New Churches Podcast

Episode 706 When disaster strikes your community, every church planter must see it as a God-given opportunity to get the gospel into lives. Host Clint Clifton talks with Taylor Field and Kay Bennett about ways a church can position itself to be ready to respond. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Ways your church can be prepared ahead of time How gospel opportunities are embedded in disasters The importance of focusing on individuals in crisis The value of seeing disaster response as worship How churches should be engaging with nonprofits Helpful Resources: Send Relief website Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): When somebody comes for relief items, it’s not the items they want the most. They want to tell their story. Listening to their story, debrief them, help them deal with what’s going on. Pray for them. The disaster has a person where they’re ready to hear about Jesus. — Kay Bennett Throughout history, God has used His people in times of disaster and distress to advance the gospel. You help people rebuild their lives, one at a time, and it matters to every person you help. Focus on the one. — Clint Clifton If we’re imagining what we’re doing as worship, as opposed to moving the needle in terms of correcting the  problem, it makes a difference in your motivation for why you’re doing what you’re doing. — Clint Clifton The bigger the crisis, the more personal we need to become. We don’t want to know people by their need. We want to know them by their name. Sacrifice is what’s going to touch people, where you pour out your life for other people. — Taylor Field Churches should be engaged front and center in these issues and be known for their partnerships with nonprofits that spearhead these efforts. The church’s organized engagement has potential for incredible power. — Clint Clifton When you engage with nonprofits, it opens a door for you that normally wouldn’t be available. You get to see the greatest needs in your area and you’re able to come alongside to meet those needs. It’ll be amazing what it does to give your church an identity. — Kay Bennett When a crisis comes, make a three- to five-year plan, not a one-month plan. Because being embedded in your community is going to make a difference in a lot of different ways. Think about it not just as a crisis for a few weeks. — Taylor Field The post How to Help When Disaster Strikes Your Community appeared first on New Churches. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 705 As we’re coming out of Covid, how do we get churches thinking about church planting again? Host Ed Stetzer talks with Chuy Rodriguez and Catherine Renfro about raising the “church planting IQ” of a congregation. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Why an established church would plant 15 minutes away The importance of exposing churches to different models of church planting Why the life cycle of a church has to be taken into account The value of engaging local communities that are “different than us” The importance of understanding everybody can do something when it comes to church planting Helpful Resources: Church Planting Masterclass  Sending Church Masterclass Church Planting Primer Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): A lot of congregations – new and existing – don’t really know how to articulate church planting as part of their vision. Maybe they don’t even feel church planning is very vital. @EdStetzer The importance of church planting is taught, but a passion for it is caught. That comes from a church leader continuously showing passion. You talk about it. You give to it. You send people. That shows it’s important to us. @CatherineRenfro If you leave the the majority culture, you find a new harvest and a new group of people in desperate need of new churches and the gospel. —Chuy Rodriguez One of the advantages of being part of a denomination or network is you have churches of different ethnicities and backgrounds. That gives you an opportunity to engage in different ways. @EdStetzer The more we engage our churches with the immigrant, with the widow, with the poor, the more they will realize that we need more churches. —Chuy Rodriguez A lot of people wonder “Is church planting for me?” If every church member knew and really understood that everybody can do something when it comes to church planting, it makes it a lot easier to engage. @CatherineRenfro I would suggest taking local mission trips. I truly believe the future of church planting lies in how we are going to reach the new people coming to our country. One of the best ways to get our IQ high as a church is rethinking local missions. —Chuy Rodriguez The post Increasing Your Congregation’s Church Planting IQ appeared first on New Churches. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 704 Planters and church-planting networks and organizations are trying to figure out how they fit alongside other. Clint Clifton, Trevin Wax and Vance Pitman hash through the relational levels between and value of national and micro-networks. