By Ed Stetzer. On Amazon
Overall thoughts: Presents itself as a comprehensive guidebook to church planting. Although a fair assumption that people reading this book would already be supportive of church planting activity, the first few chapters do a good job of building the theological and evangelical rationale.
Written with a firm North American target audience. Some of the details were a bit specific to that audience, but most of the content overall has broad application. Could do with a firm edit – several ideas and references are repeatedly mentioned. However the benefit of this approach is that it is easy to dip in and out of chapters without needing to have read all the chapters preceding.
I am not sure how I feel about the chapters on marketing and advertising – firstly, the methods feel a little out-of-date – lots of talk about bulkmail and cold calling. Hardly any mention of online marketing, despite the benefits of geo-targetting and cost-per-click activity which makes it very measurable and cost-effective. Secondly (and more importantly), I think the message starting to feel like ‘use whatever means necessary to get more people to turn up on launch day’. Whilst I don’t think that is the overall argument, I would have appreciated more nuance and balance to the list of tactics that more helpfully promoted the role of personal relationship building and evangelism ahead of secular promotional methods. I am also slightly uneasy about the emphasis on numbers – the numbers at launch day, the ratio of core team/guests, the % and numbers required to be long term viable etc – all begins to feel like a numbers game and not distinct from a secular business. I understand the importance of numbers though, and found it all quite interesting; but these parts of the book did feel a little lost in the mindset of today’s business strategy.
Lots of helpful stuff to think through on vision casting, the predominant importance of prayer and preaching the Word, the concept of prenatal, birth and then after birth stages, systems for follow-up and assimilation… lots more.
Overall a really useful resource.
Totally unedited raw notes from each chapter:
Chapter 1 – basics of church planning
Goal – glorify God, grow his kingdom, develop healthy churches with new converts
- Missional – plant a church that’s part of the culture you are seeking to reach i.e. you are not only a church planter but a missionary i.e. this is the posture
- Incarnational i.e. being among people
- Theology (obviously!)
- Eccelesiological (church matters), and
- Spiritual – Christ centred, transformed by the gospel
Objections?
Large church mentality. BUT new churches are more effective than large churches in evangelism
Parish-church mind-set. BUT new churches aren’t being planted to match population growth/changes
Professional-church syndrome. BUT professionals expect FT salaries and MAY be inverse relationship to education and evangelical effectiveness!
Rescuing perishing syndrome. Need to do both – revitalise and plant.
Unchurched myth. We need to assume people lack biblical worldview i.e our neighbourhood is mission field. Christendom has come to an end.
Chapter 2 – redeveloping a Missional mind-set
Recent emergence of megachurch movement, but no suggestion culture has been changed i.e. in being highly attractional, we have lost transformational edge.
Church planting movement gaining energy. Advantage of the edge of Christendom is that the gospel is now distinct from culture i.e. has more cut through
Christ’s metaphors for his kingdom are all modest ones – yeast, salt, light.
Don’t rework programs – rediscover mission – intentional and deliberate about reaching others (great commission)
Steer between staying distinct from culture, and not connecting with culture.
High biblical content with high cultural relevance (Hughes scale)
Become a futurist – look beyond culture now to see what is best for church in the future
Don’t focus on technique. Focus on making disciples.
Good theology should motivate evangelism.
We need to be exegete our culture, like Paul in Athens (Acts 17). What is the worldview, how does this culture view Christianity, what redemptive analogy works best for this culture etc.
The single most effective evangelistic methodology under heaven is planning new churches.
Chapter 3 – the biblical basis of church planting
Church planting was normal in the life of early church – recorded in Acts, explains church growth through Roman Empire.
