New Churches Podcast

Episode 639: When people experience powerful moments at church, they leave remembering having encountered the Lord and feeling changed. Clint Clifton and Todd Adkins discuss the challenge of “setting the table” for those moments without crossing the line into manipulation. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: The four different types of moments a church planter wants to create for his congregation Why it’s important to set the table but remember it’s the Holy Spirit who moves in powerful moments Why events like “Pack a Pew Sunday” and elements like altar calls and membership were important in creating powerful moments The challenge of remembering that people, not the program, are pre-eminent Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Not that you want to manufacture a moment but there are things that we can do that will make the environment most conducive to that. The Holy Spirit is the person that is going to be moving them, but you need to do everything in your power kind of to make that moment “happen.” @ToddAdkins It’s important for us to have moments and mile markers in our walk with Christ. It’s also important to have moments and mile markers in the life of our church early on. @ToddAdkins There was a sort of Charles Finney revivalism that crossed the line into what most church-planting pastors would consider manipulation. We’ve overcorrected and said, “We want everything to be organic.” And we’ve lost some of those critical opportunities in our local ministries. @ClintJClifton I want to set the table. I want to light the candles but I want to recognize on my part that the real magical thing that’s going to happen in ministry is the work of the Spirit. It’s the work the Word does in somebody’s life. @ClintJClifton I want to create an environment where people will come to the table so they might experience the Lord in a really special way. We want people to leave remembering having encountered the Lord and feeling changed. @ClintJClifton Instead of doing the hard creative work of how we can create an environment or an experience where people are likely to grow, we’re just simply running the play we’ve seen happen so many times before. @ClintJClifton  Apathy lulls us into to not having those moments. We need to stop and take a fresh look at what we’re doing.  @ClintJClifton Part of what it is, is the inertia of your own success. And sometimes that success is just staying open. Sometimes it’s growth. @ToddAdkins You’re not going to have margin to think about setting the table and lighting the candles. You’re just going to continue delivering meals to the table. And the next thing you’re throwing TV dinners there and you didn’t even know it. @ToddAdkins The 90 days before the launch of the church are hard, just a grind. And then the next 90 days you have to build on that inertia of success. So even though you want to go home and slump in the chair and rest, you better have something planned to take advantage of that moment. @ToddAdkins When I can plan what I’m going to do that first 90 days after a launch when we’re all kind of dragging, that’s going to rejuvenate your volunteers and you as well. @ToddAdkins One of the biggest mistakes I see church planners making is thinking completely about the beginning of their church services, their launch day and thinking little or nothing about the life of their church in the systems and rhythms of their church after that first day. @ClintJClifton  It’s like thinking about the wedding a lot, but not about the marriage at all. @ClintJClifton It’s fallen out of vogue to have big days – pack a pew Sunday, friend day – and it is a little corny, but in throwing that whole lot out, we have really lost something. @ClintJClifton We need to take full of advantage of that moment that we have. And then look forward down the line to say, “Okay, and this is where we’re going.” @ToddAdkins Two things today that we kind of push off, and that is the altar call and membership. Both of those got hijacked 40 years ago. Don’t throw those things out. Don’t treat them like they’re a tool, but do think of them as a moment. @ToddAdkins Baptism is a very, very, very powerful moment in the life of that person that we should steward well. @ToddAdkins The problem is when the program becomes pre-eminent. You have to remember the program is for the people, the people are not for your program. @ToddAdkins Programs come and go but the real question is, how are we making sure that we are being absolutely wonderful stewards of the time that people are giving us and the experience that they’re given? @ToddAdkins Helpful Resources: Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Maximizing the Big Day bundle at EdStetzer.com Books by Chip and Dan Heath Power of Moments Made to Stick Decisive Switch Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes. The post The Power of Moments appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 638: Systems for multiplying church leaders must have a healthy balance of the organic and  pragmatic. Host Clint Clifton discusses how to create an effective system of leadership development with Todd Adkins, director of LifeWay Leadership. