Things I Wish I Had Known When I Planted My First Church

1. Things I Wish I Had Known When I Planted My First Church By Dr. Tom Cheyney www.PlanterDude.com

2. Naive Planting 101 I was so naive when I first planted my first church now some twenty six years ago! The sheer tons of stuff I didn't know then that I know now could fill volumes of books. However, there are a few things that come to mind as enormous education I learned the hard way. Now having planted or sponsored a rather large number of new works my reflection might assist you in your church planting journey.

3. Need Isn’t the Same as Calling Successful church planters will always have options! Just because there is a need does not equal calling. Your individual sense of God’s specific call will often be all you have to rely on some days. So be sure you are called to that specific place first!

4. Half & HalfNot the Creamier of Choice! Half of your core team will leave you in the first year. I heard other church planters say this, but I didn't believe it. Going into year two I had already lived it. In each of my plants I have seen only a small amount of original core group stay with it. Some moved out of town...others lost the vision... others never got the vision in the first place.

5. Develop Leaders Within Seldom pick staff from outside the church. I kept trying to bring in staff members from the outside. They were already "ruined" by other churches and just couldn't grasp the concept of what God called us to do. We have had much better luck by recruiting staff from within.

6. Stewardship Development Many new and yet to become experienced church planters are afraid to talk about money. They have erroneously heard that lost people are easily offended about talking about money. It is a must to teach and preach about stewardship in a new church right out of the gate! Perhaps one of the reasons they are leery of talking about stewardship is because they have not learned personally how to be a faithful steward and regular tither.

7. Stewardship Development Stewardship is a biblical system and should never be taught as a crisis driven technique. It is comprehensive and should be a core value of all new churches. In reality stewardship development does not turn people off to the gospel and teaches the whole membership to be responsible for the new church right from the beginning. This eliminates the welfare mentality that someone else will take care of you. Additionally, teach your new church right form the start to give at least 10% of your non-designated receipts away to missions causes. The law of the blessing takes place when you are blessed by God’s faithfulness an you in turn display the same faithfulness through giving likewise to missions.

8. Don’t Cash Promises! Never count on the money until the check arrives. We met with the pastor of a mega-church (the parents of one our core team went there) and he did the whole "dog and pony show" while we were there. He kept saying that the church "would help us out financially" to give him a call when we needed it. We called...no reply.

9. Don’t Cash Promises! After a bunch of calls, emails and a few snail mail letters I finally got a note from his secretary telling me that they were tight on money and couldn't spare any. Two Sundays before she contacted me they had raised millions of dollars (it made the state denominational paper) in a single day to fund several satellite video-venues in order to perpetuate the pastor's "personality".

10. Realistic Expectations As you begin your first plant having realistic expectations is a must! Many a church planter has caused future challenges for the new work in the future as a result from unrealistic expectations at the launch. Attention during this time should be given to assimilation, gathering, budget control, outreach, discipleship and small group procedures. It will help you later.

11. Releasing the Laity A lot of novice church planters have not learned how important it is to release the laity for the work of the ministry. It is easy to think that it could be detrimental to the building of a core group. The opposite is true. Church Planters need to learn how to release the laity into the work of the new church plant almost right from the start. The work takes gift sets that others possess so give the work away!

12. Run with the Runners! My friend Dr. Fred Hewett (Exec. Dir. SBC Montana) reminds us also that as a planter you must run with the runners! All of us quickly realize that it is much healthier to shepherd sheep instead of herding goats. Work with the ones who will help you grow the church. Pastor everyone but draw along side of you those who can help you achieve God’s goal for that work.

13. Placing Family Before Church Somewhere during the development of our personal internal systems we have begun to think that nothing short of total commitment to church planting every waking hour of the day will do! While there are many families who are very happy in the cause of church planting, there are also some who are not. Nothing should take the place as a Christian father over the well being of ones family. A church plant should never be placed ahead of your children. Make the time and take the time to be there for your kids. Then they will not resent the work of church planting.

14. Knock…Knock, Whose There? We live in a day where planters and pastors are looking for the quick fix and the easy solution. There are none! Here is one (successful solution) that works. Going door to door still works and is part of becoming part of any community! Do not listen to planters who have not done it and say it doe not work. Pray the Lord of the Harvest!

15. Gather Now Preach Later While the goal is to move a new church towards preaching and weekly worship, it is advisable to gather as long as possible on the front end as you target a strong number of adults. Once you begin preaching weekly your time for gathering will be cut to less than 30%. Gathering a significant core group of perhaps 85 adults will enable you to move more quickly towards a growing plant once you begin corporate worship.

