Gathering Season: Part 2 (Planning Series 4 of 6)

The intended outcome of the networking evangelism and fellowship strategies in the gathering season is to form a core group, a launch team, and ministry teams. It's helpful to define what we mean by a launch team, and a core group, and ministry teams, since these terms are often used interchangeably.

Think of four concentric circles. The first circle, the largest and broadest circle represents interested contacts, friends, neighbors, people who are aware of your new church, and have shown some level of interest. These are people who may say things like, "Let me know when you begin worship, and we might join with you."

The second circle, a smaller circle within the larger one, represents your core group. The core group includes all of the people who have been gathered through your networking evangelism and fellowship strategies. They're normally attending some kind of regular meeting or small group that you're overseeing. Your core group includes everyone from the youngest child to your most mature believer, as well as unbelievers who are maybe intrigued by what you are doing but haven't come to faith yet, but they're prepared to be a part of your new church.

Once you started gathering the core group, it is essential that you assess who they are, what they believe, that you get a good idea of those whom you've gathered. Remember, in this season, you can't assume they agree with your particular vision for the church or even all your beliefs. You'll need to continue patiently and lovingly teaching, inspiring, and casting your vision. This is when you begin presenting to them much of the work you've done in creating your church development plan. Helping them to see and understand the things that you've identified in your research and your planning. As you do this, you'll be able to begin identifying those people who align with your ministry vision, philosophy, purposes, values, and strategies that you've developed in this course. And you'll also be able to begin identifying those people who do not agree with your ministry, vision, and philosophy.

Learning this early on can help you as a leader. Nurture and guide them in thinking through their own ministry vision, values, beliefs, and strategies, and how their experiences have impacted their outlook on church and ministry. Learning this early on can also save both you and them from unnecessary conflict later. While you want to include everyone in your new church, especially those who are a part of your original core group, it is inevitable that some people won't be able to align themselves with the way the new church is taking shape, the direction it's going, and maybe not even like you as a church leader. While you must listen and try to be responsive to their needs, their insights, and desires, some people will inevitably drop out of the core group. And some may even need to be asked to leave, because of conflict and threatening the unity of the group. Never forget that often the key to a healthy new church is not just those who are included, but those who leave.

Think now of a third, smaller circle within the core group circle. This circle represents the launch team. Membership in the launch team is by invitation only, and is normally comprised only of people who've made a very serious commitment along with you the leader. This often includes at least five commitments.

First, a commitment to the vision. They're in essential agreement with the church leader's vision, philosophy, purposes, values, and beliefs that you have built into your church development plan in this course. Second, would be a commitment to prayer, to pray regularly for the church, for the leadership, the community, and for one another. Third, would be a commitment to serving, regular attendance at launch team group meetings, and helping to start and/or develop one of the ministry teams under the launch team using their gifts and talents. This normally includes a commitment to being trained by the church leader. Fourth, a commitment to financial giving, giving sacrificially, normally this means tithing to the emerging new church. And fifth, a commitment to reaching out. Reaching out to their Christian and non-Christian friends through networking, gathering, and evangelism. Some church leaders find it effective to ask all launch team members to sign a written agreement expressing their commitment and defining their roles and expectations of their involvement, including a very specific amount of time, usually at least six months.

The fourth, or final circle, is actually several smaller circles within the launch team circle. These circles represent the ministry teams I referred to earlier. The most important outcome of the launch team is the development of all the new church ministry teams that are needed to launch a healthy new church. This is where the church leader draws on the primary purposes or the vital signs of a healthy church that we learned earlier in these courses, and develops ministry teams aligned with each of these Biblical purposes or vital signs of a healthy church. Ministry teams being developed by the launch team members normally include at least a prayer team, an outreach or a service team, groups, discipleship team, worship team, children and youth team, and normally a finance or administration team.

One of the biggest mistakes church planters make is to focus primarily on developing a worship team during this season, in order to start public worship as soon as possible. The result is often gathering people to your new church in worship whom your church is not capable yet of serving well and developing into mature disciples of Jesus Christ. Instead, the focus of the church leader during this gathering season should be more on developing all the critically important ministries through key ministry teams, such as prayer, outreach, discipleship, mercy, fellowship, and leadership development. So, that when the public worship ministry is launched, it's always launched alongside these other healthy ministries. During this season, the church leader needs to avoid allowing an arbitrary predetermined date or timeline to determine when to begin public worship. Instead, the leader needs to determine what are the key launch indicators or milestones that will determine when the new church is ready to launch all of its public ministries, including public worship.

