Five Critical Mistakes of Church Planting

Planting new congregation's of the Lord's church is a labor of love. For many it can start with great ambition and vision, but when it comes down to implementing your vision, mission and values it is real work. That is one reason I believe that the term "church plant" is appropriate. You have to prepare the soil, plant the seed, nourish the young plant and consistently work the soil if you wish to reap a harvest.

In my 25+ years of ministry I have been involved in several new church plants in the U.S. and overseas as well as working with revitalizing struggling congregations. During that time I have made more than a few mistakes and watched as others make their share. Here are five critical mistakes that mission teams make in trying to plant new churches. These are in no way comprehensive, but I believe they are a pretty good start.

1. Lack of adequate planning. Too often most of the planning centers on two objectives: 1) Finding a place to meet; 2) What will our worship service look like? Those who wish to expand the kingdom and plant new churches need to consider how they will minister to the church and community, where the necessary finances will come from, what will the culture be within the family and what is their vision for ministry and evangelism?

2. Copying the efforts of others. It is a good idea to study successful church plants, but it is a mistake to copy their formula verbatim. Ministry and evangelism has a cultural component. I am not suggesting that we change the gospel, but that we build our ministry around the needs of the congregation and community (contextual ministry). Each new congregation needs to research the needs of their community and their approach to evangelism within that context.

3. Failing to be flexible. During the planning stages congregations write mission and vision statements, plan their outreach and ministry programs, define their times and methods of worship only to discover some of their initial efforts don't work. Don't be afraid to make changes. I have worked with congregations where we changed our mid-week service to Tuesday night, held workshops in community centers (rather than at the church building), and failed miserably in our initial evangelism efforts, only to improve the process over time.

4. Installing formal leadership hastily. To take a phrase from Jim Collins in his wonderful book, Good to Great; "you need to get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus." While there is a place for everyone to serve in the Kingdom (I Cor. 12, Rom. 12), putting the wrong people in leadership can destroy a church plant (or any congregation). At the Spring Meadows congregation we spent months discussing the "how to's" of installing leadership before we ever established the congregation. So far God has rewarded our efforts with godly shepherds and faithful servants.

5. Under-estimating God. One of the memorable lines in our current work came from one of our elders. After nearly doubling a contribution goal we set one Sunday our good brother said, "We are not very good at goal setting." We must always remember that God is in control, that God must recieve the glory and that our efforts are to expand HIS Kingdom. Paul reminds us that "He is able to do immeasureably more than we can ask or imagine, throught the power that works in us" (Ephesians 3:20).

What are some of the mistakes you have seen in planting new churches?

Using Technology #1

Over a decade ago I wrote an article for the Gospel Advocate entitled, "Surfing the Internet with the Gospel." At that time I thought it was cutting-edge stuff. The article provided basic information on how to use email, bulletin boards and discussion forums to spread the Good News.

A lot has changed in the past decade and innovation is happening at a pace that is hard to keep up with (both in cost and simply the speed of change). In the next few articles I would like to look at a few ways that churches can use technology in a cost effective and ministry focused way.

As workers together in God's kingdom, we have a fiscal responsibility towards good stewardship. Technology is a great tool for the advancement of the kingdom, but it must be balanced with responsible spending and a clear understanding of the desired outcomes. That being said, let's start by looking at some inexpensive ways to use technology in our churches.

Distribution Lists: Email accounts and listserves can be set up with little or no cost to the congregation, but they can have great benefits to the work. In our congregation we have distribution lists for our leadership teams, our deacons, the men in the congregation, women in the congregation and other sub-groups. Distribution lists have been used effectively for years in other organizations, but they provide a great resource for information sharing, communication and congregational updates.

Websites: I am almost ashamed to put this in this article, but believe it or not there are still churches who do not have a website, or if they do - they fail to update their information. I can't speak for other areas, but a significant number of new people in our community found us through an online search. If you have a website here are a few (very few) basic rules to follow. 1) Allow someone to maintain the website who has some experience and will keep the information up to date; 2) Make your site easy to navigate with the most important information at their fingertips (contact information & directions to the building); 3) Make the website interactive. Put surveys, community information, audio downloads and other resources on your site. Please add your suggestions for effective websites at the end of this article.

PDA's: I resisted getting a blackberry or I Phone as long as I could, now I am wondering why I waited so long. I have always had a bad case of "outoftouchaphobia," but now it has reached chronic proportions. Having voicemail, email and web access at my fingertips 24/7 has its drawbacks, but I feel as though I am right on top of what is happening in the church and in my community.

There is a lot more that needs to be covered, but these are some low-cost ways to begin using technology in our churches. Please drop me a line and let me know what areas of technology are serving your churches, what your favorite toys are, and recommendations you have for responsible use of technology.

Three Steps for an Effective Ministry

All too often we complicate the basic tenants of ministry. We adopt every new idea and trend that is coming down the pike, or we overload our congregation with programs that don't have a clearly defined purpose. Today, I want you to consider 3 basic steps to establishing an effective ministry.

Step One: Take time to identify your congregation's gifts and talents. You will be far more effective in your work if you use the talents people have rather than trying to plug them in where they don't fit. One of the most dysfunctional ministry models out there is to develop programs and then look for people to fill those roles.

If you learn to identify the skills and talents in your congregation, then you can begin to build your ministry programs around the talents you have. One of the best resources I have found for helping members find their gifts is the book, "Life Keys," by Kise, Stark & Hirsch. If you would like a copy of the worksheets I have developed using Life Keys leave me a note and I will send copies of the congregational worksheets.

Step Two: Research the needs of the congregation and community. Start with your own church family. Ask them to help you indentify needs in the church family and in the community. Study your community to see where there may be gaps in community services. Is there a need for Christian counseling, healthcare clinics, financial planning services, marriage workshops, etc? Allow the church to be the light in the community by providing needed services.

Step Three: Look at your members talents and the needs in the church and community and begin to build ministry teams to meet those needs. You won't be able to fill every need, or you may not have the manpower or skills to develop certain programs now. Your work will be far more effective if you build your ministry around your members strengths. If you approach your work correctly, in time your work will prosper and you will develop new people for new programs.