The biblical church is the one where the cross is the only stumbling block for the unchurched
Seek the unchurched (like Jesus)
Be like Paul (as he is like Christ) – personally prepared, evangelist, entrepreneur, team player, risk taker etc. “Everything to all men”
Chapter 4 – models of church plants and planters
Apostolic harvest – Paul, circuit riders – church plant to church plant
Founding pastor – Peter, Rick Warren – other planters may come from here
Planted pastor
Entrepreneurial planter – build, launch, reach out, move on
Team planting – gift mix, lead pastor
Chapter 5 – What makes a church planter
Patterns in NT
- Teams
- Individuals
- Laypeople
- Agencies and denominations
- Churches
Assessment (SHAPE)
- Spiritual gifts
- Heart/passion
- Abilities
- Personality type
- Experiences
Chapter 6 – church structure
Church is led by pastor-elders, some of whom teach. Bible full of flock images
Church governance should function like a human skeleton – as necessity for structure but invisible to naked eye.
Nothing can take the place of effective leadership.
Chapter 7 – Planter-Pastor leadership issues
Desperation is normal experience of church planning
Put prayer first
Weekly schedule
- Outreach – 15hrs
- Sermon prep – 10hrs
- Administration – 10hrs
- Ministry – 15hrs
Don’t focus on those that are available, focus on those who are reproducible
Culture shock in outreach focus – fish out of water
Thinking – need to help people think of themselves as missionaries. If I was dropped into this neighbourhood with the desire and mission to plant a church there in 6mths, how would I act?
Relationships make leaders. Wise leaders create learning relationships
Leadership is essential. Good preparation and support or no, God of eternity is faithfaul.
Chapter 8 – involving lay leaders
Laypeople must be involved before launch i.e. growing in the womb. Operational systems need to be fully functional by time of launch.
Don’t rush filling spots. Get right people. Limit leaders to those who are essential.
5 key systems (lay people ministries) – in addition to pastor:
- New member assimilation
Help people connect and move more deeply - Network evangelism
- Spiritual gifts mobilization
Developing volunteers, match gifts and ministries. Focus on service - Children’s ministry
Start with preschool as priority - Worship team
Striving for level of creative excellence that will facilitate an authentic encounter with the creator of everything - Welcome coordinator
Forced socialised seating, interactions (3mins) etc - Financial organiser
Chapter 9 – understanding cultures and models
Exegete the culture – study the culture to receive guidance for how to live in it
What is distinctive about our culture, our demographics
Chapter 10 – church planting in emerging culture
Focus on biblical faithfulness first, then an expression of that which is culturally relevant
Every cultural thing: either adopt, adapt, or reject
Emerging: no universal worldview. Church needs to reach postmodern people without being postmodern. Not knew – 1st century world was more pluralistic than even now.
We must be missionaries. World will not come to us.
Rejection of meta narratives like Christianity. So people reject Christianity because they feel it is imposing something unnatural on their own mini narrative.
10 traits of impactful postmodern churches (post seeker age)
- Unashamedly spiritual
Generic spirituality that impacts all of life, not just 1hr Sunday service. Popular. - Incarnational ministry – authentic, participatory. Not ‘is it true’, but ‘is it real’
Don’t hear about Christianity, but see it in action. Therefore being Christian is not a label, but a real way of life - Engaging in service. Volunteering is popular. Where can we make a difference?
Programs with a purpose i.e. stop trying to impress with a show, but involve with acts of service - Experiential praise. Worship (music) provides a way for people to participate.
- Narrative expository preaching. The power of story. People are used to complex stories. (Perhaps more in stories of Jesus than epistles)
- Ancient patterns. Connect people to the mystery. Backlash against seeker services
- Visualising worship. Not entertainment, but engagement. Not professional, but real
- Connect with technology. Use online to enhance interpersonal interactions.
- Living community. Church well placed to meet cultural need of community. There is no church without community. Community = love of God manifesting itself.
Engage and allow spiritual journey to begin before conversion.
Can’t fake it – reality of relationships. The pagan will not come to Christ until the love of Christ annihilates their worldview - Leading by transparency and team. Participatory culture. Representative culture. Teams are messy and hard, but worth it.
