like a church must do to be effective in a foreign mission field. 3. Mobilize celebration ministries. Who is going to plan and carry out all the tasks of the worship meeting? There are greeters, set-up and tear-down crews, children's ministries, sound system, record-keeping, and a hundred other tasks that must be done EVERY Sunday. These tasks can be arranged into ministries which will develop systems to get done what needs to be done every week. 4. Activate a comprehensive assimilation process. A comprehensive assimilation process begins with the target people in their natural environment (how does the church become an option among people who do not yet know of it?), moves them into the sphere of the church, calls them to commitment and trains them for life-long discipleship. If you're expecting visitors at your launch (isn't that the object?) you need to know what you're going to do with them from that very first day. Growth Phase, 13-24 months The primary task of the Growth Phase is to build a healthy body of active believers. This phase can be thought of as the "experience" phase; it's where the church begins to mature through continued practice of all its ministries. Four essential objectives are part of the Growth Phase: 1. Continue to multiply community groups (7-12 groups). 2. Communicate your vision and values. Every new person who enters into the church will come with his or her own background, expectations and agendas. Horror stories abound of church plants that were hijacked or stalled by competing visions. New Christians need orientations to the new life they are building as well as to their new community. This is not the time to be timid with the vision God has provided, but bold (2 Tim. 1:7). 3. Train for ministry involvement. Thom Rainier in Surprising Insights form the Unchurched and Proven Ways to Reach Them (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001) found that involvement in ministry (62% of those responding) is the top reason why unchurched peoples stayed in churches during their first two years as Christians. Bob Lewis of Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, Arkansas describes how their church has had a profound impact in changing their community by calling everyone in the church to be a minister for Christ (The Church of Irresistible Influence. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003). 4. Multiply ministries. Training for ministry will go nowhere unless new ministries are created and existing ministries re-energized by the influx of new Christians. Rick Warren's philosophy for the Saddleback Church of being purpose driven is reflected in their highly visible 301 training classes and ministry creation demonstrates that new people bring new ministry possibilities with them (see http://www.saddlebackfamily.com/). Stabilization Phase, 25-36 months The primary task of this last phase in the three year church planting process is to structure the church for long-term health and growth. This phase is the least discussed phase in the church planting literature, but cannot be overlooked for the long-term success of the church plant. The following are the five essential objections of the Stabilization Phase: 1. Continue to multiply community groups (12+). 2. Build effective communication systems. The general rule of thumb is that effective communication occurs multiple times using multiple communication avenues. The more important an item is, the more often it must be communicated using a wider variety of communication means. Effective communication also includes feedback, otherwise how can you know what communication people have actually received! Develop a communication plan which identifies 2 or 3 primary communication methods (i.e., e-mail, internet, weekly bulletins, mailouts, etc.) and 2 or 3 secondary methods (phone calls, letters, personal communication, etc.) The primary methods are used for all general communication. The secondary methods are used for specific purposes. Then train your people to look and listen! 3. Initiate intentional leadership development. The #1 indicator of a good leader is the ability to call and develop other good leaders. Church planters are often not good at developing leaders because of feelings of personal threat, lack of time, and it is just plain easier to do it yourself than to train others to do it. Developing internal church leadership involves dealing with congregational polity, lines of authority and accountability and the willingness of all leaders to practice mutual submission as well as authoritative leadership. Despite the complexity of developing leaders it is a biblical command (2 Tim. 2:2) necessary for church health. 4. Develop leadership and administrative structures. Who will make what decisions? How will those decisions be implemented? Who keeps records and accounts and what records and accounts does the church need to keep? Church planters are seldom the detail people who are interested in administrative issues, but ignoring the need won't make them disappear. Some key areas needing attention are incorporation of the church as a legally constituted organization; financial record keeping and accounting; hiring, work evaluation and termination process; and security screening for ministries with minors. 5. Launch a daughter church plant. One of my mentors, Wendell Broom, speaks of terminal churches and germinal churches. Terminal churches live for themselves; germinal churches live to reproduce. The common experience of church planters in reproducing churches is that daughtering the new church plant is more demanding and sacrificial than beginning the mother church. What this implies is that daughtering a church will not be an accidental process. It must be in the plan and part of the DNA structure of the mother church. | |||
2004 Northwest Church Planting Workshop About 75 people attended the 2004 workshop at Cascade College. The PowerPoint presentations for the workshop are available for viewing and downloading at www.kairoschurchplanting.org.
