Topic: Church Planting

How to Fund Your Church Plant

Money is a touchy subject but a necessary part of the church-planting conversation. Here’s how you can wisely and effectively maneuver this integral part of starting your new church.

What to Expect in a Church Planting Assessment

So, you want to be a church planter… Now what? Here are three things that church planting networks are looking for in their next lead planter and how you can be ready to take your next steps in faith.

3 Ways to Face Hardship on Mission

Discouragement, challenges, and trials are guaranteed realities amid our church planting journeys. Through it all, here are three ways God accomplishes His mission through us as we live on mission for Him.

Fundraising 101 for Church Planters

Money is perhaps one of the largest stressors in church planting. So, here are seven things to keep in mind as you seek out financial partners for the sake of the gospel going forward in your community.

6 Tips for Effective 1-on-1 Meetings

Meetings shouldn’t be your entire ministry, but they can play a huge role in what you do! Here’s some helpful advice as you make appointments with the church members you shepherd.

How to Train Your Launch Team

If you’re new to church planting, you’re likely coming onto the scene with just as many questions as you have ambition. So, here are some tips, tricks, and guidance to help you consider the best ways to lead your launch team in this new season.

4 Things to Look for in Your Next Ministry Partner

You can’t pursue the work of a fruitful, healthy ministry on your own… but you can make a wise, informed decision about who will walk alongside you as you lead. So, here are some tips for picking your ministry partner well.

3 Ways Rest Rewires Us

3 Ways Rest Rewires Us

The work of pastors and planters is often grueling work. So, how are we to navigate the difficulties of ministry life professionally while still pursuing the Lord personally? The answer isn’t as counterintuitive as it may seem: through rest.

5 Pointers for Preaching to Small Crowds

Scripture says to be prepared to preach the Word in season and out of season. So, here are a few things to remember in those slower seasons when feeding a smaller flock.

5 Characteristics of a Good Children’s Ministry Director

5 Characteristics of a Good Children’s Ministry Director

Your congregation and its families play an essential role in the life of your church. As a result, the man or woman who equips them in the ways of the Lord is crucial. So, here are 5 things to look for as you determine the next leader of your children’s ministry.

10 Steps to Cultivate More Engaged Listeners During Your Sermon

In the age of small screens and attention spans, it’s harder than ever to maintain the interest of an audience. So, here are 10 steps you can incorporate into your sermon preparation and presentation to captivate your congregation as you proclaim the name of Jesus.

4 Things You Can Do Now to Prepare for the Fall

4 Things You Can Do Now to Prepare for the Fall

All year long we wait for the summertime season. Yet even here in this highly-anticipated time of year, our ministries still continue. So, here are 4 ways to use this season well, all to the glory of God and the good of your congregation.

3 Ways to Help Your Core Team Thrive

First-time planters and first-time parents share so much of the same experience. Here are three key lessons to learn as you seek to nurture and care for your new core team.

The Preacher as Theologian

You cannot claim to be “just a preacher, not a theologian.” Here’s how your work as a preacher impacts your congregation’s understanding of God and why you must lean into it.

5 Steps for a Successful Succession

How do you leave your role well as a church planter? Here are five steps to implement in a healthy succession plan as you consider how God may lead you into new kingdom efforts for His glory.

Should I be a church planter?

Should I Be a Church Planter?

You may be wondering about the role that church planting plays in your life. Here’s how you can add clarity to your calling to multiply disciples to the ends of the earth.

5 Ways to Set Goals by Faith

5 Ways to Set Goals by Faith

As we continue on our journey as church planters, we venture into new seasons and opportunities for growth. But how can we know what’s next? Here are five ways to rely on God as you move confidently into the future.

How Not to Lead Your Core Team

How Not to Lead Your Core Team

The Core Team phase of church planting sets the course for where your church will go. Here are seven common mistakes to avoid as you embark on your journey as a new church planter.

3 Reasons Every Planter Needs a Network

3 Reasons Every Planter Needs a Network

Church planting is difficult work; you can’t accomplish the work of God’s kingdom alone. Here are three ways that joining a church-planting network will change the trajectory of your missional calling forever.

How To Thrive as a Church-Planting Family

If planting a church scares you to death, I want to offer you some amazing encouragement: You not only can survive, but you and your family can thrive on this journey! Here’s how.

Rethink Multiplication 

If our goal is rapid church multiplication, we must strive toward a movement that, as the saying goes, “breeds like rabbits.” Here are four characteristics of multiplying churches with movement cultures.

3 Lessons I Learned in Year Zero

When I planted my first church, I had never heard of Year Zero. We didn’t even have a Week Zero! But I now understand I suffered three important losses by being in a hurry to launch weekly services.

5 Important Steps for Successful Fundraising

For a new planter, the thought of asking someone to take out their wallet can be next-level cringeworthy. These five steps could lead to God providing for you in amazing ways.

4 Reasons Churches Don’t Multiply

While pastors today have a positive demeanor toward church planting in their communities, you still can hear four common excuses for not leading a church to multiply.

Free eBook: Rethink

To plant disciple-making, missional churches, we must change how we think about God’s mission and the…

6 Reasons You Should Start a Sermon Prep Team

Pastors today have less time to do the one thing we have been commanded to never neglect: the ministry of the Word. Here are six ways a sermon preparation team can help you solve that problem.