Chapter 11 – Choosing a focus group (who will the plant reach?)
New church evangelism needs to be focused on people group. Church planter focused on everyone.
Focusing acknowledges that people come to Christ without crossing demographic boundaries.
Focusing helps… focus!
Every choice involves excluding some e.g. contemporary music, English language
Whilst evangelism focused, fellowship is NOT (revelation 7:9)
Use demographic data to make decisions
Questions
- Who lives here?
- Who are the receptive people? Vulnerable, in need, looking for connection?
- Poll the community. Informal focus groups. Ask and listen.
- Consider style, values, music, attraction etc.
Start with felt needs, but move to real needs.
Note that new churches attract low socio-economic
Whilst the bible determines the message, our audience determines when, where and how we communicate it.
Understand what the concerns are, objections are, stumbling blocks, and consider how to address them e.g. is church a cult, will it run all day, are the people wierd
Chapter 12 – a church planting fault line
Fastest growing Christian movement is nodenominationalism i.e. churchless Christianity. Fall of Christianity or revolution/reawakening?
A lot of it sounds good i.e. removing the gap between talking about Jesus and walking with Jesus.
E.g. house church, relation-based church, emerging church
A church is not just a meeting of Christians. It has more to it that makes it distinctive:
- A covenant community. There are those that are part of it, and those that are not. Those that are part, have obligations to each other.
- Meeting. Face-to-face
- Biblical leadership
- Ordinances. i.e. commanded celebrations. Baptism and Lord’s Supper
- Preaching.
Missional church has overlap of 3 spheres:
- Christology
- Missiology
- Eccelesiology
Abandon model specific vision, and answer the question of what ‘cultural containers’ will be most effective
Chapter 13 – Missional/incarnational churches
Rather than plan to plant a church, answer the question ‘what does following Christ look like’, and that is driving church planting.
The Missional church is about living out ‘who is Jesus’, not about being attractional i.e. ‘come and see Jesus’ rather than ‘come to church’
Sow seeds faithfully in the places God puts you, and pray and wait for the harvest.
411 example. NY city. Prayed and served for 18mths before opening a ‘church service’
Evangelical attractional church is extractional i.e. draw people out from their culture into a church culture
Missional/incarnational churches are slow. Therefore not paid staff. They don’t need strategy, time line, funding – the planters need jobs!
Dangers with this approach are that it lacks ecclesiology and therefore lacks a spine, but if it can find it’s church structure will keeping strong Christology and missiology, then it is good.
Chapter 14 – Koinos churches e.g. house church i.e. face-to-face relationship
Commitment to truly live life together
Note in much of the world, this kind of church is how God works. In USA, often people disgruntled with big church who go looking for this i.e. normal pattern is – when free to do so, Christian meetings grow in size, unless under persecution or difficulty when they shrink.
Koinos models have not proved very effective in breaking through into culture around them i.e. missiology.
Attraction to this model of church comes from it’s simplicity and faith. Church is just when people see themselves as church, and functions as a church.
Chapter 15 – Evangelism in Church planting
Intentionality. Develop a plan. If no plan, it just doesn’t happen.
CRM – prospect list. Record the time and nature of interaction. Takes 3 interactions to establish a relationship
Two way – people invests in unchurched, and the church invests in helping to lead people to Christ
Engel scale – way to measure people in process of coming to faith.
note that people average are moving further back on the scale in the West.
Stetzer Evangelistic Journey
The basic idea is seek to understand where people are in the process, to help them get to next stage.
With few exceptions, people come to Christ after they have journeyed with other Christians
Christian community is the greatest argument for, and the greatest argument of Christianity
Steps
- Understand the worldview issues
- Address those issues
- Encourage the listener to consider Christian truth claims
- Invite the listener to journey with the faith community
- Invite the listener to make faith commitment
Us all tools at your disposal. The most effective are: commitment, hard work, and spirit-led prayer.