Subscribing to ICP If you received this inaugural issue you're on the list for ICP. But, if we are going to make the impact on the world we want to make, we need your help to build up the subscriber base for ICP. Send me the email addresses of others you know who might like to receive ICP. To unsubscribe, send a return message with delete in the subject line. |
Inside Church Planting 1.1
| Inside Church Planting September-October, 2003 Volume 1, Number 1 | |||
Contents Welcome to ICP Feature Article Church Planting Workshop Did You Know? Best Practices Tip Subscribing to ICP
Did You Know?Oregon and Washington are ranked 51st and 50th in per- centage of residents attending church in the US. (http://www.glenmary.org/). Oregon ranks 28th in population but only 31.3% of people attend church. There are 3,155 churches in Oregon. Washington ranks 15th in population, but only 35.9% attend church. There are 4,224 churches in Washington State. King County, WA, the home of Seattle, ranks 8th on the list of counties nationwide with the most churches. Church Planting Workshop The 2nd annual church planting workshop will be held March 19-20 at Cascade College, Portland, Oregon.
| Welcome to ICP! Welcome to Inside Church Planting. ICP is an e-bulletin devoted to promoting the growth of the kingdom by encouraging, informing and connecting church multiplication leaders. This inaugural issue introduces Inside Church Planting. In the feature article I'll lay out the main ideas behind ICP and who will benefit from ICP. Editor: Dr. Stanley Granberg, Cascade College. | |||
INTRODUCING INSIDE CHURCH PLANTING When I was church planting in Kenya I was always amazed at how God could take the 3 hours a week I gave to a village church and cause visible growth in numbers and maturity by the next week. This continual event embedded Mark 4:26-29 in my heart as one of the most amazing, and fitting, parables for church planting Jesus ever told. He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain:first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come." When I think of church planting my mind goes back to this parable. First for what it says, but also for what it implies. What Jesus says is this: God grows his kingdom. What a powerfully invigorating concept! It means that such work does not rest on our shoulders. Church planting is God's work; you and I are here to be used as God sees fit. If you have listened closely to God, if the place you are working, the people you are seeking and the plan you are following have come from the heart of God, then, as Paul says, ". . . in all these things we are more than conquerors . . ." (Rom. 8:37). God is going to give his harvest. Think what that means. No more sleepless nights worrying "Did I do the right thing?". No more "tagamet" moments wondering whether people will actually come to a grand opening. No more wondering whether God's message still speaks relevantly to the people who hear it. What Jesus says is that we scatter the seed, then whether we are asleep or at work, God does His thing. Wow! What this little gem of a parable implies is that the farmer is one cagey dude. He's not farming ignorant. He knows how to read the weather. He understands soil preparation, seed selection and all those little, tedious things that separate the good farmer from the "run of the mill" one. Sure, eventually he does scatter seed on the ground, but only when everything is as right as he knows how to make it. In the end, his full reliance is still on God, but he knows his methods too. True, methods aren't the only thing, but they are the only thing we have to work with. All things being equal, better methods typically produce better harvest. What is the Purpose of ICP? "Church planting is the single most effective evangelistic methodology under heaven." Ten years of church planting in Kenya confirmed Peter Wagner's statement for me, but since my return to the States I have discovered, one, that few Christians know what church planting is and two, there's an amazing amount of church planting activity around if we know where to look for it. Finally, there are a lot of folks who would like to know more about church planting if they had a way to learn it, and that is the purpose of Inside Church Planting. Inside Church Planting is intended to promote the growth of the kingdom by encouraging, informing and instructing those involved in the church planting enterprise. That means ICP is a sharing tool. I hope you will find it to be a place of dialogue, of discovery and learning. ICP is intended to be a forum where church planters and those learning about church planting can ask questions, trade ideas and share news about God's work in church planting. In other words, ICP is to be a place for you to participate in and contribute to what appears in each bulletin. Who is ICP for?ICP is for 3 distinct groups of people. First, ICP is for Christians who are looking for God's call in their lives. As a college teacher I have the opportunity to be around some great Christian young men and women who are looking for ways to serve God. Some of them are preparing for a lifetime work in full-time ministry. Others will minister from within their vocations in industry, government or education. What they all share is a deep desire to be involved in something significant. What could be more significant than being part of a church plant that is reaching into the lives of lost people with the redeeming word of Jesus? There is a place for most everyone in church planting, as a lead church planter, a core team member, a prayer partner, or a financial supporter. ICP is for Christians who are looking for an answer to God's call in their lives. Second, ICP is for those who will counsel, coach and mentor church planters. Church planting is, in some ways, a risky business. It is entrepreneurial Christianity. The church planter is putting it all the line to start something that has never existed and grow it by God's graciousness into a thriving congregation of mature men and women for God. The men and women on the front lines of church planting need the support of others. They need spiritually, emotionally and experientially mature advisors who will guide, encourage and exhort them along the way. ICP is a place where these coaches and mentors can hone their skills as well as keep up with church planting activities. Finally, ICP is for church leaders and churches who are thinking about reproducing through church planting. There are hundreds of "hope to be" mother churches whose hearts' desire and intent is to reproduce, but those who actually fulfill this dream are very few. The numbers are really quite staggering. The odds for one church reproducing a daughter church after only 5 years from it's own beginning drop to 50%. If a church has not planted a new church after ten years of existence odds are it never will. We can begin to turn those odds around. If your congregation wants to reproduce but does not know how, ICP is one source you can use to make your dream a reality. Subscribing to ICP If you received this inaugural issue you're on the list for ICP. But, if we are going to make the impact on the world we want to make, we need your help to build up the subscriber base for ICP. Send me the email addresses of others you know who might like to receive ICP. To unsubscribe, email cpnw@cascade.edu with delete in the subject line.