Launching your new church ministries is a wonderful milestone, but it's one milestone in many and one that is much more of a starting line than a finish line. It is the culmination of the first two seasons of preparing and gathering. And it's the introduction to the next two seasons of starting and growing that will be our focus in the church renewal course to follow this one.

Principles and Practices (Planning Series 5 of 6)

Effective church leaders are almost always effective planners. But planning requires you to set aside time that you could be using in other ways that seem more practical, so it's easy to neglect it. However, studies show that one hour of effective planning can save you between four and twelve hours of wasted work time later. Planning is spending time to save time. As you prepare now to develop a strategic plan for the development of your church let's begin by reviewing some essential planning principles.

First, apart from what many people think, planning can be very spiritual. One of the biggest mistakes church planters make is a failure to plan properly in ministry. The old adage is true in church development as it is in most of life's work. If you fail to plan you plan to fail. Most church planters, whether they have strengths in planning or not, and most do not, are forced to focus on planning and strategic goal setting or they often do not survive.

When the topic of planning comes up it often raises a host of issues in many people's minds. Some hardly plan at all because they believe that planning somehow denies the spiritual dynamics of building the body of Christ and lessens our dependence on Christ to build the church. Others go to the opposite extreme, placing an inordinate and illegitimate focus on the importance of planning and goal setting. The type of planning we're talking about in this lesson is an exercise in Godly wisdom and stewardship.

On the topic of developing a ministry strategy author and former pastor John Piper writes, "Not thinking through a strategy as a church for winning and adding and shepherding more and more people is not an option because no strategy is a strategy, a heartless one."

A second principle is that planning is dynamic not static. Your ministry plans like most aspects of a new church's philosophy of ministry should be seen as a starting place for developing contextualized ministries. Your plan should always be seen as dynamic not static. Plans are always changing as church leaders grow in their ability to contextualize gospel ministry more effectively as they face new challenges in an always changing context. Sometimes very well developed plans and strategies that are created before moving to the field must be almost completely redone and new better contextualized strategies need to be developed after you're in the field.

Another common mistake church planters make during this season is to do strategic planning only at the beginning of the church development season, when it is often needed for survival. But then as time passes and the church becomes more stable the church development plan is often filed away and thoughtful strategic planning comes to an end.

The third planning principle to keep in mind is to pray hard for your desired vision but work hard towards your practical goals. Your desires to see a ministry vision realized someday need to be kept very separate from your more practical ministry goals. Your ministry vision should be seen as long term and linked to your dreams of the desired future for your church in the many years that lie ahead. But your goals you develop from your planning should be seen as more short term and linked to your specific, measurable objectives and action steps that have very real time lines and dates.

Church leaders need to learn how to pray hard for their long term ministry vision and work hard toward their short term measurable goals, leaving the results to God. Most church leaders seem to find that it's best to have a one-year plan that is sometimes broken down into two, three or four periods per year. This more specific one-year plan is normally part of a more general three-year plan. Planning beyond three years is usually speculation and it should be seen more in the category of desired vision.

The last planning principle is for the church leader to understand that it's the thought that counts. The thinking and communication between church leaders that takes place during the planning process is usually far more important and valuable than any planning documents that may come out of that process. So don't rush or short change the planning process. It's the planning process not the plan that often really helps the church leader the most.

Strategic Planning (Planning Series 6 of 6)

The strategic planning process is designed to help you establish very practical milestones, goals, and objectives that are before you in the next 12 months. This process involves asking and answering three very basic questions. Number one: Where are you right now? Number two: Where do you want to go? Number three: What is your plan to get there?

Let's begin with the question: Where are you right now? This is the time for you to go back and review the ministry milestones for each of the lessons you have already completed in the church development courses to date. Take, for instance, the milestones from the styles lesson, a milestone like: I have written and revised my initial worship ministry style statement. It's one that you began in that lesson, but you may need to revise it as you become even more familiar with your unique situation. As you go back now, hopefully with a coach, and review all your milestones from each of the lessons you have taken so far in the church development courses, you will usually be able to get a pretty good idea of where you are now in light of where you need to be, and what you need to be doing over the next 12 months.

This brings us to the second question: Where do you want to go? Next you simply identify which of the remaining milestones in each lesson that you need to complete over the next 12 months and in what order. These strategic milestones then become your foundation or first draft of your 12-month strategic goals.

Now you're ready to answer the really practical question: What is your plan to get there? This involves simply three steps. First, go back and select three to four strategic goals that you believe should be your high priority focus for the next 30 days. Then make a list of the measurable task that you need to complete during the next 30 days to effectively advance toward the completion of these three to four strategic goals that you've selected. These tasks will become your 30-day tactical objectives. Then the way you implement this is you simply identify what you need to do next week, in the next seven days, in order to advance effectively toward completing the tactical objectives that you've set before you.

