A few church plants in my region have parachuted in with teams of 20 adults. The group is formed with friends who often already know and trust one another, and are familiar with one another’s strengths, weaknesses and abilities. The same thing is often true for indigenous planters who can call on old friends to assist them with the new church planting venture.
It is far more complicated to raise up a launch team or a core group from scratch. Here are a few hints:
Enlist volunteers for short-term temporary roles
“Would you please help set up chairs, register children, greet visitors?” At the end of three to six months, thank the volunteers, and if it hasn’t worked out, ask them to take on different roles. If they abuse the role of being big fish in a small pond, take away their platforms and ask them to serve in different capacities. If you discover some who are gifted vocalists, you need people who sing, and they want to join a worship team, find other people to provide childcare. Make room for newcomers to start to serve, and for everyone to serve in accordance to how they are wired by God.
Write job descriptions for positions you eventually want to fill with either paid or volunteer more permanent staff.
I remember one new church where a wonderful individual who couldn’t read music served as worship leader. Because there was a job description in place, from early on, this person knew that when a permanent paid worship leader was selected, it wouldn’t be him. The transition was seamless!
Borrow warm bodies from partner churches and anywhere else you can.
One church where I served often sent 30 people to help their new plants. Because of this, we were able to start new churches much more quickly— usually within four months of the planter’s arrival on the field.
Note: it seems to work better when people who are already comfortable with one another are asked to do tasks that are outside of their normal comfort zones. For example, a woman’s Sunday school class from a traditional church drives together to assist with childcare at a new church. Afterwards, they gather for lunch and to study the Bible together.
Remember that lead planters are not the only apostolically gifted people in a church.
Other Christians also have the ability to start things from scratch. The same church I mentioned above started at least one church every year in the 1980s before church planting really caught on. Groups and individuals volunteered to serve a new plant, found their replacements from the community, transitioned back to the partner church, and spread the news about their wonderful experience.
A year later, they became interested in going out again as part of the launch team of another church. It was a great way to find team members.
In closing, just one more thought. Find and clone the lead pastor of the partnering church I mentioned twice in this blog. A most memorable quote from him, “Corporately, as well as individually, it is more blessed to give than it is to receive.” He opened the door for people to work with church planting teams, and he was not threatened. (Hint: His name is Sam Williams and he lives in the San Diego region!)
“I want to learn how to become a V3 church planter.”
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