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Inside Church Planting 1.2
| Inside Church Planting November-December, 2003 Volume 1, Number 2 | ||||||
Contents Feature Article: The Church Planting Process 2004 Northwest Church Planting Workshop Breaking 200, growing beyond the 200 barrier of church membership
Northwest Church Planting Workshop The 2nd annual church planting workshop will be held March 19-20 at Cascade College, Portland, Oregon. Phil Claycomb, National Director of Planter Care for Stadia: New Church Strategies will be our primary presenter.
| Developing an effective ministry plan with workable time frames and goals is a critical part of the planning process for successful church planting. Our feature article describes a 3 year approach that covers the church plant from conception to reproduction. At the suggestion of one of ICPs readers this issue inaugurates a Reader's Forum where you can ask questions, share ideas and generally get involved in discussion about the church planting adventure with other readers of ICP. Editor: Dr. Stanley Granberg, Cascade College. | ||||||
Aubrey Malphurs, in his book Planting Growing Churches for the 21st Century, introduces the reader to Bill and Betty Smith, an imaginary couple getting excited about the prospect of church planting. Bill and Betty are the prototypical church planting couple. They begin with a vision, a dream arising from God's calling, but their excitement often outraces their preparations. And there we are too. It's one thing to talk about planting a church, but it soon dawns on us, we might not really know what we ought to do to actually get the thing planted! This "activity fog" illustrates a fundamental need: the need to plan the church plant.
The most common descriptions of the church planting process use a child-birth and growth analogy, with the process starting with conception, moving through various growth phases analogous to the stages of a growing person, and ultimately ending with reproducing another new church. The model we're using here employs titles which describe the major task of each phase. Each phase is presented with a suggested time frame based on quarter years, a time period helpful for for constructing a Time/ Task Worksheet. These time frames are suggestions. How quickly you might actually move through a phase depends on how quickly the primary tasks are accomplished rather than how much time has elapsed. In this issue of Inside Church Planting we'll look briefly at the first three phases in the church planting process and get the last three phases in the next issue. Conception Phase, 0-3 monthsThe primary task of the Conception Phase is to prepare the foundation for the church plant. For the church planter, this meanings receiving the call of God, listening to what God wants and responding in faith. Three essential objectives need to be met in this phase:
Team Building Phase, 4-6 months The primary task of the Team Building Phase is to gather your core church planting team. These are the people that God will use to get this new church started--and to keep you sane and healthy! Five essential objectives need to be met in this phase:
Evangelize and Gather Phase, 7-9 monthsThe primary task of the Evangelize and Gather Phase is to engage in evangelistic activities to build multiple community groups. A community group is a cell or home group that will be an essential identity point for your church, i.e., when people commit to this church they will also commit to being part of a community group. There are five essential objectives in this phase:
Introduction: Marcus Reese is a church planting missionary to Papua New Guinea. The Reese family have worked with the Leslie Williams family in the Alatau region of PNG since 2000. My name is Marcus Reese and I am spending the next year trying to write a through-the-Bible evangelistic study to present to whole villages in my area of Papua New Guinea (something like the New Tribes Mission approach, but shorter and with different curriculum). If you have done anything like this and would be willing to advise me, please let me know. Also, if you are interested in doing the same thing, I'd be willing to let you know more of what we're learning. Email: reesepng@global.net.pg If you have a response or suggestion for Marcus, you may contact him directly, but please copy of your response to cpnw@cascade.edu as well. You are on the mailing list for ICP. But, if we are going to make the impact on the world we want to make, we need your help to build up the subscriber base for ICP. Send me the email addresses of others you know who might like to receive ICP. To unsubscribe, send a return message with delete in the subject line.
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