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Three reasons leaders must be learners in front of those they lead Components of the multiplication system at Clint’s Pillar Church Why Todd’s program at McLean Bible Church focused on both core competency and role competency Why Todd evaluates a residency program on inputs, throughputs and outputs How Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, compares church planter residencies to medical residencies  The four phases Todd sees in leadership multiplication The MAWL model of leadership development Why Todd thinks you can’t tell in advance who’s going to be “successful” and who isn’t Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Your church would like to plant other new churches, but there are some day-to-day activities that are going to prohibit that, if you don’t have some systems set up for them. @ClintJClifton ‘Systems’ is not a dirty word. Sometimes, when we hear it, we think that’s a business-type thing. But God created the solar system and the circulatory system. @ToddAdkins  The pendulum between the organic and the pragmatic seems to go back and forth a lot. You have to understand from a biblical perspective a healthy balance of both things – putting on both your shepherd hat and your stewardship hat. @ToddAdkins Leaders learn in front of people. If you are a leader these days and you are not a learner, then you have a really, really short shelf life. @ToddAdkins It’s really important for us to not just be dispensers of grace, but receivers of grace, so we can be conduits all the time. @ClintJClifton The gold standard for us is to have a member of our church go through that process, not somebody from the outside. But if we can’t find members to do it, that’s not going to stop us from planting a church next year. @ClintJClifton  When you have three elements together – knowledge, experience and coaching – that’s when transformation happens. @ToddAdkins  When I look at a residency program, I look at inputs, throughputs and outputs. @ToddAdkins  I want to be more hands-on with the people we’re developing. I want to do ministry alongside them. I want them to see me doing ministry and learn from the ways I do it bad and the ways I do it good. @ClintJClifton  I’m starting high directive and very little supportive. But that flips over time from directive to supportive. There’s very little directive at the end. @ToddAdkins If you’re always focused more on what you do, rather than who you develop, you’re not going to be a “successful pastor,” in my opinion. @ToddAdkins I started a church 17 years ago that’s multiplied 20 plus times. And now my greatest joy in life is watching the gospel go forth from those men in their ministries. @ClintJClifton  The greatest impact in my ministry will not be anything I do, but those I invest in and what they do for the glory of God. That’s where you find the deepest satisfaction in ministry. @ClintJClifton Leadership is understanding that your fruit grows on somebody else’s trees. @ToddAdkins 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. The post Systems for Multiplication appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 637: One of the biggest problems a pastor faces is developing leadership. Host Clint Clifton talks with Noah Oldham, pastor of August Gate Church in St. Louis, about how you can find the future leaders for your church planting work right in your own congregation. In This Episode, You’ll Discover:  Noah Oldham’s “cheat” for approaching people in whom he sees pastoral potential How our free Church Planting Primer can help you get everyday Christians involved in starting new churches Why August Gate Church practices foot washing as they bring in new members How Clint’s church uses a preaching lab to surface planter candidates How prospecting for planter candidates is like “shooting hoops” What Noah Oldham means by “four H leaders” Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Very few churches who have cracked the nut of how to make members into missionaries. I want our churches, to be known for cultivating pastoral leaders from inside of our work. @ClintJClifton One of the things I look for is people who care about the whole church flourishing. @NoahOldham If you took all the fruitful church planters I’ve worked with, you couldn’t find a common denominator. It’s not as easy as noticing a quality or a characteristic, one quality or characteristic. @ClintJClifton We have to decide as a church at August Gate, what kind of church do we want to plant? But also, what kind of church do we want to be? @NoahOldham It all comes down to ecclesiology. We have to think about our ecclesiology and if we don’t have that settled, we’re never going to do this very well. @NoahOldham When you look at the lists in 1 Timothy and Titus, you see these lists for older men and older women and younger women. It’s like, “Where’s the list for the younger men? What’s the list of eldership?”  @NoahOldham Every young man should aspire to be an elder. If we do that, we’ll never have a hard time finding pastors. @NoahOldham The only difference in an elder and a regular Christian is that they’re actually doing the things we’ve all been commanded to do. @ClintJClifton It’s like shooting basketball hoops. I’m going to take a lot of shots and probably not make all that many, but the more I shoot, the more I make.  @ClintJClifton I’ve found a lot of guys who live out the rich young ruler. They ask what they have to do to be a leader and walk away sad because they realize, “Ah, it’s just going to require more than I’m willing to give.” @NoahOldham When I was planting, I felt like I was making all these huge sacrifices, but the truth is, God gave me a very dear family. Those who step away from planting because they think they’re going to miss out on something are forsaking the opportunity at something much, much greater.  @ClintJClifton You have to be wildly optimistic about pastoral potential in others, take people when they’re not ready and imagine what God could do with them the same way  He did with you. @ClintJClifton Helpful Resources: Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Alexander Strauch’s book Biblical Eldership  Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating / review on iTunes The post Discovering Pastoral Potential appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 636: Residencies are crucial to multiplication in church planting, but how do you start and organize them? Host Clint Clifton discusses the practical components of residency with Noah Oldham, pastor of August Gate Church in St. Louis. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: How Noah Oldham designed the August Gate church plant in St. Louis to be a multiplying church How the August Gate residency is designed The importance of pursuing people when you see they have potential to plant churches Day-to-day practical components of a residency  Why residency requires a deep sense of humility Why churches should maintain warm relationships with planters they send out Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Part of our vision is to be a church that plants more churches until the St. Louis Metro region is saturated with gospel.  @NoahOldham I don’t think there’s anything that’s contributed to the fruitfulness in multiplication in church planting, like having the residency. @ClintJClifton We just talk about church planting all the time. Because of that, there’s always energy around it. @NoahOldham Residency’s like a junk drawer category; it’s never clean and buttoned up. And it just means getting people ready for ministry.  @ClintJClifton A big part of our residency is giving somebody the opportunity to do things planters do, on top of what pastors do. @NoahOldham We use the imagery of peeking behind the curtain. I say, “I’d like to invite you behind the curtain, to see how things go here and be a part of what we do behind the curtain so that you could get a sense for, if this is the sort of work that you feel drawn to.”  @ClintJClifton Equipping precedes calling. We got to be doing a lot of equipping, and usually calling grows out of the fertile soil of equipping, not the opposite. @ClintJClifton Covenant members are the first level of leadership in our church. And then we’re always looking for covenant members who are serving above and beyond the standard. Who’s hungry for more? Always trying to call out the called. @NoahOldham The number one qualification of an elder is that they aspire to the office. A lot of people don’t know they have permission to aspire to it until we give them permission. @NoahOldham It’s really powerful when your pastor comes to you and says he sees gifts in you and invites you into a category most people aren’t invited into. That really begins to ignite a passion for church planting. @ClintJClifton When you have been a pastor and a church planter, you can recognize those gifts in others and you should verbalize that. @ClintJClifton For us, what we do in a residency comes down to who the guy is. What does he need? @NoahOldham You’ve got to create your own way in training. You’re going to become familiar with a whole bunch of tools that apply to various situations. We basically have a syllabus that covers everything but, depending on the situation, we don’t always do all of it. @ClintJClifton The ability to lead a church plant and to lead a team comes by being in a church plant and being on a team. @NoahOldham It’s almost impossible too, to reproduce something you’ve never seen. @ClintJClifton If you have a guy with the ability to plant a church and you know it is three to five years before he needs to plant, get him on your team and call it a residency. @NoahOldham If planting churches is in your church’s DNA, you just can’t help but do it. @NoahOldham Having a residency is sort of like having a girlfriend. You can’t describe it. You’ve just got to get one and then you’ll understand. @ClintJClifton One of the major things I’m trying to do in residency is help somebody see themselves as they truly are. @ClintJClifton Cage stagers don’t make it very far in residencies. @NoahOldham Residency is simply discipling future church leaders. @ClintJClifton If you have great leaders in your church, you’re going to lose them, one way or the other. You can either prepare them and send them or you can lose them and someone else prepares them and sends them. @NoahOldham I want us to be the church that identifies those leaders, speaks life into them and helps them with their calling, but then also prepares them. @NoahOldham We’re not starting franchises here. We’re starting a family. @ClintJClifton   Helpful Resources: Free download: Church Planting Thresholds Free download: Pillar Church residency syllabus namb.net/residencies  Quick Start Guide Starting a residency video Find a residency Send Network’s Multiplication Pipeline 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 The post Q and A: Church Planter Residencies appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 635: The physical health of a church planter directly affects his spiritual health – and both are critically intertwined with the work God has called him to do. Host Clint Clifton and Noah Oldham, NAMB’s senior director of church planting deployment, discuss their own fitness journeys and how the lack of fitness may point to deeper, unresolved spiritual issues in a person’s life.