New Churches Podcast

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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 629: What two things can we do to encourage more bivo/covo church planting – and what are the relational, financial and missiological benefits? Host Ed Stetzer and Brad Brisco, NAMB’s director of bivocational church planting, discuss bivo/covo church planting and how, depending on cultural context, it might be easier – or more difficult – than traditional church planting. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: The difference between “bivocational” and “covocational” The importance of developing a core team, regardless of how a church is being planted How bivo/covo church planting, depending on cultural context, might be easier or more difficult When church planting shifted from being a discipling experience to a “launch” experience What two things we can do to encourage more bivo/covo church planting The relational, financial and missiological benefits of covo church planting How traditional church planters and pastors can encourage bivo/covo planting Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Sometimes we bifurcate our thinking about ministry. I think I think that, unfortunately, we have too many bivocational planters or pastors who compartmentalize their work in the marketplace and their mission or ministry. I don’t think that’s helpful. @BradleyBrisco A bivocational church planter is someone who has a part-time job in the marketplace that they see as temporary. A covocational church planter, on the other hand, would be someone with a primary calling in the marketplace that they never intend to leave. @BradleyBrisco How can you do what God’s called and wired you to do for the glory of God, but at the same time have a different imagination for church planting where you can start something while you’re in the marketplace? @BradleyBrisco The most difficult time of church planting is when you’ve got nobody and you’re trying to start off from there. @EdStetzer Sometimes I wonder if we have some foundational assumptions about church and mission and even leadership that actually make church planting more difficult. @BradleyBrisco An understanding of the church as a vendor of religious goods and services can create a consumeristic monster. I wonder if there’s benefit in seeing the church as a more simple, more nimble, more missionary entity – which doesn’t make it easy by any means. @BradleyBrisco More simple, organic church planting may actually be harder in some ways with the majority of people in our culture. I think it’s hard to say, “Listen, we’ve got a church. There’s no pastor in the sense you understand a pastor, and we meet in a home and it’s not a cult.” @EdStetzer In an increasingly missionary context, in places where we’re really reaching into lostness, we have to have a “longer runway” perspective and we have to measure and count different things. We need to focus on more organic, relational discipling. @BradleyBrisco Often our very first step of evangelism is we have to deconstruct the caricatures lost people have about christians and the church. The only way we’re going to do that is by doing life with them and actually building relationships. @BradleyBrisco In bivo/covo church planting, when you don’t have this immediate need to get to financial self-sufficiency, there’s less pressure toward that Sunday morning gathering and you can evangelize and disciple a church into existence. @EdStetzer If your goal was discipling people, rather than launching a public worship service, there’d be a lot fewer church planting failures because we had a different target and it made a difference. @EdStetzer Sometimes we make church planting harder than it needs to be because we don’t do it with a team. If you’re bivo/covo, there’s just no other option. You have to do this with a team. @BradleyBrisco My perfect scenario would be two or three covocational couples and two or three covocational singles planting a church together. Can you imagine the relational capital? And if each one gave six or more hours a week toward a church plant, think about the financial sustainability. @BradleyBrisco We need to tell the beautiful stories of the bivo/covo planter who’s driving the school bus, the school teacher, the mechanic who’s planting a church. We have to do a better job of tapping into the power of the narrative. @BradleyBrisco Start a bivo/covo pilot project on the side, and when that goes well, capture those stories and tell them to the rest of the congregation. That’s going to open up the eyes of other people to say, “Hey, I love what they’re doing. I think I could do that!” @BradleyBrisco Helpful Resources: Free on NewChurches.com: – Course: Developing a Core Team – Book: Covocational Church Planting Ed Stetzer’s book, Viral Churches, on amazon.com 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 Why is Church Planting So Hard? 