A few months ago, I wrote a post on 4 Ways to “Flip the Classroom” in Your Church. You can read the article here, but since then, I’ve been in countless conversations regarding this and the future of training for church leaders and church planters. I’ve had the privilege of presenting this both at conferences as well as in individual conversations. As a result, here’s a video version of the idea.
Church Multiplication
10 Reasons Systems Matter for Church Planting
There are no perfect models, and there is no silver bullet. Many models are useful though.
What’s fascinating is that two church planters can use the exact same model in the same city and get vastly varying results. Notice that I said the same model, but I didn’t mention anything about the systems that each church planter used.
For example, let’s consider the Dodge Charger that police drive versus the Dodge Charger that you can drive off the lot.
Although, at first glance, they both look like the same car, the performance between the two is like night and day. For police cars, not only do they upgrade the engine, but they also change out the battery, alternator, cooler, suspension, brakes, and many other components that make up the car.
Essentially, the model or framework of the car is the same, but everything that makes up the car, which are its systems, are different.
I realize this isn’t a perfect example, but it illustrates the importance of systems, as the next step, in church planting.
This is a natural next step for those of you who are highly detailed and systematic. However, what I’ve found is that many church planters are weak in this area.
As a result, church planters will often think about their church planting model at a 30,000 foot level and work on many of the aspects needed to plant successfully, instead of working in those aspects.
If all the work is done on the plant, instead of in the plant, then planters will not have any control over the systems that are shaping it; and that will ultimately determine the fate of their church plant.
For example, working on the plant is all about thinking through the location, name, logo, and vision statement. Working in the plant is about thinking through financial sustainability, church structure, launch team, and the intricacies of congregational formation, and long-term discipleship.
I’m not advocating that you take care of every single detail yourself, but I am advocating that you involve yourself at every step of the process. If God has called you to plant a church, he has called you to be the steward of this vision. Don’t neglect your responsibilities and don’t delegate the details.
What would happen if you were stubborn and decided to leave systems to chance?
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New Churches: Multiply the Mission
Currently, a significant trend in the U.S., Canada, and around the world is a renewed emphasis on starting new churches. More than 4,000 new churches are launched in the U.S. each year alone, each one representing the potential to reach new people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
However, new churches commonly struggle with limited resources, a lack of trained volunteers and few tools to support their work. Even more, these limitations can often be the most detrimental to churches in their very first years.
But LifeWay and the initiative that I’m leading through New Churches is committed to help.
For churches in their first two years of operation, LifeWay has a variety of free offerings to help get a few of the foundational aspects of ministry in place. This includes helps for:
- Bible Study Groups (6 months of digital curriculum for all age groups)
- Church Website: twenty:28 (Free website design and 1 year of hosting)
- Leadership Development (1 year access to Ministry Grid, LifeWay’s new web-based training platform)
- LifeWay eGiving $0 month + 2.75% + .30 per transaction. Plus, no set-up fee for text giving
- LifeWay Envelope Service– 600 free offering envelopes
- Plus, $500 in free printed LifeWay resources of the church’s choosing
To qualify to receive the free offers above, simply complete the form here at New Churches.
Book Review: Saturate by Jeff Vanderstelt
*My post here was originally published on June 15, 2015 in Christianity Today.
When I first stepped into my role as a small-group pastor, I was at a loss as to how to help my church get on mission. I knew what it meant to be missional and intentional with my relationships. I knew how to share my faith. I even knew how to motivate my leaders to get on mission with God. However, the one thing that I didn’t know was how to make mission normal in our church—I didn’t know how to help the congregation get on mission with God in everyday life.
As a result, much like Jeff Vanderstelt explains in Saturate: Being Disciples of Jesus in the Everyday Stuff of Life, I loaded my leaders and groups with a task list of missional activities. There was only one problem: I was teaching and expecting my congregation to be Jesus—when only Jesus can truly be Jesus. As a result, I was expecting my group leaders to do more than Jesus every asked of them. In reality, as Vanderstelt puts it, “we are not meant to carry the weight of the world or the mission of Jesus on our shoulders. Jesus came to seek and save. He doesn’t expect us to become the saviors.”
So when I first encountered Vanderstelt’s ministry, Soma, I was impressed with the way they were able to normalize mission and make it easy for their church members to get on mission with God in everyday life. That’s what led me on my journey to digest everything I could get my hands on from Vanderstelt and Soma—articles, seminars, audio files, and the like. But now you can simply read Saturate, a book with all of their wisdom in one place.
As I was preparing to develop a discipleship pathway for my multi-site church, I was inspired by the ministry philosophy, identities, and rhythms of Soma because they have the clearest missional paradigm of discipleship. Soma’s focus, and subsequently, the focus of Saturate, is to provide a vision for complete and utter Jesus saturation rooted in who you are in Christ, rather than in what you do.
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Church Planting, Thermometers, and Thermostats
*My post here was originally published on May 7, 2015 in Christianity Today.
Isn’t it easier to point out the wrongdoings of others and tell people what to do, rather than be a part of the solution?
My wife and I have noticed this in our children—they love playing the victim. So whenever there’s conflict, instead of figuring it out themselves, they come to us crying out “injustice!”
I wonder where they learned that from? I knew I never should’ve let them watch Sesame Street…
In order to fix this attitude, a few days ago, my wife began teaching them the difference between being bossy and being a leader. Here’s the difference:
- Bossy people point out the wrongdoings of others, expect others to fix their issues, and are never wrong.
- Leaders take responsibility for situations, don’t dwell on problems, focus on solutions, and make change happen.
As I was reflecting on this new paradigm of parenting (my wife is amazing by the way), I couldn’t help but notice the similarities that it had with thermometers and thermostats. Let me explain:
- Thermometers point out what currently is, expect others to do something with that information, and they provide us with the standard—they are never wrong. Thermometers are indicators.
- Thermostats, on the other hand, take the information from the thermometer and do something about it. Thermometers take responsibility for the environment and focus on solutions. Thermostats are change agents.
Can you see the similarities that bossy people have with thermometers and leaders have with thermostats?
So what are you? Are you more of a thermometer or a thermostat? This is an important question as it affects the posture that you will subconsciously take in planting and leading a church.
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