These items will be simply high priority items on your weekly to do list. Don't allow this planning process to be overly complex or complicated. Never do it alone. Instead, call on your coach to come alongside you or others who have strengths in these areas of planning. This is a process that can and should be repeated through your entire experience of being a church leader, week in and week out.

In this mission of God there are always advances to be made, always goals to be met, objectives to be accomplished, and always a path to help you get there. As we now draw this lesson and course to a close, it's time for you to begin compiling all the statements, models, and plans that you've developed so far into the church development plan. This plan will integrate all of your preliminary conceptual and planning regarding the development of this new church. This data is to be organized and placed in one document that will serve you in many ways.

For vision casting you can post portions of this on a church website, for planning, for recruiting. You can use this for support raising and for many other ways that you will discover in your ministry. But please remember that this somewhat large document is a master source document that is not normally distributed to others as it is, but is meant to be a resource for the development of several communication documents, such as an isolated vision statement, or a values statement, or a ministry plan. In this final lesson you will find a suggested outline for your church development plan that's based on the completion of all the lessons you have taken to date in the church development course.

Ministry Conflict (Conflict Series 1 of 6)

Having personal conflict with others is an inevitable part of ministry. The question is now whether you will face conflict in ministry, it's simply when you will face it and how you will respond. There are a few things that's sad, as a church leader who is a person of great character, exceptional knowledge and skills but because they do not know how to manage conflict wisely in a godly manner, they lose everything and the ministry fails.

We must not try to eliminate conflict or avoid it, but rather learn how to respond in a way that honors God when it comes our way. Most churches are relatively small, they're very vulnerable to conflict. The smaller the organization, the more vulnerable it is to attack by an antagonist. The smaller the arena, the more prominent are the individuals in it. So, church planters and missionaries are especially vulnerable.

There is a direct relationship between change and conflict in ministry. A growing church, is by nature a changing church and conflict is usually the consequence of change. People don't like change and that's universal. As leaders, this means you should anticipate conflict as normal part of leading a ministry through the process of growth and change. As a leader, you must be committed to being a change agent for Christ and his kingdom. This means you're always managing conflict, one way or another. You're either in the middle of a conflict, just coming out of one or trying to prevent the next one that is coming all the time.

Even though most conflict is caused by a relatively small percentage of people in your ministry, it has the potential to disrupt and even destroy your ministry. Conflict can obliterate the presence of God's love. Understanding the potential power of a churches love before the watching world, Jesus said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I've loved you but you also love one another. By this, all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." The very reputation of Christ is effected by the way we handle conflict.

Conflict can also greatly endanger a church's health. The writer of the book of Hebrew warns us, "Make every effort to live in peace, with all men and to be holy without holiness. No one will see the Lord, see to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many." Strife and dissension in ministry, like an unseen, bitter root can bring great defilement on many. In 2 Timothy 2, the apostle Paul refers to destructive words in the church that spread like gangrene, a repulsive image, but one that is painfully accurate that we must never forget. 

And conflict can greatly harm the church leader.

Here's what one church leader wrote in his journal, regarding the trauma of ministry conflict, "I just feel angry sometimes, angry at that individual, angry at the congregation, angry at the leaders for seemingly deserting me. Angry at myself and sometimes livid with God for allowing this to happen. Mostly though, I feel afraid, very much afraid. I'm afraid of being unable to cope, I'm afraid of what people will say, I'm afraid I will lose my job. And yet sometimes I feel like quitting, just throwing in the towel and saying, “there God, if you won't take care of me, then forget about me taking care of them.” And then I feel sorry for myself and then I feel ashamed when I realize I'm dreaming about revenge. That's not me, but it is me. The whole thing upsets me so much that I'm obsessed with it. I get so that I can't sleep at night. The longer it has worn on, the more tense I have grown. Sometimes I feel I feel like I'm going to explode. It has spread slowly like poison to contaminate every part of my life."

You can feel the pain of this church leader as you hear these words, and some of you identify deeply with him. I have very good news, because of the gospel there is great hope in the face of conflict, no matter how bad it may seem.

Redeeming Conflict (Conflict Series 2 of 6)

Author Ken Sande describes three opportunities provided by conflict. The first one is that conflict gives you an opportunity to glorify God. The first question we should ask ourselves when faced with conflict is “how can I please and honor God in this situation?” The truth is that is often the last question that comes to our mind. The first question we often ask ourselves is “how can I defend myself? How can I win this battle? I want to take matters into my own hands and I want to win this fight.” Such a response usually leads to even more trouble. Instead, we must remember that in conflict, God is still sovereign. This conflict does not happen by accident. It's a part of God's good and perfect will for our lives, and for our ministry. This conflict is an opportunity for us to honor God by trusting him and obeying him in ways we may never have before. Author Ken Sande says “Every time you encounter a conflict, you have an opportunity to show what you really think of God.”