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 628: What are some traits of domineering leaders and how can you recognize them in your own life? Host Clint Clifton and Todd Adkins, LifeWay’s director of leadership development, discuss healthy work relationships and how to guard against patterns of domineering leadership developing in new pastoral leaders. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: What can be done to guard against patterns of domineering leadership developing in new pastoral leaders Some traits of domineering leaders and how you can recognize them in your own life What a healthy work relationship has in common with a healthy marriage Four signs you are a domineering leader What “useful vulnerability” looks like in a good leader How to fill in the blank: “If you’re a leader and you want to make everybody happy, just go _____” What 1 Peter 5 says about God’s standard for those who lead His Church. Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): The rise and fall of Mars hill podcast has started a conversation around leadership that, while it has been happening already now has really come to a state of maturity where we are facing head-on the difficulties of domineering leadership that we also see manifested in smaller ways in in local churches. @ClintJClifton We need to say OK, what can I learn from this and how is it going to move me forward in my relationship with Christ and and bring glory to Him and and His Church. It’s better to learn from somebody else’s mistakes before we learn for our from from our own. @Todd Adkins You have to be careful about cheap leadership, which happens when you are a jerk and you use your “power” and position to get your way or to make it all about you or fill in the blank. @Todd Adkins On the other side of it, cheap leadership is not leading at all, being so concerned about something that you don’t actually do much or move people forward because you don’t have the confidence or competence to make decisions and move forward. @Todd Adkins This is a stewardship issue. It’s about recognizing the responsibility we have as leaders to not please everybody. At the end of the day, the burden on you is to lead, whether or not you make everybody happy along the way. @Todd Adkins Someone once told me that pastors are professional forgivers and, if you happen to be on the side of receiving criticism, you’re going to have to have thick skin and a tender heart, not thin skin and a hard heart. You have a heart of receptivity toward the criticisms but don’t let them go into your marrow. @ClintJClifton When you’re establishing a church plant, a really big part of the culture you’re creating is how you yourself are interacting with the people, the tone that you set, the things that you celebrate, measure, control or reprimand. All those things are key levers in setting that culture. @Todd Adkins People can outrun their competence and character pretty quickly, if they don’t continue to be humble and they don’t  intentionally put guardrails around themselves. They naturally drift toward domineering because of basic human nature. @Todd Adkins Good leadership is a powerful weapon and it needs to be in the hands of somebody with good character who knows how to use it. We must be dedicated to truly and authentically developing leaders and passing along the character of Christ to them. @ClintJClifton Part of it is recognizing that your legacy is not what you do, it’s who you develop;  it’s not the organization you build, it’s the organism you build. It’s all about the posture at which you approach leadership and motivation. @Todd Adkins You have to ask questions: What’s it like working on the other side of me? Do I give others the grace that I ask for? If I treated my spouse like this, how would they react? @Todd Adkins Good leaders don’t react; they respond. And there’s a big difference: One is emotional and one is actual leadership. @Todd Adkins Helpful Resources: Free on NewChurches.com: — Articles on leadership development – Clint Clifton’s course: Church Planting Primer – Our Bivocational Ministry course – The Church Planting Masterclass – Clint Clifton’s ebook: Church Planting Thresholds Download Todd’s ebook, Leading Change in Your Church Please subscribe to the NewChurches podcast Leave a rating and review on iTunes or wherever you listen to this podcast The post How Not to be a Jerk 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.