How to Make the Most of Your Easter Service

Easter is an excellent opportunity to reach the lost and make much of Jesus, regardless of your worship style, church size or budget. Here are four ways to make the most of your Easter service.

Lessons From the Trenches: 4 Things I Will Do Again and Again

I have learned a valuable lesson for battling in the trenches: When you discover what works, stick with it. I want to share four things that are biblical, effective and, regardless of your context, will yield success as you battle in the trenches.

Covocational Church Planting Teams

A covocational church planter has no other option than to plant with a team. But how do you foster team dynamics to plant a healthy church that is effectively engaging its context?

A Reflection on Revival

I have struggled with the Asbury revival. I was envious. What about my community, Lord? My envy pointed to a deeper issue.

Your Church Needs More Than You

Your church needs more than you. Making this a bedrock conviction of your church-planting strategy will enable you to plant a church pleasing to God and edifying for His people.

New Year’s Resolutions for Church Planters

Do you hate New Year’s resolutions? Have you planned to change, only to be frustrated by failure? Noah Oldham offers two ways to maintain healthy habits and lead a healthy church.

Ministering out of Brokenness

When our family was beset by suffering and brokenness, our loving Father used it to teach us, and our church plant, six crucial lessons.

Free eBook: Pastor Reps

Prioritizing your physical health while drowning in pastoral responsibilities can seem impossible. But what if your…

How to Start Small Groups in Your Church

New Year’s is a great time to launch or relaunch your church plant’s small group ministry. It will give your people deeper community, deeper connection and a healthier church – that plants other healthy churches!

9 Unique Baptism Options for New Churches

The joy of a lost soul coming to Christ often is followed by a challenge: finding a way to baptize them. Here’s a list of 10 unique baptism options, all inspired by planters.

How to Handle Kingdom Conflict

Throw passionate leaders together in the high-pressure context of doing ministry in hard places and you’re sure to see sparks fly as iron sharpens iron.

Free eBook: Deep Bench

The task of leadership deployment is a vital catalyst in reaching the harvest set before the…

Should I Have Family Members as Team Members? 

Would your family be a fruitful addition to your core team or send you toward a Jerry Springer-style family meltdown? Will Klotz offers some pros and cons, along with a few pieces of practical wisdom he picked up as a planter himself. 

5 Steps for Planning Your Preaching Calendar

Digital media have made it easy to hear excellent communicators. That has created high expectations among today’s church attendees. Planning your preaching ought to be a top priority and Rick Duncan offers five steps to get you there.

Articulating Your Leadership Ethos

Putting the intangibles of culture into words isn’t very easy. We offer our church’s values document with the hope you find it helpful as you work to build Jesus’ church and lead His sheep.

When Crisis Strikes Your Ministry

A veteran of 20 years in strategic communications, Christian Pinkston offers a big-picture overview of several key factors in church crisis communications.

Church Planters Face This Great Danger

Familiarity is the enemy of wonder. Church planters face a danger common to anyone heavily involved in ministry: We get familiar with holy things. Perhaps overly familiar.

The Downside of Professional Christianity

My service in vocational ministry, particularly in church planting, has complicated my daily walk with Christ. The deeper into professional Christianity I got, the more I felt sinfully entitled in four ways.

3 Great Side Hustles for Church Planters

These days it seems every church planter has a “side hustle.” The increasingly expensive cities we are working to reach have created a need for a marketable skill or trade that will provide a missiological and financial foothold in the community. So what side hustles are most compatible with church planting?

Crushing Expectations in Church Planting 

Pressure points in church planting conspire to overwhelm us. We must draw these things up to the surface and examine the sources – healthy and unhealthy – before God.

Charles Spurgeon, Pt.1 – Church Planting Ethics

Among the myriad of ministries to which Charles Spurgeon was committed, one of the most impactful was his commitment to establishing new churches. Let me share with you three of his ethical considerations that church planters 140 years later still would do well to incorporate into their ministry. 

Church Planters, Let’s be Honest

The truth about church planting never resembles the architect’s renderings and the slick “plant with us” pamphlets. The realities can leave you confused and disillusioned. Here are five truths that might keep you keep you sane and in the game.

10 ‘Must-See’ Prospectus Samples

Trying to plant a church without a prospectus would be like trying to get a job without a resumé. Before you press “Purchase” on that print order for your prospectus, take some time to review these 10 excellent church planting prospectus samples.

The Love Imbalance We Seek

How can we love people more than we want to be loved by them? At its heart, this is an issue of worship.

Church Planters and the Fear of Man

Who has to deal with the fear of man more? A salesman who is dependent on cold calls every day or a church planter? How do planters get the approval of those around them to win them to a church plant? That’s an issue of the fear of man.

3 Reflections of a Hard-Headed Church Planter

Though God’s grace has been shown in my life and in the church I serve, I wish I’d remembered the old adage: “God gave you two ears and one mouth, so listen twice as much as you talk.”

3 Benefits of Bivocational Church Planting 

A new movement is afoot: More church planters are choosing to plant bivocationally because they see it as a more desirable way to plant a new church. Here are three advantages to bivocational church planting.