The single greatest mistake that you can make when you plant a church…. plant with an equal partner.
In my previous two posts, I suggested four reasons why it is not a good idea to plant a church with an equal partner. Don’t Plant a Church with a Partner Part 1 Don’t Plant a Church with a Partner Part 2. What should a church planter do instead? Here are six suggestions.
1. Plant with only one financially supported pastor
In my experience, it is far wiser to plant a church with only one person raising outside support. This principle does not apply with strictly bi-vocational church planting but will likely save you a lot of trauma in a more traditional church planting situation. Here it is one more time: Plant with only one financially supported pastor. Save yourself a lot of pain. But what about church planting as a team? Isn’t that a good idea? Read on my friend.
2. Build a church planting team
Planting a Church by yourself is very difficult. Having a group of people living on mission together, working together to plant a church, is a good idea in church planting. But this needs to be a team of people who are not dependent on the financial resources of the church. (People who have jobs) Imagine planting a church with ten families. One has raised support, and the other 9 have jobs that are not dependent on the financial resources of the church. Ten families giving. Ten families are living in community. Ten families are living on mission. Nine of those families are supported outside the church. Some of you are closing your eyes and smiling right now thinking of how wonderful this would be. Maybe you don’t have ten families. The key principle here is to build a team of people who are not dependent on the financial resources of the church. The more, the better.
3. Assemble an outside Advisory Team
One of the best things that you can do when planting a church is to assemble an advisory team. Most church planters do this to some extent, but few have a multi-year strategy in this area. The best plan that I have ever seen is written about In Church Planting Landmines. In the book, the authors unpack a multi-year advisory team plan that rolls out in stages. I highly recommend this book if you are planting a church.
Three more suggestions tomorrow. Feel free to weigh in with a comment!