In This Episode, You’ll Discover: The three categories of church planters The process for developing the financial resources to plant a church Why denominational funding for church planting comes with strings attached What is a church planting “side hustle” and what are some good options? Why would a church planter not want to be “overfunded”? How long should it take a planter to get to funding sufficiency? Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): The three categories of church planters are seen like “gold, silver, bronze,” but there are distinct advantages, missiologically speaking, to being bivocational, covocational or even a volunteer church planter.” @ClintJClifton What approach you take to church planting depends upon what the call of God is on your life. We have a friend who describes himself as a “garbage man.” It’s a great union job that gives him freedom to plant churches after work. @EdStetzer If you want to see a church planting movement, it’s going to be powered by bivocational church planting. @EdStetzer Let me just say to those of you are bivocational church planters, how deeply thankful we are, because we think the model you’re using is how the Lord can and will work in very powerful ways. @EdStetzer Church planting funding from denominations comes with strings. if you’re planting with us and we’re funding you, we’re going to have certain expectations of that funding. @EdStetzer There’s definitely a “pay it forward” mentality in denominational church planting. Those expectations make good sense. It’s not just we want our brand to continue. We want the mission to continue. @EdStetzer When it comes to denominational funding, church planters can be kind of utilitarian. It’s not wrong to say that’s not what we should do because that’s not who we are. @EdStetzer When it comes to a church planting “side hustle,” it’s good to find a blend, something that allows you to to accomplish the goals of a church planter while you’re earning money. If at all possible, I want to combine my mission and my money making. @ClintJClifton Is there a “sweet spot” in church-plant funding? The goal of a new church, financially speaking, is self-sustainability. That sometimes means we don’t take on a lot of bills, so we do things in an inexpensive way. But it’s tethered to how much the church grows, and you can’t know that before you begin the church. @ClintJClifton Tweet Your Peeps: What’s a good bivo/covo church planting job? #NewChurches Helpful Resources: Learn more about church planter funding Free on NewChurches.com: – Clint Clifton’s course: Church Planting Primer – Our Bivocational Ministry course – The Church Planting Masterclass – Clint Clifton’s ebook: Church Planting Thresholds Steve Sjogren’s book: Community of Kindness Please subscribe to the podcast Leave a rating and review on iTunes or wherever you listen to this podcast The post How Does Funding Work for Church Planting? 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.

In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Three components of calling to plant a church – and why a call from God is crucial How “an overweight musician with facial hair” decided to plant a church at Marine Corps headquarters How to discern that you’re in church planting for the right reasons The value of church planting residencies and joining a church-planting team The best scenario for getting started in church planting Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): My call to ministry and my call to Jesus were simultaneous. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else with my life after coming to faith in Christ. I probably had a half-dozen church plants under my belt by the time I graduated from High School. @clintclifton I think of calling in three components: The subjective piece that is a drawing, like in 1 Timothy 3, where Paul talks about someone aspiring to the office of an overseer. But the Bible also gives us clear qualifications about about those who serve in pastoral ministry. There also should be affirmation of other people in our life. @clintclifton I do believe there’s a sense that when the going gets hard and it gets really difficult, you need to say God called me to these people in this place. I want people to have that rooted commitment that comes from God. @edstetzer When people are intending to do full-time vocational church planting, competency is a big piece of it. Sometimes I encourage people to wade into church planting by joining a church-planting team before taking the jump to full time. @clintclifton There are some extra-biblical qualities that are observable in people who tend to do better in church planting. Evangelistic fervor is a big one. Also you’ve got to be a self-starter. I also think it’s somebody who’s tenacious, who can take a blow and get back up and keep going. @clintclifton There’s a lot of ways people can be involved in church planting and not be the church planter or the lead pastor. I think about the various people on my church-planting team who played critical roles – and the church wouldn’t have gotten established without them. @clintclifton All different kinds of people can plant churches in all kinds of ways. If you can be involved in church, you can be involved in church planting. I think that’s the beauty of ultimately pressing forward together. @edstetzer If you’re kicking the tires or dipping your toe in church planting, then a great way for you to begin to get a sense of confidence in your calling would be to join a church planting residency. @clintclifton The best scenario is that a church recognizes either the giftedness of a person or the opportunity in a particular mission field and willingly, joyfully sends that person with resources and people to go and get it started. @clintclifton Helpful Resources: Free articles and courses on NewChurches.com Shane Pruitt’s article, How Can I Know If I’m Called to Church Planting? Please subscribe to the podcast Leave a rating and review on iTunes or wherever you download your podcast The post How Do I Get Started in Church Planting? 