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: What really holds church-based and micro networks together How to maintain relationships so network values remain strong What needs national and micro-networks can each meet uniquely How large a church needs to be to begin multiplying How national networks can collaborate Helpful Resources: Trevin Wax’s book The Thrill of Orthodoxy Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): What really holds church-based and micro networks together is values collaboration. @VancePitman It’s really good for us to recognize the concentric circles of care and love that make it more likely a church planter will be successful. @ClintJClifton The ground is level when it comes to church multiplication, because it only takes one thing to multiply a church and that’s a ready leader. It’s all about discipleship. @ClintJClifton The big mega-church in the New Testament missed out on Paul They sent him home. It was the small Antioch church that was able to build the relational equity with him where Saul became Paul. So who had greater impact? @VancePitman As organizations grow, we go from barbarians to bureaucrats, from being willing to do whatever it takes to having lots of factors to consider. Sometimes the barbarians are just better suited. @ClintJClifton But sometimes the bureaucrats have larger reach and extent of of influence too. @TrevinWax The kingdom of God is bigger than any one denomination network or tribe. The endgame is about kingdom expansion to the ends of the earth. @VancePitman The post Do Little Networks Matter? appeared first on New Churches. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I’m Trevin Wax. In October, I’m starting a new podcast called Reconstructing Faith that examines the state of the American church’s witness. For years now, we’ve seen the church rocked by sin and scandal and our credibility as Christ’s followers has been diminished. Reconstructing Faith avoids the simplistic knee-jerk reactions you see on social media and instead looks at the church the same way you’d look at your home after a natural disaster, say a flood. We’ll examine the foundations of the church that have stood the test of time, both here in America and around the world. We’ll also examine the rot in the church, the attitudes and practices that have sprung up over the decades like mold. While there’s been a lot of bad news, we’ve got to remember the good news of the gospel and work within the church to restore and rebuild its witness so that people experience the majesty of Jesus. I hope you’ll join me. Find out more at ReconstructingFaithPodcast.com. The post Introducing Reconstructing Faith appeared first on New Churches. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 703 Church planters and their teams are on the lookout for best practices in starting kids ministry. Host Clint Clifton talks with Danielle Whitley, author of a new free resource, “10 Steps to Developing a Kids Ministry,” which lays a great foundation for discipling young Christ-followers – for generations to come. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Why it’s so vital to instill energy in kids ministry volunteers Ministry can be done even in less-than-ideal spaces The importance of making ministry space fun and kid friendly Qualities to look for in recruiting a kid’s ministry director Helpful Resources: Free new resource: 10 Steps to Developing a Kids Ministry Youtube channel: Solid Foundation Kids Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): This is such a critical point in a person’s life. As spiritual leaders of the church, we really want to take advantage of this opportunity God has given us to invest during these influential years. @Danielle Whitley It’s critical for a church leader to be able to step into the space with volunteers and leaders with a sense of honor, optimism and joy that will be contagious among among your leaders. @ClintJClifton There are so many things you can do, honestly in almost any given spot, to make it look fun and kid friendly when you follow these tips. @Danielle Whitley Kids’ ministry, like church planting, is fraught with challenges and difficulties. But the fact you have an optimistic, positive, excited, encouraged outlook about the opportunity to invest in the lives of children is a game changer. @ClintJClifton This type of attitude is going to create volunteers who will be excited about it. They’re going to be long-term leaders because they’ve caught onto the fact they’re actually investing in eternity by pouring into these children. @Danielle Whitley We used this seminar in one of the residency sessions to actually train church planters. @ClintJClifton With the seminar and the 10 basic steps, you are laying a strong foundation you’re going to be able to build off for years to come. You can apply it to really any ministry, including an existing church plant. @Danielle Whitley The post Kids Ministry for Church Plants appeared first on New Churches. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 702 We often think of discipleship as a post-conversion process, but it also can be seen in a broader way. Host Ed Stetzer talks with Chuy Rodriguez and Catherine Renfro about disciple making as sharing the gospel, people responding to the gospel, growing in the truths of the gospel and then multiplying. