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Here’s the 8th and last installment in the Church Planting with Small Groups posts. This one’s longer, since I’m putting the wrap on the series. If you’ve made it this far, congrats! Feel free to add your own suggestions re: small groups as well–I’d love to hear from you.

_See also Intro, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 & Part 7_

Find training, support networks and financial resources for the church planter.

Planters who try to start a church without the encouragement and advice of other planters and leaders face a greater chance of failure and burnout. But add a solid support network and the picture changes dramatically: “The church planter who meets with a group of church planting peers at least monthly increases the odds of survivability by 135 percent.”[1]

A leader who pioneers a new church plant starting with small groups might fool himself into believing that, “It’s only a dozen people-when we start growing, I’ll look for some counsel and support.” In reality, the task of church planting starts long before the initial core group begins to expand. Challenges and obstacles will not wait to appear until the church hits a certain numerical goal, so the planter should not wait to find people who are willing to invest in him.

This could take the form of a peer group that meets for prayer, fellowship and accountability. Ideally, coaching (focusing on skills and strategy) and mentoring (focusing on character and personal health) would be involved as well-services that are often provided by a church planting network. Additionally, when a lead planter receives continued training in the form of “boot camps” and seminars, the likelihood that his church will flourish increases.[2]

Within the small group structures, the lead planter should recruit or identify mature believers who can assist him with leadership, men who would make excellent staff members when resources become available. Not only are multiple leaders able to support each other and compensate for each other’s weaknesses, but the sooner multiple qualified staff members are present in a new plant, the better its chances of survival.[3]

In addition, the lead planter should make every effort to secure financial backing for his family. As the apostle Paul noted, “The Scripture says, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,’ and, ^‘The laborer deserves his wages’” (1 Timothy 5:18). The biblical wisdom in this statement is apparent, as a planter with adequate funding will be freed up to know his community and grow his church rather than deal with basic needs. While there is a rise in bivocational church planters, churches that survive and grow quickly are more frequently are led by a full-time planter.[4]

Today, planters discover funding through a combination of denominational support, relational networks, partnering churches, and church planting networks. Wherever the money comes from, several things are certain: The planter will need to major in vision and relationships: “People give to vision. Resources always follow vision,” and, “More than anything else, fund-raising is about relationships. Whether the source is the denomination, a network or organization, a mother church, a partner church, bi-vocational work, the early launch team or other individuals, the key to soliciting support is through authentic relationships.”[5]

Raising money is not a highlight for many planters, but, like peer groups, training, and mentoring relationships, financial backing is a significant factor that will empower the planter to focus on multiplying the church’s small groups to the point where larger services are possible.

Conclusion

These seven practices are by no means comprehensive, but in terms of big-picture vision and strategy, they will help a prospective church planter keep the planting dream alive while he is in the trenches, building the first small groups. A motivating thought for planters who adopt this “launch small” approach is that God is certainly not prejudiced against small beginnings. In fact, many of the kingdom metaphors deliberately employed by Jesus-yeast, a mustard seed, a pearl-are remarkable for their smallness, but also for their latent power as God employs them in the shaping of his kingdom.

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[1] Research Reflection: How Many Church Plants Really Survive-and Why?, 3.

[2] State of Church Planting USA: Improving the Health and Survivability of New Churches, 6.

[3] Ed Stetzer and Phillip Connor, Research Reflection: 10 Factors For Higher Attendance in Church Plants (Alpharetta, GA: North American Mission Board, SBC: 2007), 3.

[4] State of Church Planting USA: Improving the Health and Survivability of New Churches, 3, 5.

[5] Ed Stetzer and Dave Travis, State of Church Planting USA: Funding New Churches (Leadership Network, 2007), 6.

________See also Intro, Part 1 & Part 3_________

Here’s the first of 7 “best practices” that can contribute to building a healthy church plant via small groups. I noticed that because the “Part 1″ post was “Background,” the 7 best practices won’t correspond to the series numbers… Oops. But here we go.

1. Cast a unifying vision that includes the expectation of struggle and perseverance.

When church planters underestimate the difficulty of their task, they fail. On the other hand, “When the expectations of the church plant meet the reality of the church planting experience, the chances of survivability increases by over 400 percent.”[1] In other words, what’s between the ears trumps what transpires on the ground.

When the core group embraces the necessity of the Spirit’s involvement, they will find themselves prepared for obstacles and praying with greater fervency and hope.

Therefore, a wise leader will educate himself on the risks and hardships of church planting and convey a realistic picture of the challenge to his people, affirming that “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1 ESV).[2] A study carried out by the North American Mission Board concluded, “It is evident that a realistic picture of the joys and difficulties surrounding church planting is beneficial for both the church plant and the church planter.”[3]

When the core group embraces the necessity of the Spirit’s involvement, they will find themselves prepared for obstacles and praying with greater fervency and hope: “[Not every] every successful small-group meeting has to end with an earth quake. But we must realize the potential that exists when we gather. The same Lord who shook that upper room and shook off the chains of death is in our midst!”[4] Identifying the obstacles to planting a new church will pave the way for members to own their identity as the people of God incarnated in a specific time and place for the purpose of living out the gospel. What people fight for, they learn to appreciate.

One way to solidify this commitment is to have new group members sign a church covenant, signifying that they take their commitment to Christ and the church plant seriously. The covenant would cover topics like core beliefs, character, and conduct, and emphasize that the church is primarily a gospel endeavor focused on seeing lives transformed by Jesus.

Blog content: How have you gone about (or how do you anticipate) casting a unifying vision that’s both realistic and joyful? What do you mention? What do you omit? What would you add to what’s said here?

________See also Intro, Part 1 & Part 3_________

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[1] Ed Stetzer and Phillip Connor, Research Report: Church Plant Survivability and Health Study 2007 (Alpharetta, Ga: North American Mission Board, SBC, 2007), 19.
[2] All subsequent scripture quotations are taken from the English Standard Version unless otherwise indicated.
[3] Ed Stetzer and Phillip Connor, Research Reflection: How Many Church Plants Really Survive-and Why? (Alpharetta, GA: North American Mission Board, SBC, 2007), 2.

[4] C.J. Mahaney and Greg Somerville, ed., Why Small Groups: Together Toward Maturity (Gaithersburg, MD: Sovereign Grace Ministries), 42.