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 625: Host Ed Stetzer and Brad Brisco, NAMB’s director of bivocational church planting, discuss church planting movements and why “church multiplication movement” may be a better goal for church planting in North America. How is that defined? What thinking and behavior needs to change to see multiplication happen? What is the starting point? In This Episode, You’ll Discover: How we can think and behave differently to begin to see church multiplication movements happen What paths normalize everyday people for using their gifts as leaders in church planting What three aspects of our culture framework exert downward pressure against church multiplication How church planters can be more nimble and flexible about evangelizing and discipling churches into existence Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): Everybody is using the term “church planting movement” in different ways and having different meanings. What is a movement and how does it relate to church planting? @edstetzer We haven’t seen “church planting movements” as such in the West, but we have seen church multiplication movements, which we’ve defined as a movement of churches that multiplies the number of churches by 50% in a given year with 50% conversion rate to the third generation – and we’ve actually seen that. @edstetzer How do we need to think or behave differently to begin to see some level of multiplication movement? It’s probably not complicated, but it’s multifaceted. There’s no silver bullet, but there are several things we can do. @BradleyBrisco We need to help people see how they fit into God’s redemptive mission and not just the ministry of the Church. Help everyone in our churches discover their passion and wiring for mission, then equipping and resourcing to release them into that mission. @BradleyBrisco Part of the solution is rethinking “church” to recognize and legitimize smaller expressions of church. Those expressions are going to be in neighborhoods, in workplaces and in social spaces. @BradleyBrisco Part of activating all the people of God to start new things is giving them a new or different imagination for what church might actually look like in their context. @BradleyBrisco We have to have a different, more simple starting point. We’re living in a rapidly increasing missionary context and must start with missionary behaviors and activities – discipleship and mission – to equip, release and empower the people in our congregation. @BradleyBrisco Helpful Resources: Free on NewChurches.com: – Brad Brisco’s Covocational Church Planting: Aligning Your Marketplace Calling and the Mission of God – Our bivocational ministry course Ed Stetzer’s book Viral Churches: Helping Church Planters Become Movement Makers Roland Allen’s author page on Amazon.com Felicity Dale’s “Simply Church” book and blog Please subscribe to the podcast Leave a rating and review on iTunes The post What is a Church Planting Movement? 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 624: While the words “church planting” don’t appear in the Bible, the entire context of the New Testament is entirely a church planting context. Host Ed Stetzer discusses the topic “Where is Church Planting in the Bible?” with Clint Clifton, the founding pastor of Pillar, a multiplying church in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., and NAMB’s senior director of resource and research strategy. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: The biblical basis for the concept and practice of church planting Why new churches are so desperately needed in North America How to resolve the tension between the need for revitalizing existing churches and planting new ones Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches): We want to say church planting is in the Bible but those words – “church planting” – are not in the Bible. So how is it in the Bible if it’s not in the Bible? @edstetzer The trinity is a true concept that we don’t get from one passage of Scripture that uses the word. It comes from an overview of the entire scriptures. Church planting is a lot like that. The context of the New Testament is entirely a church planting context. @clintjclifton It is important is to see how the disciples responded to the Great Commission – not just by individually evangelizing but by going and planting churches. @edstetzer If the normative expression of New Testament Christianity was tied up in church planting and today only 5% of American churches are involved in planting, what’s wrong and how do we fix it? @edstetzer I see pictures of church planting in verses like Titus 1:5, that says “I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you.” @edstetzer There’s clearly a pattern, particularly in the ministry of Paul. Once Paul has established a beachhead in a city, he would expect that those churches would then plant churches. This was the normative expression of New Testament Christianity. @edstetzer A lot of churches need to be revitalized, but people can spend countless hours, weeks, months, years revitalizing churches that don’t really want to be revitalized. It’s easier to birth a baby than it is to raise the dead. Stuck churches often want to stay stuck. @edstetzer If your members don’t know they’re being revitalized, then you’re not revitalizing. @clintjclifton I don’t think everybody should