­­ In This Episode, You’ll Discover: How Noah Oldham came to realize “something had to change” physically in his life The first steps to take in getting a handle on your fitness How a change in your physical life affects your spiritual life That food, comfort and laziness can be used to hide areas of brokenness in your life. How not addressing a fellow pastor’s lack of fitness can be doing him – and yourself – a disservice. How lack of fitness undermines your respectability with your people Why community and accountability are essential for maintaining physical fitness. What to do when the people around you don’t value their physical health Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Usually when I see a friend that loses weight, or when I’ve lost weight myself, I’m very skeptical about how long it’s going to last. @ClintJClifton Health for a church planter, both spiritually and physically, is critically intertwined in the work we do. @ClintJClifton I found a personal trainer who works with pastors and he set me on a trajectory. I’ve not looked back. @NoahOldham Something just clicked in my soul. Something has to change, and it has to be now. It’s never going to get easier. @NoahOldham It’s not about changing your diet and exercise. You have to change your discipline. @NoahOldham It really became a labor of love – one of the ways I unplug from the rest of the stuff I’m doing, to walk in discipleship with other men, to help them find the kind of freedom I found. @NoahOldham In 2 Timothy, Paul says that in the last days, people will be without “self-control.” That word often is translated as “incontinent.” I realized that either I don’t care or I can’t control myself. @NoahOldham We need the literal, the miraculous grace of God to do a work in us, and that’s what I saw happen in my life. The grace of God trained me to say no to myself and yes to the new paths he had for me. @NoahOldham You’ve got to peel back some of the layers and deal with the heartache underneath this stuff. @NoahOldham Often the physical is just a manifestation of another area of our life that’s probably just as messy, just as sloppy, just as unmonitored. We’re monitoring so many other things that we don’t look at this one until too late. @NoahOldham One thing I saw was that I loved satisfaction and instantgratification more than I thought I did. @NoahOldham When we start talking about looking to the marketplace to raise up pastors, we’re reaching into this pool of men who may say, “He’s the kind of guy I want to be.” @NoahOldham We’re doing one another, as brothers, as pastors, a disservice, because if we’re both struggling with our health, we should be able to come to each other and say, “How do we do this together? How do we lock arms for one another?” @NoahOldham The biggest challenge is that you have to come to the point where you say, “I’m not this kind of person anymore.” @NoahOldham If I want to attract disciplined, ready, capable, sacrificial men, I got to show myself to be that. And there was an area of my life I wasn’t showing that. @NoahOldham As pastors who don’t go to the bottle when we have problems, food is a ready escape for us. @ClintJClifton There’s a culture that thinks people who exercise and care about their physical health is something weird people do. We think, “Everybody’s a little overweight, and that’s the way it is and it’s OK.” @ClintJClifton Helpful Resources: Website: pastorfit.com Book: Breaking the Stronghold of Food Have you checked 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. The post Getting Serious About Getting Healthy appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 634: Can a church-planter or team dream big on a shoestring budget? Co-hosts Clint Clifton and Todd Adkins explain why being “under-resourced” actually is a big advantage. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Why being “under-resourced” actually is helpful for a church-planting team How a “we can if …” map can help you and a team process through a problem How vision clarity and focus made a difference in how churches weathered the Covid crisis Why attendance isn’t engagement, and engagement isn’t discipleship Which comes first: clear vision or adequate resources Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Being “under-resourced” actually is helpful because it forces conversations and choices that are really healthy, long term versus perpetuating things that are not essential. @Todd Adkins Being “under-resourced” causes you to boil down to essentials. @ClintJClifton There’s a huge lie out there that in order to be creative and innovative, I need unlimited time and unlimited resources. You actually will be much better off having finite time and finite resources. @Todd Adkins It’s easier and it’s more fun to attempt great things for the Lord on on a limited budget. Your resource “poverty” can actually be an advantage when it comes to growth. In our day, people are really skeptical of the big, wealthy and powerful. That gives a scrappy upstart an advantage over the well-funded franchise. @ClintJClifton You can actually capitalize on the advantages that have been given to you as a church planter on a shoestring budget if you will just simply own it and and live in that reality. You should not see your your “poverty” as as a disadvantage, but as an advantage. @ClintJClifton Clear vision always is followed by a sufficient resourcing. @ClintJClifton We have measured attendance and called it engagement, and measured engagement and called it discipleship. @Todd Adkins When we have a clear and compelling vision about what it is that we’re doing, then resources flow. If we focus on the resources and say, “Why don’t we have the resources?”, then the resources don’t necessarily come very easily. @ClintJClifton When we’re headed in a direction that pleases the lord and that makes sense to the people who are around us, people are happy to be generous. @ClintJClifton I want you to dream big even if you’re on a shoestring budget, especially if you’re planting a church. @ClintJClifton  If you are feeling under-resourced, you’re really under-inspiring, because there are people around you who have the ability to resource