Chapter 16 – developing a launch team
Terminology of ‘launch’ rather than ‘core’ so that launch team don’t have to stay for long term.
Prenatal phase. Crucial for certain systems to be ready to operate effectively from day 1.
Launch to crowd ratio of 1:10.
Don’t dismiss door knocking e.g. 15,000 houses
All sorts of advertising and recruitment ideas – email, phone, mailers etc.
Core team must ‘sign on’ to mission, vision and values
Chapter 17 – Small groups
Acts 2:42-47 – fellowship, teaching/learning, prayer, worship, praise
Include – song, prayer, bible study, fellowship
Goal of 60% of church in small groups
Chapter 18 – Finding and handling finances
See this chapter for an example of a church planing proposal
People give to vision, not to need
You have not, because you ask note
Chapter 19 – choosing a name and logo
The only reason your church has a name is to appeal to outsiders
The only thing people may know/hear about your church is it’s name, so it needs to make a good impression
Name and logo must be inviting. It must ‘give permission’ for unchurched to attend.
Chapter 20 – Finding a meeting place
Schools may be obliged to allow themselves to be used by churches (at least in US)
Chapter 21 – LAUNCH – birth of a new church
Launch day is ‘birth’
Direct mail – will it work for my focus group? Not much competition in ‘church’ market. Great for exposure to local community. Leaflet drop
Design as ‘invitation letter’. Why not doorknock then as well?
Telemarketing – cause the church’s reputation to suffer?
Preview services – up to 3 prior, monthly.
In a postmodern world, is mass communication less effective. Personal relationships are best.
Churches that start big are more likely to maintain larger attendance throughout first 5 years of life. Is bigger better? Only in some ways…
Newspapers – local community paper – Yes! Local billboards etc.
Gather a large group – all people’s friends and family
BUT no more than 10x size of core group.
Chapter 22 – Worship in the new church
In this church age, ours is a mix of the faithful and unbelieving in our gathering.
Need to get the balance right between being ‘seeker friendly’ and edifying for believers.
Example of Willow Creek. Sunday is evangelistic event. Believers are edified in mid week groups
Good worship services should do all 3 (but in this order of priority)
- exalt God
- edify believers
- evangelise
Christ-centred, bible-based, spirit-led worship
Must be comprehensible to seekers, and make them feel comfortable, but not driven/shaped by these concerns
Remember though, the cross is not ‘seeker sensitive’
Effective evangelism takes place when God’s people authentically worship God.
Be clear that we accept, but not approve sin – hard to do.
Anyone can come to church, but coming to Christ requires radical life change.
Love as Christ loved, but call people to life-changing discipleship, just like Christ did.
Music – intense power in engaging spirit and transmitting truth
There is no such thing as Christian music, only Christian lyrics
Engage the heart and the mind.
Chapter 23 – Preaching in the new church
Transform lives with the truths of Christ’s life-changing presence.
Ground preaching in the biblical story of redemption.
Truth > application. Application comes from truth
Let agenda and shape of Scripture determine the message
Expositional – explain the meaning and intent of the Bible.
Don’t make statements and look to bible for support. Bible is central in setting agenda.
(not necessarily verse by verse preaching)
Preaching is a journey:
- Start by making sure everyone knows where we are going, and why we need to
- Build tension as to why we need to go there
- Go to a passage of Scripture that addresses it
- Stay there long enough till people understand it
- Talk about what to do about it. application
Preaching in 3 questions
- Who is God
- Who is he revealed in this text
- What are natural inclinations to deny that truth
4 kinds of expositional preaching
- verse-by-verse
- thematic/doctrinal -a series over weeks
- narrative – this will grow. May be best suited to postmoderns. Jesus preached in this way
- topical – once off e.g. mothers day. not recommend. hard to capture full counsel of God
In early stages of church, messages will be more evangelical and ‘simple’, without being simplistic.