plant a church, but everyone can be part of church revitalization. @edstetzer Even when there are established churches, the apostolic impulse tells us to start something new and then we have higher percentage of people who are converts who are engaging people not otherwise engaged by the Church. @edstetzer There are models of church planting in the New Testament and we we talk a lot about models today. There are various expressions and models. even just in the New Testament. and not thinking about what we see going on around us today. @clintjclifton The reason that Jesus didn’t say in the Great Commission, “Go plant churches,” is because the church was a new concept. So Jesus said, “Go, baptize, teach and make disciples.” In essence saying, “Plant churches,” because that is the substance of what the local church does.” @clintjclifton I think about Jesus himself as the church planter. In Jesus’ gathering of the Twelve, all the elements of church existed, so in that way Jesus was a church planter. He planted a small church that multiplied a lot. Jesus himself is our true hero church planter. @clintjclifton I believe there is an explicit call to church planting in the New Testament, and that’s the Great Commission, because the apostles responded by planting new churches and because the substance of the Great Commission is the the essence of what the church does. @clintjclifton The disconnect is the Great Commission commands us to start new churches, so we would be disobedient if we weren’t involved in starting new churches. But beyond that, there is an obvious need for new churches. Eighty percent of churches are plateaued or declining. @clintjclifton Helpful Resources: Interested in learning more? Check out our free 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 Where is Church Planting in the Bible? 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 623: Podcaster Mike Cosper’s groundbreaking series, “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill,” offers several crucial takeaways for pastors and church planters. In this second of two #NewChurches episodes, host Trevin Wax asks Cosper to share what he thinks church leaders should learn from one of the largest church planting movements in American history and its very public dissolution. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Insights about “the most successful church planting generation in American history” The crucial role mutual trust plays in any model of church polity How a pastor can benefit from negative criticism What the real, lasting legacy of Mars Hill Seattle will be The danger of getting obsessed with horizons, instead of loving the people in front of you Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): A lot of people went into church planting and found it to be extremely taxing in ways that were traumatic for them. Yet Leadership Network says Gen X was the most successful church planting generation in American history.  – @MikeCosper You have to define your terms. How do you measure life transformation? Are we talking about people living in community and confessing their sins to each other or are we talking about transfer growth and lots of baptisms? – @MikeCosper People talk about pastors having character flaws, but Luther broke some eggs to make his omelettes. He was a cultural warrior. People wanted to kill him. Don’t give me a one-to-one comparison that a guy living in a comfortable suburb, who treats his staff like garbage, is “just another Luther.” That’s not an excuse. – @MikeCosper For the most part, every stage of the Reformation was an attempt to move power, transcendence, access to God and the clarity of the gospel down to the people. We find all kinds of ways to excuse expressions of power, when power well-used throughout history is liberating for the people who live under the authority of the one who is expressing power. – @MikeCosper Any tried, true and tested church polity probably is going to function pretty well, but at the end of the day it has to be a system where people are invested who can trust one another. – @MikeCosper We’re slow to fire pastors when they exercise these abuses but we’re also slow to call out and discipline leaders at lower levels of the organization. We don’t want to hurt people’s feelings. We really want to give people the benefit of the doubt. – @MikeCosper We see that over and over in the Driscoll story. Older leaders feel compassion for Mark, see his talent, see what’s possible, so they give a ton of grace for a very long period of time with the hope their relationship is going to help him mature. We do that on a small scale all the time. – @MikeCosper A lot of church planters underestimate the strength of character that is required of them to endure the difficulties of church planting. – @TrevinWax You have to come back to the core idea, as a leader in the church, that I don’t have to get my way all the time. – @MikeCosper There’s an energy and adrenaline required to plant a church that’s completely exhausting. There’s a need to plow through really rough soil for a really long time in a lot of these church-planting situations. – @MikeCosper You need to find some relationships where you can go to people and say to them, “How do you experience me as a leader? How do you experience me as a friend? How do you experience me negatively? And believe them. That’s where I think we drop the ball. – @MikeCosper The short-term legacy of the Mars Hill story is a cautionary tale, but there’s a longer view that says the real, lasting legacy are hundreds of churches across the country that, thanks be to God, did not have the same leadership challenges and networks that have been influenced by the enthusiasm and energy around those