A well trained, motivated church planter will establish a church that will buy its own land and build its own building. --Craig Miller
New Mexico Annual Conference
of the United Methodist Church
Charles Ridley
"Based upon a study of church planters in the United States and Canada… His subjects in the study represented 13 Protestant denominations. Based upon his research and subsequent field testing, he developed a list of 13 prominent performance characteristics.
Thirteen Characteristics of a New Church Leader
Visionary Capacity: Ability to project a vision into the future, persuasively motivate people toward that vision, and bring it into reality.
Intrinsically Motivated: Approaches ministry as a self-starter and commits to excellence through long and hard work.
Creates Ownership of Ministry: Instills in people a sense of personal responsibility for the growth and success of ministry and trains leaders to reproduce leaders.
Relates to the Unchurched: Ability to develop rapport, break through barriers, and encourage unchurched people to examine themselves and commit to a walk with God and lead people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Spousal Cooperation: Creating a workable partnership that agrees on ministry priorities, each partner's role and involvement in ministry, and the integration of ministry with family life.
Effectively Builds Relationships: Takes the initiative in getting to know people and deepening relationships as a basis for more effective ministry.
Committed to Church Growth: Values church growth as a method for building more and better disciples; strives to achieve numerical growth within the context of spiritual and relational growth.
Responsive to the Community: Adapts the ministry to the culture and needs of local residents while seeking to engage community issues and concerns.
Utilizes Giftedness of Others: Equips and releases people to do ministry according to their spiritual gifts.
Flexible and Adaptable: Ability to adjust to change and ambiguity, shift priorities when necessary, and handle multiple tasks at once.
Builds Group Cohesiveness: Enables the group to work collaboratively toward a common goal and skillfully handles divisiveness and disunifying elements to positive resolutions.
Demonstrates Resilience: Ability to sustain oneself emotionally and physically through setbacks, losses, disappointments, and failures.
Exercises Faith: Demonstrates how one's convictions are translated into personal and ministry decisions and possesses a vital spirituality.
Bill Hybels
"I believe there are some leadership styles without which an organization cannot survive..."
Visionary Leadership
The visionary leader has a crystal clear picture in mind of what the future could hold...and has an indefatigable enthusiasm for turning those visions into reality. Strategic Planning
The ability to take an exciting vision and break it down into a series of sequential, achievable steps.
Shepherding/Team Building
The ability to bring people together to achieve a goal.
Steve Compton
"Some conferences are now using an outside consultant to assess people. This is expensive but effective. Theological bent is NOT a key quality. We (North Carolina) have had both liberal and evangelical pastors succeed."
Should have 1 or 2 good appointments behind them
Experienced pastors who have a proven record of success are more likely candidates although not exclusively. They have appointed some fresh out of seminary pastors but they exhibited exceptional maturity and ability. Self-motivated
There is no one behind you with a stick, have to be motivated to achieve the vision. Entrepreneurial
Belief in Self/self-confidence
Because you are all alone out there in the field, it's absolutely necessary that you have the gumption to believe you can pull this off. Problem Solver
They have had some pastors with wonderful records in established churches, who get out in the field on a new church start and just freeze up, because they can't make decisions under pressure. Strong Vision
Having a clear vision and the ability to work toward that vision is more important than choosing a particular style of worship. Not all new church starts have been contemporary. And it's getting harder to define what style of worship reaches which segment of the population. They have older people at the rock and roll service and younger people at liturgical services.
Ralph Moore
Excellent recruiters and innovators
Must be an excellent recruiter - otherwise there will be a leadership void developed and the church will die. The ability to "identify unmet needs" in the community
Find needs that might be met by the newly planted church (29) and that only the new church can exploit. This hits at the heart of the ability of the New Church Planter to have a reason that the church should and must exist. A new church has no established constituency and therefore must establish points of contact with the community in which she/he is ministering. Be a risk taker working with a "high level of operational faith."
The New Church Planter must be willing to be bold taking risks in order to spread the gospel. (32) Must be flexible in leadership style
pg. (32). There are no textbook communities - therefore the leader must be willing to fit the needs/abilities of the community. Be an original thinker
(33). New Church Plants cannot operate under the old paradigms - that is a recipe for failure. Be driven by a vision
(35). Without that drive the New Church Planter will run out of energy. Ability to sell ideas
Be connected
It is Moore's theme throughout that parent churches plant new churches and that encompasses far more than simply financial resources - but people resources as well. Inventive
- going into unknown territory (36). Have personal experience of confronting problems and confronting disruptive persons.
Moore asks, "Can you hold your own under fire?" Ability to come out of conflict with a win-win solution (39). Takes a longer view
sticking with projects and having perseverance (38). Voracious reader.
"If there is one predictor of success, or at least a common characteristic in church planters, it has been that the good ones are voracious readers. Well-read people tend to be able to find a solution to any problem and they always seem to have a fresh supply of ideas" (39)
Dale Galloway
Questions for a New Church Planter: Pg. 16
Are you dissatisfied with church as status quo - willing to be innovative
Do you feel boxed in at times - do you want to break through the box?
Do you like to create something from nothing? to act as a pioneer?
Are you a gatherer of people?
Do you long to do the work of an evangelist - even if it is not your spiritual gift
There are no one right way to start a new church, but there are certain personality types who match
Craig Miller
"A well trained, motivated church planter will establish a church that will buy its own land and build its own building. Pg. 174
Appoint Strong Pastors
You need the most well-balanced, creative pastors for this task. Do not appoint a pastor who is having marital problems or other personal issues....needs his full attention. Pg. 174 Commitment to the Long Haul
You need pastors who will commit to 8 to 10 years…a long term pastorate helps to establish a healthy, strong congregation. Pg. 175 Visionary Leadership
If the new church-planting pastor takes on the mantle of visionary leader, he/she will equip the core group for ministry, will teach them the basics of Christian faith, will guide them in developing spiritual disciplines, and will free them to discover their own ministry. Spiritually Grounded
A new church-planting pastor must be grounded in his/her spiritual life. The new-church start is not about you: it is about creating a new faith community that will be obedient to God and will bring others into a new relationship with Jesus Christ. Connected/Accountable
A new church-planting pastor must be accountable, with a network of other people to be encouragers, prayer partners, and a mentor who has recently been through the process. Stability
A new church-planting pastor must have a stable family life, with the whole family committed to the task. Flexible
A new church-planting pastor must be flexible and ready to try new things, to learn from mistakes, to seek out applicable information on congregation development, and be a life-long learner - attracting other people who want to learn. A new church-planting pastor must have a passion to reach and teach the lost to know Jesus Christ; to develop a discipleship system the moves people from seeker to believer to disciple of Christ.
Charles Ridley, Church of the Nazarene Web Site:http://www.nazarenenewchurches.org/characteristics.html
Bill Hybels, Courageous Leadership, (Zondervan), pg. 141-159
Telephone conversation with Steve Compton, Director of Congregational Development, North Carolina Conference.
Ralph Moore, Starting a New Church, (Regal Books) pg. 27-39
Dale Galloway, Starting a New Church, (Beacon Hill Press), pg. 16
Craig Miller, Next Church.Now, (Discipleship Resources) pg. 174-175
