Comprehensive New Church Checklist
What is the checklist?
The checklist is a list of actions that Church Planting Solutions recommend every church planter consider doing. Not every church planter will need to perform every action on the list. Other church planters will need to do some actions not on the list. In the end though, this is a great starting place for a church planter to begin building a giant "to-do" list or launch plan for starting a new church.
Below is the first section of the checklist.
| Action Number: | Action Title | Lead: | Cost Range: |
| 1000 | Milestone: Decision to Plant Church | CP | $0 |
| 1010 | Milestone: Getting Started |
CP | $0 |
| 1020 | Select church location |
MT | $0 |
| 1030 | Select church planter |
MT | $0 |
| 1040 | Select coach |
CP | $0 |
| 1050 | Lay groundwork for partnerships and support |
CP | $0 |
| 1060 | Begin self-study / reading materials |
CP | $100-$300 |
| 1070 | Contact other church planters |
CP | $0 |
| 1080 | Determine church distinctiveness | CP | $0 |
| 1090 | Determine staffing approach |
CP | $0 |
| 1100 | Determine target fundraising goall |
CP | $0 |
| 1110 | More reading resources - part 1 | CP | $0 |
| 1120 | Determine church planting approach |
CP | $0 |
Already convinced? Click here to register to receive the checklist. Otherwise keep reading...
How was the checklist developed?
The checklist is based on a more detailed written launch plan for starting a new church. The checklist was first developed in launching the second campus at New Life Christian Church. The checklist was developed as described below and has continued to evolve based on lessons learned and input from other new churches. The checklist is specific with over 300 actions, but is generic to fit any model of planting (the checklist is written as a process and not a simply list).
- Church planter (or church planting church or church planting organization) develops a clear vision for what opening day looks like (e.g. one service or two, fully functioning children's ministry or only a nursery, student ministry or no student ministry, high quality sound system or low cost system, type of music, etc.). The picture is painted in as much detail as possible. The checklist then becomes the tool for turning the vision into a reality. The checklist has been written to include this process of defining opening day.
- Identified the 10 - 15 most important non-negotiable areas that must be done well to achieve the vision of what opening day looks like (e.g. staffing and leadership, core group development, vision casting, small groups, outreach, marketing and public relations, equipment, facilities, etc.).
- A written strategy was developed for each of the 10-15 non-negotiable areas. The strategy includes purpose, objectives, goals and actions. The idea is that if a church is reasonably successful at accomplishing the purpose in each area, the vision for opening day will be attained. Three to five objectives align to purpose. One to three goals for each objective were developed. One to five actions for each goal were developed. The basic idea is that the actions should directly align to purpose and define what needs to be done to launch.
- Each action is interdependent with other actions. The actions from each strategy were built into a logic network. For example, a church name must be selected before filing Articles of Incorporation. Articles before obtaining a Federal Identification Number, and a Federal Identification Number before applying for 501c(3) status.
- To bring focus to the over 400 resulting actions, we developed "milestones". The milestones were selected based on the approximate time that things need to complete. Several actions are linked to (or are prerequisite to) each milestone. We attempted to select milestones that would help set priorities for the church planter as a function of time.
- We obtained launch plans and checklist from other churches to look for things we missed. Also, on an ongoing basis we continually look for ways to improve the list (add and modify).
Are more details available?
Church Planting Solutions offers project management services to help new churches develop and manage their launch plans. In our complete package, we complete approximately 33% of the actions for the church planter. We provide significant help on an additional 25% of the actions. Each participating church plant is given a customized web site with access to online tools for each of the checklist actions (i.e. In our full-service package, each of the check list actions are defined in detail including supplementary addendums to provide additional help). Church Planting Solutions maintains real-time, online status of actions and issues periodic management reports. Contact us at 866-342-5264 for more information.
Who can use the checklist?
Please fill out the following form to get our agreement to use the following checklist. Permission is typically granted to individual church planters for use on their specific new church projects. Under no circumstance may this list be used for profit or resale. Please honor our request and obtain permission using the form below.
THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS FOR CHURCH PLANTING SOLUTIONS INTERNAL USE ONLY AND WILL NOT BE PROVIDED TO ANY OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.
All of the following must be completed.