you. They just aren’t sure it is a good stewardship. @ClintJClifton If people are serving in your church, they’re actually more likely to give – not only of their time but of their money as well. @Todd Adkins As people come in and begin to serve, that’s when they put more skin in the game. @Todd Adkins The clearer, the more compelling, the bigger your dream, the more easily donors will give to see that accomplished. If you’re lamenting the size of your budget and seeing that as the limitation to what you can do for the kingdom, you’re thinking of it backwards. @ClintJClifton Helpful Resources: Book: A Beautiful Constraint: How to Transform Your Limitations into Advantages  Book: Simple Church: Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples Article: Moving from “We Can’t” to “We Can” in Ministry  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 leave a rating and review on iTunes The post Dreaming Big on a Shoestring Budget appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 633: If a church planter has “parachuted” into an unfamiliar city, how can he best go about building a team from scratch? Co-hosts Clint Clifton and Todd Adkins offer a plethora of hacks that will promote success. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Several leadership hacks helpful for “parachute”planters The power of a relationship that helps others move forward in the same direction over time The value of clear role descriptions for team members The two values of good training The four kinds of moments you want to create in team building Two good reasons to get involved in the Chamber of Commerce Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): I don’t recall who said it, but it’s true: People will will follow you if you’re uncertain; they won’t follow you if you’re unclear. @ToddAdkins You don’t have to have it all figured out, but you at least need to have kind of a compelling vision for the future and have a place in it for each team member. @ToddAdkins You need to have documented clarity: role descriptions for all your volunteers. You can get a win almost immediately simply by having a one-page role description in place. @ToddAdkins You want to avoid the volunteer over-committing and coming back to you saying, “Hey I didn’t realize what this was.” @ToddAdkins Clarity builds confidence for team members. @ToddAdkins Good training does two things in equal parts: It gives both competence and confidence. @ToddAdkins You don’t want to just recruit anybody that can fog a mirror. You want to think about the type of people you want to recruit and the way you want that to happen. @ToddAdkins Some planters make “the big ask” in a safe, lighthearted way, and the person they ask isn’t quite sure if they’re serious. The more appropriate, more effective way is to have a serious conversation that creates a compelling moment they will not forget. @ClintJClifton It’s not just the volume of impressions you’re making. It’s the quality of your interactions with people that make a huge difference. @ClintJClifton Recruiting goes back to “seek first to understand and then be understood.” It goes back to just being insanely curious about your community. Schedule curiosity into your week. @ToddAdkins Far too many times, ministry is something we do to people, not for people. @ToddAdkins Helpful Resources: – Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer – Are you ready to enroll in our free Church Planting Masterclass? – Chip and Dan Heath books: Made to Stick and The Power of Moments – Web-search “questions based selling” Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating/review on iTunes The post Building a Team from Scratch appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 632: Church-based residencies are a growing trend in ministerial and church planter training. Co-hosts Ed Stetzer and Dhati Lewis discuss the complexities and simplicities of such programs and offer some valuable insight on how churches both large and small can launch residency programs. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: How Blueprint Church was started to be a “blueprint” for other churches planting churches The wide variety of training going on under the banner of “Residencies” How residents learn the complexities of disciple making so members can be given the simplicity The radical approach of training every biblically qualified person in your church, then allowing God to show them their calling Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): You need to be aware of a growing trend where churches are adopting a strategy to raise up church planters from within – or sometimes they kind of become within, do a two-year residency and then go out and plant churches. @edstetzer At Blueprint Church, we say every covenant member is either a covocational church planter or a covocational church planting team member. @dhatilewis We started Blueprint Church with a desire that we were going to be a church that’s planting other churches. We wanted to be a blueprint so we knew that was going to to take place. @dhatilewis We didn’t necessarily have a timeline, per se, but we started doing different things and had an internship that led to an apprenticeship, and from apprentice to a residency. It was a leadership pipeline. @dhatilewis Oftentimes we focus in on the calling. But if you train everybody who’s biblically qualified in your church, then God is going to match up people’s call to the burden in the cry-outs of the city. @dhatilewis We had people living in our home for you months at a time and we would teach them how to be leaders. And we said, “You guys are our next small group leaders.” We would cast that vision with an expectation similar to Jesus’ call, “Follow me and you will become fishers of men.” @dhatilewis  We were beginning with the end in mind. It was discipleship with a very specific and targeted destination of where we’re going. We put it up on a higher bar. @dhatilewis Once they became small group leaders, then they became ministry leaders, and then they became Titus to women and elders and then they become elders. In that call, we sent them out as teams to plant churches. @dhatilewis  Let’s just train everybody and let God bring out the calling in their lives. We started having a discipleship leadership program every member and allowed God to discover how that’s going to flesh out in their lives. @dhatilewis Disciple making is not a ministry of the church; it’s the ministry of the church and residency is just one outgrowth of the call to discipleship.  