 Conflict also gives us a new opportunity to love others. Here the question is “how can I love these people who have offended me this way?” Jesus said, "Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you." When you have been wronged by someone, that does not release you from your God-given responsibility to love them. In fact, it is often our first opportunity to love them well, and it could be their first opportunity to be loved in a way that no one has ever loved them before.

Conflict also gives us an opportunity to grow spiritually. Through conflict, God often reveals sin in our hearts that we had no idea was there. Through conflict He humbles us and draws us near to Him and to others in new ways. In doing that, He often changes us forever. 

I will never forget one of the first major conflicts I faced as a church planter and a pastor. I was forced to trust God in a way I never had before. It was the first time my wife saw me cry hard, she said later. Through that conflict, God did a very painful, but a very needed surgery on my heart, exposing my sin in ways that I'd never seen before, and the same time, revealing His power and love in, and through me, as I had never experienced before. It was a severe mercy for which I will always be grateful that would have never been mine without that conflict.

Managing Conflict (Conflict Series 3 of 6)

Let's take a look now at some key principles related to managing conflict in the church.

The first one is our need to understand the difference between healthy and unhealthy conflict. There's a big difference between the two, between constructive criticism and sinful antagonism. Some Christian leaders become unnecessarily paranoid whenever anyone dares to disagree with them. Such people wrongly use the word antagonist to describe those who are merely on different sides in a very reasonable disagreement. I think we would all do well to adopt the terminology of the British Parliament, calling those with whom they have healthy disagreements “the honorable opposition.”

But there is a time when healthy conflict gives way to unhealthy conflict. When someone stops being loving and respectful in their disagreement with you and begins attacking you personally, your actions, and often your motives and your character, then you are facing an antagonist. 

This raises a second principle; recognize that there are often spiritual forces at work. When you're dealing with church conflict, you must never forget the spiritual forces that are often behind the scenes, standing in constant rebellion against Christ and the advancement of his kingdom through his church. Paul writes, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm."

Antagonists are often unknowingly being played into the hands of the evil one and being used to destroy the healing and the caring mission of the church. You dare not sit back and watch such people cripple and disfigure the bride of Christ. The antagonist will sow seeds of bitterness and anger and hatred and dissension in the church. These are not coming from God, but from the enemy.

Another biblical principle related to conflict is learning first to remove the log from your eye. Jesus said, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite. First take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

Responding to conflict in a way that honors God requires first facing up to our own attitudes, our own faults and sins before pointing those out to others. Honestly admitting our own sins often will encourage similar responses from others and open a way for reconciliation.

One of the primary tests of how well you understand the gospel is how you respond to criticism. The founder and leader of the Navigators ministry, Dawson Trotman, was once asked how God made him into the leader that he was. He is reported to have said, "Whenever someone criticized me wrongly, I would always go into my prayer closet, get down on my knees, and pray this prayer, 'Lord, you know that almost all of this being said about me is not true, but I ask you to show me in all these false accusations just one kernel of truth that you want me to see that will help shape me more into the image of your Son.'"

How does believing in the gospel make a difference when we're being criticized? If someone steals $100 and you have a billion dollars in the bank, it's like a prick in the finger. If all you have is $200 to your name and someone steals $100, it's like a knife in the heart. It's the same crime but one is felt just like a prick on the finger and the other like a knife in the heart.

Now, imagine two people, they're both Christian leaders and they're both in situations where they're being criticized. As you watch, it's clear that one person is able to sort through the criticism, admit what is true and patiently explain the areas where the criticism is unfair. You can tell the criticism he's receiving is painful but it's more like a prick in the finger than a knife in the heart. Why is that? Because the person believes the gospel. The person knows how much God loves him in Christ.

Then imagine you see another person facing the same criticism but they become enraged and they shift the blame or they spiral into a sort of unhealthy self-hatred. What they are experiencing is not a prick in the finger but a knife in the heart. Why? Because they're not believing the good news about God's love for them in Christ.

When we believe in the gospel, people can still hurt us deeply but they cannot crush us. The conflict cannot so dominate us that we are robbed of joy or robbed of our ability to love God and love others deeply and well, but we cannot disregard them. When we believe how deeply Christ loves us, in spite of our many sins, we are liberated not only to get along with others, but to love them in Christ.