The dummy's guide to church planting

The Dummy’s Guide to church planting

So, you want to plant a church.

Great!

You could work alongside a church planter, read some books, do a course, attend conferences or hook up with a network for some assessment or training.

Or, you can read this post and follow these tips.

LOCATION

Find an area where there are already many church plants that are doing okay. After all, if they could do it there, the ground is fertile, and you may as well join in. Avoid areas where churches are thin on the ground as they are clearly the rocky soil of the parable and your pearls will fall to unappreciative swine.

For a flying start, choose a location with hipster cafes and a craft brewery – that almost guarantees that you will be the next star.

PEOPLE

This one is tricky.

Pastors who say they support you fully, may try to offload their problem people to you. Don’t fall for that and don’t take other’s discards.

Instead, do some advance networking in select churches and cherry pick the best people. That’s the willing workers who will influence others and who can help pay the bills.

While having some diversity looks good in your promo picks, too much diversity can be counterproductive. The best bet is to collect a group of uni students and graduates born not much earlier than 1990. They tend to have lots of energy and are ready to follow the leaders who inspire them without asking too many questions … so long as you are attentive to their needs.

Do have some good filters to encourage certain types of people that another church may be best for them. You know the ones ... they are ‘different’, ask too many questions and have ideas of their own. Proactive greeting is a good way to keep these certain types at bay.

STYLE AND TONE

This is really important, and we suggest your church has a digital stylist. Think logo and slogan; colours; fonts and layouts. Match it to your community. Be aspirational. Have a style that hints at something higher without being too specific about it.

Music is a special part of your style.  The play list doesn’t need to be long, but it does need to match your audience. nothing earlier than 2,000 in composition please (after all, the Bible urges us to sing a new song unto the Lord). Reserve the front of stage posts for the younger and more attractive musicians. Some cute girls and spunky guys is a good look. A drummer is essential.

DIGITAL PRESENCE

We know a church that existed in its digital presence for some time before anything actually happened. We’re not suggesting a purely virtual church, but do observe that a good Facebook, twitter and Instagram feed can cover a multitude of sins.

MESSAGE

Okay, you stand for the age-old message and have nothing to do with that liberal nonsense.

Great!

But you still need to be all things to all people. Discard the dross and focus on the core. What do you really stand for – what is the irreducible minimum message? Once you have that, think how to express it. You don’t want to raise barriers or give needless offense, so take care to make the message short, memorable and positive. If you give it from a trendy perspex stand and with slides that capture the “how did he do that?” feeling, it really doesn’t matter what you say.

READY TO GO

Go for it!

Assemble the launch team; give them plenty of food, sound like you have a vision and go launch. With a bit of luck, you’ll last long enough to write a post like this and be an expert.

On second thoughts, maybe you had best read the books, apprentice yourself to a church planter and hook up to the assessment and support networks.