While most large churches have gotten very much into residencies, you don’t have to be a really large church to engage this. @edstetzer In residencies, there tends to be a curriculum and a series of expectations. We are seeing more churches taking on historically the role that might have been like an agency.  @edstetzer You can plant churches and not make any disciples but, ultimately, if you make disciples you will plant churches. @dhatilewis  This is not the Jetsons, where you can just press a button and then churches come out and disciples are made There’s a lot in this operating system. You got to own the complexity so the simplicity is given to your members. @dhatilewis As a volunteer, part-time pastor, I limited myself to four things: preaching, meeting with leadership, leading a small group in my home and leading our pastoral apprentice team.  @edstetzer Helpful Resources: Learn how to start a robust residency program at namb.net/residencies Download the Residency Quick Start Guide Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer”  Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Learn more about Dhati Lewis’ book, Among Wolves: Disciple-Making in the City Learn more about Ed Stetzer’s book, Viral Churches Please subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating and review on iTunes The post Starting a Residency appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 631: What three main factors cause church plants to fail? Co-Hosts Clint Clifton and Todd Adkins discuss the role of isolation, conflict among team members and lack of self-awareness in the “slow-motion car crash” of church plant failure. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: How many church plants don’t make it to Year 5 The difference between poetry and plumbing in church planting The role of isolation in church plant failure Why structure and systems matter as much as story and strategy Two valuable tools in putting together an effective team Two basic categories of church planter that affect success Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Watching a church plant fail is like watching a car crash in slow motion. @clintjclifton A church planter puts his neck out there and says God’s calling me to plant a church. It’s It’s a very vulnerable venture. You say I believe God’s with me to do this and then you’ve got to close it down. It’s awful and just soul crushing.@clintjclifton There are no no current statistics but the best I can tell is that about a third of church plants don’t make it to Year 5. @clintjclifton  Often, especially early on in ministry, we are more competent in poetry than we in plumbing. Church planting requires a different set of tools and skills than running a church that’s already established. The plumbing is what grinds us down. @ToddAdkins If you’re not able to actually deliver on the dream, it will fall apart quickly. You cast a great vision, but eventually you’ve got to deliver on the dreams.@ToddAdkins You’re moving from “the old old story” to story strategy. But as ministry grows and increases, skills have to be developed, both personally and within the church.@ToddAdkins In a sense, every church plant that “fails’ isn’t a failure as long as the gospel was preached and Jesus was exalted. All gospel work has some mysterious promise in it. We we don’t know how it will pan out in the future in terms of its fruitfulness.@clintjclifton Every single time, without exception, when I’ve sat down with a church planner who’s closing up shop, the term “isolation” has been used.@clintjclifton Isolation is the No. 1 cause of church plant failure from my point of view.@clintjclifton I don’t think we talk about Satan enough. Anytime you’ve got somebody isolated like that, I would say that feeling is coming from two different things. One would be Satan, because he doesn’t want you to succeed. The other would be the lack of structure, the systems that take the burden off you.@ToddAdkins Say no – and continue to say no for the rest of your life – to a lot of things. Work just as hard on your clarity as anything else.@ToddAdkins in order to serve the church really well, you’re going to have to rob something right now, and that’s the sermon. In a lot of our churches, all guys want to do is the poetry part. @ToddAdkins  A new church needs more that preaching, praying, loving and staying to come up out of the dirt.@clintjclifton  You’re clear on your story and your strategy. The problem is you haven’t done anything yet. When you actually start to do this stuff, you better have just as much clarity on your structure and systems.@ToddAdkins You better be just as clear on your structure and systems as you are on your story and strategy.@ToddAdkins The second most common reason church plants fall apart is conflict with team members. It’s extremely common, and often those conflicts are terminal for the church because it is too young and weak and vulnerable.