hundreds of church plants. – @Trevin Wax Churches almost always have some kind of life cycle. It may be five years; it may be 150. Part of what’s cool about that is that it creates such a mystery about the long-term outcomes of our ministry. You may look at your ministry and think, “Man, what an absolute failure,” but Billy Graham 2.0 was on the front row of your church and felt a call to ministry. – @MikeCosper For church planters, there’s so much of the call to say, “Keep your head down and love the people who are in the room. Don’t get obsessed with the horizons.” – @MikeCosper Looking at the history of entrepreneurial church planting, I’ve become allergic to the word “vision,” because it goes everywhere and often ends up meaning whatever the lead pastor wants to make sure happens. It can become very distracting from the very simple things Scripture calls us to do. – @MikeCosper Did you miss Part 1 of the #NewChurches interview with Mike Cosper? Click here to hear his fascinating conversation with Trevin Wax about Cosper’s groundbreaking podcast series, “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill.” Helpful Resources: Listen to Mike Cosper’s podcasts, The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill and Cultivated.  Learn more about Mike Cosper’s books on his Amazon.com author’s page.  Please subscribe to the podcast Leave a rating and review on iTunes Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? The post What Pastors Should Learn From ‘The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill’ 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 622: Podcaster Mike Cosper’s groundbreaking series, “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill,” takes you inside the story of Mars Hill Church in Seattle – from its founding as part of one of the largest church planting movements in American history to its very public dissolution – and the aftermath that followed. In this first of two episodes, host Trevin Wax asks Cosper to discuss the origins of the podcast, explore the wisdom of even making such a podcast and explain what he hopes the outcome of its production will be. In This Episode, You’ll Discover:  The “Rise and Fall” podcast reveals that God was doing a life-transforming work at Mars Hill Church, but interviews with people who lived the story also expose an environment that “left a lot to be desired” in terms of faithful biblical leadership.  The zeitgeist of our age has caused this particular story to resonate far and wide. Nevertheless, this narrative, long-form, storytelling podcast is going to be a great resource and story-telling example for the church for many years to come.  Churches have become very centered on the personality of their lead pastor, but the role of the pastor is not to primarily put themselves on display, but to be a servant of the Word.  Pastors must focus on telling the heart of the gospel story but also have to realize they can’t control how their people take it in or what they do with it. When people go off in unintended directions, a pastor must have trustworthy, good critics and continue to be faithful with the work.  Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches):  Catch Part 1 of #NewChurches’ interview with podcaster Mike Cosper, whose “Rise and Fall of Mars Hill Church” takes you inside that fascinating story. In the podcast, you hear from people who directly lived the story and recognized God was doing a life-transforming work but it also was an environment with a lot to be desired when it comes to what it means to faithfully lead. – @trevinwax  I definitely believed from the beginning that doing narrative, long-form, storytelling podcast was going to be a great resource for the church. – @MikeCosper  There’s something about the zeitgeist right now where this particular story is resonating far and beyond. – @MikeCosper  The pulpit attracts a certain kind of narcissistic personality and pastoral narcissism is an expanding phenomenon because of social media, sermon podcasting and the like. – @MikeCosper  Because church has become so personality-centered, churches identify so much with the personality of their lead pastor. – @MikeCosper  The role of the pastor is not to primarily put themselves on display. It’s to be someone who’s a servant of the Word, a servant of the gospel. – @MikeCosper  My hope is the greater legacy of the podcast is that it invites people to use the medium to tell all kinds of stories. The church has all kinds of beautiful stories to tell. – @MikeCosper  The danger of a lot of Christian storytelling is that we are so focused on getting to the redemptive part of the story that we end up skimming on the suffering or failure part of the story. – @MikeCosper  You have to focus on telling the heart of the story, but you know you can’t control how your audience takes it in or what they do with it. – @MikeCosper  As a pastor, you pour your heart into your church and love your people. But when people go off in weird directions, you can’t internalize that too much. You try to be faithful with the work.  – @MikeCosper  You have to have good critics you trust and then you put it in the Lord’s hands and go, “OK, I did the best I could with this.” – @MikeCosper  Helpful Resources:  Listen to Mike Cosper’s podcasts, The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill and Cultivated.  Learn more about Mike Cosper’s books on his Amazon.com author’s page.  Please subscribe to the New Churches podcast  Leave a rating and review on iTunes  Visit newchurches.com and enroll in Church Planting Masterclass here.  The post Mike Cosper: Maker of ‘The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill’ 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.