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Different ways churches are effectively making disciples The relationship between evangelism and discipleship in the new church Varied approaches to church-based discipleship strategies How to see disciples become disciple makers Advice for church plants to have a disciple making culture Helpful Resources: Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): The most effective churches I’ve worked with are translating academic education into practical implementation – complementing traditional tools with serving the community. It’s not just acquiring information but also putting it into practice so we grow in our walk with Christ. —Chuy Rodriguez Oftentimes we talk about evangelism and discipleship as though it has to be one or the other. I don’t think you can have true discipleship without evangelism; I don’t think you can have evangelism without discipleship. Discipleship and evangelism go hand in hand. @CatherineRenfro Discipleship is not follow-up. Discipleship is calling people to follow Jesus and the disciple-making journey starts at the even sharing the good news of the gospel with people, sharing what it means to follow Jesus. Disciple making includes conversion and spiritual growth and, ultimately, multiplication. @EdStetzer We see one-on-one discipleship and group discipleship. I don’t think you can choose one over the other. Both are equally important. At the end of the day, I think relationships are the foundation of discipleship. @CatherineRenfro As a new church grows, it takes on structure. All living things, when they become more complex, take on structure. We help people move from sitting in rows to sitting in circles, so they can have that life-on-life discipleship that makes makes the difference. @EdStetzer A lot of times church plants, if they don’t grow in maturity, can become a mile wide and an inch deep. Church plants must have a disciple-making culture. @EdStetzer You need a model of what it means to be a disciple and to disciple others. I’ve seen pastors who preach a lot about certain things but they are not the first ones doing it. I would say to most pastors, “Just be what you preach.” —Chuy Rodriguez The post Disciple-Making Strategies for New Churches appeared first on New Churches. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 701 Most, if not all, church planters aspire to start a multiplying church. Yet often that doesn’t happen because we have our missiology backwards. Host Clint Clifton talks with Vance Pitman and Trevin Wax about what they see as a more biblical approach. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Vance Pitman’s “inverted” church planting missiology Scheduled activities that will help a church planter engage their city and make disciples The difference it makes to start with a city, rather than a service Leadership principles for planting churches that multiply Steps that set up a church for long-term success in multiplication Helpful Resources: Trevin Wax’s book The Thrill of Orthodoxy Eric Swanson’s book The Externally Focused Church Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): The starting point is wrong when we start with the church. The starting point is the city and gospel engagement. The Great Commission is to make disciples. Jesus never said, “Go plant churches.” @VancePitman When when you take the gospel to the city, the Gospel doesn’t skip over cultures. One of the reasons we have so many homogenous churches in North America is we start with a church service. When you start with a church service, you start with a culture that attracts people like itself. @VancePitman It’s wisdom for a church planter to spend the majority of discipleship time with the most mature in his congregation, helping them become really effective leaders. It’s not so much about if a person is new to faith in Christ or if they’ve been a Christian for a long time. It’s about their trajectory toward leadership. @ClintJClifton You’re basically focusing on making disciples who will then make disciples. @TrevinWax When we talk about multiplication, often we limit that to talking about multiplying the church. But if you’re going to see churches multiplied, you have to think multiplication at every level. That starts with multiplying disciples. @VancePitman In the beginning it feels like you’re doing it poorly, but you basically have to make the choice to go ahead and do it, even though all your ducks, proverbially speaking, aren’t in a row. That’s a hard thing for a conscientious pastor to do. @ClintJClifton Jesus focused more on succession than he did on success. He planned for succession. He planned for the generation beyond him. Unfortunately in the local church in America, we spend 99% of our time focused on success. @VancePitman The post Engage the City, Make Disciples, Build the Church appeared first on New Churches. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 700 Ministry wives face unique challenges, and fewer resources are produced to help them than their husbands. Co-hosts Ed Stetzer and Clint Clifton talk with Christine Hoover about her new NAMB podcast for ministry wives. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Why a podcast specifically for ministry wives is needed Some things ministry wives can learn from Christine Hoover’s podcast Effective ways ministry wives are involved in church life How Christine hopes the podcast will encourage ministry wives Ways pastors can help their wives establish needed boundaries Helpful Resources: Christine Hoover’s Ministry Wives Podcast Christine Hoover’s author page on Amazon Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Being a ministry wife often is a vocation without a job description. @EdStetzer When we planted there were zero resources for me as a church planting wife. That’s what sparked my desire to serve and help women who sometimes feel unseen. They’re the unsung heroes of church ministry. @ChristineHoover Ministry wives face unique challenges. We experience church very differently than our husbands, because it’s not our job. The dynamics can be really challenging. @ChristineHoover The issue of ministry