@clintjclifton The third thing in church plant failures is just a general lack of self-awareness when it comes to personal giftings. If you go into church planting without a really good handle on what you’re good at and not so good at, it can be detrimental to the life of the church.@clintjclifton When you identify strengths and weaknesses you didn’t know you had, you’re going to understand yourself better and set up yourself a lot better for success.@ToddAdkins Helpful Resources: Todd Adkins: One Ministry Question podcast Mark Dever’s The Deliberate Church Book Learn more about the Myers-Briggs test and Emotional Intelligence Learn more about StrengthsFinder 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 Leave a rating and review on iTunes The post 3 Reasons Church Plants Fail appeared first on New Churches.

Episode 630: When should a church plant set its sights on planting a daughter church?  Co-hosts Ed Stetzer and Dhati Lewis discuss the problems of planting too early and the importance of “planting pregnant.” In This Episode, You’ll Discover: When the best time might be to plant your daughter church What it means to “plant pregnant” How Send Network’s new resources can make church planting easier The four steps from being a church plant to becoming a multiplying church Where the next generation of church planters is likely to come from How a new church can start prioritizing financially for church planting How to respond to the relational pain experienced by church planting teams Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): I wanted to be the last generation to leave the urban context for sound discipleship. I’m committed to raising up urban leaders in majority-minority, multi-ethnic spaces – which is another way of saying “urban.” That’s what North America is in all cities and what North America will be in 2040. @DhatiLewis People ask me, “When is the time to plant our daughter church?” The rule of thumb has always sort of been that if you don’t do it within three years, you’ll never do it. Sometimes you heard people say, “Let’s get involved earlier, like in the first year.” @EdStetzer One of the things we’ve intentionally done in Send Network is having people thinking that they need to “plant pregnant” – planting together with the understanding that one of your team members is coming in to be going out. So they plant with that DNA. @DhatiLewis I have seen people with the “three years” multiplication mindset go in and plant healthily, and I’ve seen them, unhealthily at times, trying to plant whether they’re ready or not. @DhatiLewis There’s lots of pain that comes from planting when you aren’t ready. You experience a lot of pain and trauma as a church, and you give some to the church plants, because they were expecting something from us that they didn’t get because we were still trying to take care of ourselves. @DhatiLewis I wish I knew then what I know now. A plant needs certain things from the sender. You think that would be intuitive because you just went through the process, but when you’re looking at it from the other lens, you just don’t know you can’t provide it. @DhatiLewis I’m really excited that Send Network is creating resources for sending churches. If we had what we’re giving now, it would have been a lot different for us. I still would have done it, but I would have done it a lot differently. There was some pain we didn’t have to experience. @DhatiLewis I’ve encouraged church planters to say that from Year 1, they’re going to be involved in a church plant, but depending on how Year 1 goes, that church plant involvement could look different. Perhaps you partner in Year 1 and Year 2, and then mother by the time you get to Year 3. @EdStetzer In Send Network, we that we believe every Send Network church is a multiplying church in the making. The question I like for us to think about is what is the easy, obvious and strategic next step to becoming a multiplying church? @DhatiLewis You become a multiplying church once you’re discovering, developing and deploying people from within. What we try to do is give people exposure, get the congregation thinking beyond themselves. @DhatiLewis We immediately try to get a church plant to become a supporting church – praying, participating or partnering. A supporting church becomes a sending church when you’ve helped someone discover their calling and go through training. The multiplying church has developed a system to discover, develop and deploy. @DhatiLewis Everybody’s looking for that already discipled, already trained person to send out, and that well is running a lot drier. The next generation of church planters are either not saved in your neighborhood or they’re currently in your pews. @DhatiLewis There are so many things I would do differently in planting churches, knowing now what I do, but that’s why I’m passionate about helping other churches to not have to face the pain we did. @DhatiLewis Get involved early and often in church planting. While that’s going to look different in different contexts, some can go too early but most take too long. @EdStetzer People early on need to be accustomed to the fact that you’re a church-planting church. It sets that agenda, you look for those opportunities, you raise up those leaders who are going to go out and make a difference. @EdStetzer Helpful Resources: Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer” Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Among Wolves: Disciple-Making in the City Please subscribe to the podcast Leave a rating and review on iTunes The post Church Plants Multiplying Early appeared first on New Churches.