16. Recruit People to Do Tasks, Not Titles Service is much more than a title. It is a place where one finds significance in the cause of Christ. It is always wise to recruit individuals towards significant task of service instead of a title. Clearly empowering people to places of service rather than positions of title is always a preference.

17. Build on the Stable You can't build a church on college students. Our first year we had almost 75% college students...almost all unchurched. They were great....they worked hard...they grew spiritually...they developed into good leaders...they left town when they graduated. Christmas and summer got pretty ugly the first year! College students are wonderful folks to have on a church plant team...just know they are temporary at best.

18. Love Your Spouse More!(AKA: Cheryl Had Blue Eyes First!) You can always plant another church... you can't always have another family. As much as I love church planting and shepherding people...I love my wife Cheryl more. Nothing...especially ministry...should ever get in the way of your family. That also reminds me...if your wife is not on board with planting a church....don't plant!!!

19. Investing in My Wife Like placing family above the plant, remember to invest time and experiences with your wife. Many wives of church planters feel a disconnection during the first few years of a plant while friendships are being formed and a niche within the new work is developed. Spend time, tell your stories, take her with you, and invest in the journey together. Remember, happy wife happy life!

20. Bird’s of a Feather Flock Together! Recent church planters are your best resource. The greatest advice, financial gifts and friendship I have ever received is from guys that planted within the last several years. They will cry with you, rejoice with you and sacrifice for you. As long as I live I will remember the day that the pastor of local church plant handed me their last $250 because another church didn't come through and we couldn't pay rent (God bless you Bruce Allen).

21. Walk Within the Pages of the “BIBLE!” Spend more time reading the Bible than other books. Church growth, church planting, church strategy and church leadership books are great...but I spent way too much time pouring into them (at the beginning) and not enough time in God's Word. The best church practices, strategies and leadership ideas can be found within the pages of the Bible.

22. To Place Spirituality Over Strategy It is so easy as a church planter to get so busy “doing” that you forget to “be”! I personally know that more is accomplished by ones walk with God than ones slick strategy or impressive new work proposal. One should work now while it is still day but most church planters at the end admit that a large portion of their success had nothing to do with them and everything to do with God.

23. Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder! Get out of the pulpit every once in a while. Pastors have this idea that the world will fall apart for their church if they don't preach every Sunday. I got to tell you...preaching week after week without a break will dull your abilities. Taking a break every now and then gives other leaders a chance to step up and you a rest to get fired back up. Nothing makes me preach better than being out of the pulpit for a week or two. Nothing grows our leaders like me being out of the pulpit for a week or two.

24. Having a Heart for a City and Not for a Great Church! I hear a lot of novice church planters talk about the great church they will build. What does it for me is when I hear a planter talk about the great need within their city or target area for Jesus Christ. That tells me that it is more about reaching an area than raising up an edifice to an individual. Have a heart for your area so intense that it keeps you up at night and down on your knees before the Father.

25. Decide Early What You Want the Community to Say About Your Church Most new churches are not known by the community in which they are called to serve. Therefore it is a great idea to decide early what you would want the community to say about your church. Careful messaging at the beginning will help people sense what God is doing in your launch. While you might not have buildings and budgets what you do have is a cause worthy of joining.

26. Focusing on Sending Capacity Not Seating Capacity At the end of the day it is all about missions! Sending capacity is a stronger witness than seating capacity. I love churches and pastors that realize they can be both a growing local church while staying active in the mission’s efforts that are so vital to reaching our nation with the Gospel. It is truly missional churches that bear the name or label of a “Sending Church.”

27. Focusing on Sending Capacity Not Seating Capacity There are only two ways for us to respond to the truth about the supremacy of God in missions. We must either go out for the sake of His name, or we must send and support such people who do, and do so in a manner worthy of God. Ultimately it is our sending capacity that counts.

28. It is Better to Send Out than to Split Up! Sometimes an apprentice needs to be cut loose to grow and take flight. A wise church planter will send out and commission rather than let ones own plant split and go splat!

29. Planting Trees You Will Never Sit Under! Everyone thinks I am crazy when I say this but hear me, please. You are planting trees you will never sit under as a church planter so a wise planter invests in his craft and seeks even deeper skill. If you are a catalytic church planter you will plant trees again! But watch God, seldom will you do it the same way you just did!

30. Things I Wish I Had Known When I Planted My First Church By Dr. Tom Cheyney www.PlanterDude.com