|
A Church is Born |
Send this article to a friend |
I have not always been a fan of church planting. My background was in the "mega" church. I was brought up in one and most of my ministry was in one. My early ministry drive was to gather as many people in one place at one time for the glory of God. I enjoyed the environment of the large church, and I still do, but I have discovered that it is much easier to reach the majority of lost people through multiple churches.
This was driven home to me as I saw the number of homes being built in Northern California where I live. God helped me understand that these people needed churches in their communities to reach them. Churches of all shapes, sizes and personalities were needed to meet the growing need.
C. Peter Wagner has stated that the most effective evangelistic methodology is church planting. And I have discovered that the most effective methodology of church planting is parenting new churches. Established churches need to incorporate into their evangelistic strategy the parenting of reproducing churches.
I have taken this to heart. Over the past nine years, I have led two churches. During that time, these two churches have had a hand in parenting nine new churches. These new churches have been parented using a variety of parenting methods. Each of these new churches has a unique ministry. There is a need for all kinds of churches, of all sizes, to parent all kinds of churches in order to reach all kinds of people.
I want to address a myth about church parenting: the myth of attendance. It is the idea that only churches of certain sizes are able to parent churches. All churches need to be open to the opportunities to parent. It is not so much the size of the church as it is the size of the church’s heart. It is more about health than size. In fact, healthy churches naturally reproduce. Christian Schwartz in his book, Natural Church Development, states, "Hardly anything demonstrates the health of a congregation as much as the willingness--and ability--to give birth to new congregations."
Check your health, not your attendance sheet. Check your heart, not your numbers. Nothing can grow indefinitely. An elephant gets to a certain size and stops. A mouse grows and it stops. They are not the same size, but they are healthy. The only hope for the continuation of a species is not for a few to grow large, but for all to multiply. The same is true of churches. A few growing larger will not meet the need, but all multiplying can help sustain the species.
In 1980, when my wife and I were expecting our first child, we attended Lamaze classes. These interactive pre-parent gatherings provided us tools that would enhance our ability to give birth to a healthy child.
We were told about the phases of the birth process. We were given instruction in dealing with each step of the labor. They provided ideas as to what to take with us to the hospital. We were told to map out the most effective path to the hospital. Giving birth was a process. We needed to have a plan.
Parenting a healthy church is a process too. I want to share the Six Phases of Parenting. Awareness of these phases will provide practical tools to not only parent, but to perpetuate a parenting movement. I will list each phase with a brief description. Below each phase will be several key areas to consider in fleshing them out.
DREAM: This involves capturing the vision. This allows God to implant the idea of participation in a parenting movement. It is the realization that God’s Kingdom is bigger than one church in one location. It is the dream of having a regional impact.
Pastors, many of you will not even entertain the possibility of parenting. You have made up your mind that it is not for you. You believe God has called you to build a large church, not plant many churches, as if the two were mutually exclusive.
Truthfully, church parenting is not optional if you are an evangelistic church. If church planting is the most effective methodology of evangelism and if you have a heart for lost people, why would you not incorporate parenting into your evangelistic strategy? The bottom line is that most pastors do not parent because of selfishness. They don’t want to release resources (people, finances) God has entrusted them.
I encourage you to take the following steps:
DRAW: This involves catalyzing the vision. This helps get others on board. It is gaining congregational ownership for the dream. As the leader goes, so goes the church. If you catch this dream, God will help you bring the people on board. Will there be resistance? Absolutely! But remember, most resistance is simply a cry for more information.
- Make a list of key leaders to share the dream with
- Share your dream with district and denominational officials
- Develop a plan to bring the congregation along with you
- Begin work on a "Parent Church Action Plan"
- Pray for the planter God may want to bring on as a partner
Let me address the finding of a planter. They don’t grow on trees, but there are some arenas you can explore. Potential planters might be youth pastors, assistant pastors in larger churches, senior pastors of growing churches who are open to a new challenge, laymen who are seeking early retirement to invest life in more meaningful endeavors.
DEVELOP: This crystallizes the dream. It involves fleshing out the vision. This is the process of moving the dream from an idea to an action. A friend, Dr. Larry McKain, has said, "A dream without a plan is a wish." Here you move from wishing for it to happen to witnessing it happening.
- Determine the model of parenting you will employ
- Attend training that will help in developing your plan (I recommend, New Church University, Parent Training Track. You can find more information at www.newchurchspecialties.org)
- Refine the plan as needed
- Insure the planter has a coach and is sent to training
DEPLOY: This is celebrating the dream. It is sending out the planting team. You lay hands on them. You are sending a team to a mission field. Bless them as they go.
In deployment, timing is everything. It is always better to do this right, rather than fast. Once the dream has been caught, it may be years before you parent your first church. The key time frame is when the planter is on location. Once you have a planter in place it will be anywhere between six to eighteen months before the launch team may actually be sent out.
How do you know it is time to send the team out? Here are key considerations:
- Has the planter developed a workable action plan?
- Are the finances in line to make this happen?
- Has there been an adequate core recruited? (A good core is 20-50 children and adults)
- Are the people asking, "When are we going to do this?"
- Has a location been found to begin the new church?
When the time comes to send out the team, make it celebrative and full of joy! It is a party celebrating new life, not a wake mourning lost members.
DETERMINATION: This involves caring for the dream. The parent church(es) are the caretakers of the multiplication movement. The parent must remain healthy. In this phase, a recovery strategy must be implemented. The first aspect is stabilization. The parent church must recognize the need to stabilize financially, spiritually, emotionally, numerically (if a core team was invested) and relationally.
- Evaluate the health of the parent
- Identify areas that need to be stabilized
- Build depth in the people
- Get regular reports from the daughter church
It will take a church six to twelve months to recover from parenting a church. However, just like in physical childbirth, the healthier the mom before the birth, the faster the recovery time.
DESTINY: This involves catapulting the vision. It is having a heart to regularly participate in parenting endeavors. It is taking more territory for God than ever imagined. It is not only parenting regularly, but it is encouraging others to participate as well.
- Look for other parenting opportunities
- Build parenting into your yearly budget
- DREAM over and over
A healthy church should be capable of reproducing every three to four years. It is through healthy reproducing churches that we will see whole territories taken for the glory of God and the Kingdom will be expanded.
"This article is used by permission from Dr. Dan Reiland's free monthly e-newsletter 'The Pastor's Coach' available at www.INJOY.com."