Purpose of sermon is not education but an encounter with God
THE ONLY MESSAGE YOU HAVE OF ANY WORTH IS CHRIST AND THE BIBLE
The cross is enough to save, to heal, to give hope, to give peace, to give joy, to overcome all.
Get to the cross in every message. You don’t need to know it all, but you need to know and preach the cross.
Chapter 24 – Spiritual formation in the new church
8 characteristics of an incorporate member
- list 7 new friends (important that new Christians have 7 or else statistically more likely to leave)
- identify their spiritual gifts
- involved in at least one task/role/ministry
- involved in growth group
- regular financial commitment
- understand and identify with church goals
- regular attendance
- identify and take steps towards bringing others to church
Discipleship. Not by accident. Need a culture where this intentionally happens.
Without an intentional plan, the church will become ‘a mile wide and an inch deep’
Note distinction between what is said, and what is observed. What is observed trumps what is said.
Need for membership classes. They can actually be effective in evangelism (don’t assume people Christian)
L.I.F.E course example – takes through some of the steps above
The specific model is not as important, as that it occurs and is relevant and appropriate.
Encourage members to have balance, to do all 6 areas of Christian life
- Worship
- Ministry
- Evangelism
- Education
- Fellowship
- Missions
Note – need a program, and also need specific discipleship relationships
Set high expectations. People want to attach themselves to something bigger and better. People will rise to meet high expectations
Most unbelievers come to Christ during a time of crisis, therefore emphasis Christ as the ultimate stability
God uses disciple makers to sharpen and shape new disciples in Christ.
Chapter 25 – growth in the new church
The day after launch you need to start ‘growing’ – follow-up process is required
Prepare core group for the complexity of growing after launch e.e. some leaving, loss of control, pastor/planter focusing on new visitors instead of core group, risk of mingling with unchurched etc
Involve people – people who are busy rowing the boat generally are not the ones also rocking the boat.
Monthly leadership meetings – focused on recasting of the vision
Weekly need to be casting the vision before the church, in different ways, building credibility and momentum.
Peak-to-peak principle of casting a vision when you are at the top of one experience i.e. max attendance today, but let’s aim for bigger.
Valleys will come
Vision casting is vital – need to secure people’s confidence and involvement
Unlike establish churches whose size projects an appearance of stability and purpose
Chapter 26 – Children in the new church
The importance of children’s ministry – importance of imparting words of Christ, security, impact on parents, fun and educational, peace of mind. Preschool age most important
Chapter 27 – Congregational formation
This is about official (legal) recognition. Not essential.
Church plants from a mother church generally establish a relationship of interdependence
Chapter 28 – church planting churches
This about the role of a church in sponsoring church plants i.e. church planting churches. This is APC.
We want to create a tradition, a legacy of churches being planted.
We have some work to do in APC of casting the vision of church planting i.e. getting people to think as missionaries, seeing the evangelism of church planting etc.
The kingdom best advances through multiplication, not just addition
Disappointed when gifted church planters have not planted again after 3 years.
Need to communicate church planting vision through preaching i.e. through God’s word, not just ‘announcements’
Church must catch the vision, adopt it, and promote it as their own
Although many in the community may not attend a church, your presence represents God i.e. God’s ambassadors
Chapter 29 – Church planting movements – breaking the mold
Prayer, Jesus’ purposes and the spirits presence – the heart of church planting
Prayer, prayer, prayer – the best preparation.
Jesus will build, Jesus will purify: HIS church
Church = the ones who are called out.
Authors personal testimony of his church plant – Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Ps 127.
Characteristics of church planting movement:
- Prayer
- abundant gospel sowing
- intentional church planting
- scriptural authority
- local leadership
- lay leadership
- cell churches
- churches planting churches
- rapid reproduction
- healthy churches
- worship
- evangelism
- discipleship
- ministry
- fellowship
Ephesians 3:20-21. He is able to do more. To him be the glory.