wives is a complex algorithm. You’ve got expectations and assumptions that come along with the faith tradition, as well as the unique personality of the wife. Those two things manifest themselves in so many different ways. @ClintJClifton Pastors have a job description but one of the greatest challenges for pastor’s wives, especially within the first 10 years, is just figuring out who they are and what God has created them to do in their context. @ChristineHoover The relational challenges are a big piece too – the blurred lines of ministry. It can be very confusing to know who you share things with, who you go to when you need help. @ChristineHoover A big component is for the pastor to help his wife see herself, to see how God is using her. Sometimes it can be hard to see that in ourselves and so for the husband to say “I see God using you in this way,” that’s really encouraging. @ChristineHoover The post For Ministry Wives appeared first on New Churches. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 699 Church planters are thinking about financing permanent facilities, but probably no group of people is less equipped to go into commercial real estate transactions. Host Clint Clifton talks with Colby Garman and Ray Clark about the basics of financing church facilities. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Advice about how a facility’s price tag might translate into a monthly cost The percentage of budget mortgage payments should be limited to A standard expectation for how long you would be paying on a mortgage How obtaining a permanent facility relates to the church’s mission Some ways churches don’t have sound biblical ways of thinking about money Helpful Resources: Download our Church Plant Facility Guide Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): The easiest rule of thumb is to look at a church’s annual income and multiply it by three to four times. Probably 98% of churches can use that to approximate what they could afford in a facility. — Ray Clark Church planters are notoriously optimistic about the the future of their work. That needs to be tempered a little bit when we’re talking about getting into a multimillion-dollar facility promise for what amounts to decades. @ClintJClifton Making a big decision like getting into a mortgage impacts how you function in ministry going forward. Some of the freedom to think about multiplication and sending out church planters goes away by making that decision. @ColbyGarman We put a fence around the possibility of over-extending ourselves financially and we said we’re going to keep mission and ministry our priority. @ClintJClifton Every single decision you as a leader make has a financial ramification. Every time you say yes to something, you’re automatically saying no to something else. — Ray Clark Sometimes Christians have really off ways of thinking about money that make these conversations really hard. Like, “Hey we’re supposed to just have faith and all this talk about details and financing is uncomfortable.” @ColbyGarman The No. 1 thing we run across is pastors who are the “tip of the spear” leader who just don’t engage in this conversation at all. — Ray Clark The post Demystifying Church Facility Financing appeared first on New Churches. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 698: Finding a facility for a new church is is one of the most challenging aspects of planting, particularly in an urban environment. Host Clint Clifton talks with Colby Garman and Ray Clark about why creative facility solutions are needed now, more than ever. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Kinds of facilities commonly used by church plants Some advantages and disadvantages of owning a facility  How to assess your readiness for a permanent facility The importance educating yourself about local government rules Where owning a facility should rank in your list of priorities Helpful Resources: Dan Mackett’s article: Creative Facility Solutions for New Churches Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Church planters will use just about any space they can gather a crowd in: school cafeterias or auditoriums, movie theaters, small concert venues, hotel ballrooms and conference centers. @ColbyGarman When you’re in the throes of church planting and things get difficult, you start to believe that if you had a facility, it would solve all the problems. That’s not true. In some ways, it creates problems. @ClintJClifton Rightly thinking about facilities as a tool for ministry is probably the healthiest place a church planter could could start. The facility just facilitates the gathering of the church. — Ray Clark Churches can take body blows of difficulty when they have a facility. But a family that’s not well relationally doesn’t get better by owning their own home. @ColbyGarman Many church planters who think they’re ready for that step aren’t ready for that step. @ClintJClifton The first place to start is really understanding where you’re at and the only way to understand where you’re at is to is to actually track income and expenses. A good rule of thumb would be about 25% of your budget allocated to your debt payment. — Ray Clark One of the beautiful things about alternative situations is additional cash flow, but often that comes with additional operation. As a pastor, you’ve got to protect yourself against capacity creep. — Ray Clark The post Finding a Facility for Your Growing Church appeared first on New Churches. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.