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Lay Initiated Church Plant
Initial Discernment
Becoming involved in the start of a new church
is not an ordinary occurrence for most people, lay or clergy.
Obviously the success of the adventure is dependent upon the will
and grace of God. For this reason, an individual must honestly
search out his or her motives in considering the call to join
in planting a church. It is simply said, but more difficult in
application, to affirm that I am only called to the adventure
if I am willing to conform my will to His will and that I will
only have the resources to accomplish the task if God in His grace
provides the resources. Too often, it is an ambitious desire to
experience the new and exciting or to flee the shackles of an
unhealthy past church experience which drives an individual to
pursue the planting of a new church. What motivates you must be
what motivates God. It's not enough to think that God will bless
any church planting effort because he loves His church. Your heart
must beat for the things which beat on God's heart. As an individual
or member of a potential "launch team," you must immerse
yourself in God's Word, prayer and the counsel of Christian leaders
to clearly understand your motivation. A potential "launch
team" will find it helpful to do this in the context of informal
worship in a home setting. There is no fixed period for this early
discernment, but 6-8 meetings over a couple of months would be
a reasonable expectation of this process.
Launch Team Development
Those individuals coming out of the initial discernment
sensing God's call to join Him in the planting of a new church,
should transition to a period of values and vision clarification.
This period will be most productive if the assistance of a "coach"
is utilized to facilitate the discussions. It won't be necessary
for the "coach" to always be present, but he can give
direction and homework which will assist the group when they meet
without him. We can help the launch team get matched with an effective
"coach." This is the time during which the DNA of the
new church is being built. While a shared commitment to the Great
Commission and a love for Jesus and others will provide an overarching
mission for the group, the building of a shared vision and values
will be crucial to the success of the new work. It must be a time
of honesty and building trust or the group will suffer later from
conflict. "Good" people can have a call to plant a church,
but shouldn't do so together. They must share vision and values.
It is during this time period when God will help the group understand
who it is that God wants them to reach. (Initially in the life
of a new church the "target" for the group would most
likely be people like themselves, not because they are exclusive,
but because that's just who they are most likely to interact with
and invite to church. As time goes by, each new member will expand
the scope of the target.) While this developmental period is going
on, the group should also be meeting for informal worship, Bible
study and fellowship. Some of these type of meetings can be combined.
This period of development will last 2-3 months depending upon
the frequency of meetings.
Worship and Small Group Development
Coming out of the launch team development phase,
it will be appropriate to begin to experiment with "below
ground" (open to others, but not advertised) worship services
that can begin in homes and graduate to larger more public facilities.
Also, the establishment of a pattern of small groups meeting in
homes between worship services should take place (This is where
much of the pastoral care will occur in addition to discipleship
training.) as well as an identification of spiritual gifts among
the launch team. Again, assistance is available to assist with
this phase of development (including the design of a worship service,
resources for small groups, etc.). If these early worship services
are scheduled during the week instead of on Sundays, the church
will have an opportunity to have clergy from other parts of the
country to come in and lead. However, these services may also
be lay led. As you expand the way you informally and privately
invite others to these services, keep in mind that you will be
most effective in inviting other "pioneers" to join
you. "Pioneers" enjoy something new and out of the ordinary
and are more tolerant of "mistakes." "Settlers"
are looking for something more stable with things like Sunday
schools, nurseries, etc. The difficulty is that many of the people
you have on your heart to reach are "settlers." Wait,
God will provide the right time. Some of the people on the launch
team will also "pine" for some of the "settler"
stuff. It will often be advisable for the people involved in the
church plant to continue to worship on Sundays somewhere else
during these pre-public launch days. If they don't, pressure will
build on the leadership to get to public worship prematurely.
During this time, the team should be making "contacts"
about potential public worship space. After a season ( a few months)
of this worship and small group development, the group should
have doubled in size informally from "quiet" word of
mouth growth and God should be beginning to raise up potential
clergy leadership and give the launch team a sense that they are
moving toward public worship. As the group grows, it is essential
that new members fully understand and share the vision and values.
Some on the team will begin to complain that it is taking too
long to get to the point of public worship. This period of development
will take from 6 months to a year.
Search for Clergy
A team will be formed to carry out the search
for clergy leadership. Again, assistance is available to assist
with this process. The length of time for this process will be
shortened for those new plants who have been inviting clergy to
lead their worship services. Some thought should be given to the
possibility that God might be leading the new plant to call more
than one person to the paid staff at this time. Two individuals
with complimentary gifts and shared values and vision might be
able to join the launch team. It is at this point, that the financial
stewardship of the new plant will begin to be tested to a more
significant degree. The longer the plant has been operating with
lay leadership, the greater the task of educating all of the launch
team about the changing dynamics of leadership when clergy arrives.
Clergy Led Pre- Public Launch Phase
After the arrival of clergy, a time of "bonding"
should occur between the launch team and clergy to prepare for
the actual public launch. Clergy and team members will find it
beneficial to attend a "boot camp" for church planters
where they will better understand the key ingredients that need
to be in place before "going public." During this time
period, the team will develop an appropriate "time line"
for beginning public worship. Also, office space and worship space
will be finalized, the plant will be addressing details such as
incorporation, 501(c)(3) qualification for tax purposes, church
governance, etc.
Public Worship
The "baby" is delivered! If it is "due",
the church will enjoy a healthy start. If it is "premature,"
considerable resources and energy will be spent trying to keep
it "alive."
Summary
A lay led initiative can rapidly move to a point
where it is behaving like an Acts 2 church. However, if the vision
of the planter(s) is of a public worship service, children's and
youth ministries, clergy leadership, etc., then a greater period
of "gestation" will be required to proceed through the
above described phases. The plants having the latter vision will
require increasing financial commitment as it proceeds through
the various phases. The process will take varying amounts of time
in each individual setting. It is hard to imagine moving from
discernment to public launch in less than a year. For the people
at St. Andrew's in Little Rock that time period was approximately
two and one half years. As a system of identifying, recruiting
and matching of clergy and congregation is refined, an average
time line of 18 months seems reasonable. In larger metropolitan
areas, multiple potential church plants could proceed through
the initial phases together to share resources
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