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How to Plant a Church - 5 Steps

There are many guides out there for how to plant missional churches, but all of them seemed to com-
plicated, philosophical, impractical, or just plain misguided. I've attempted the following things in my
own ministry with varying degrees of success. What I've compiled here is a list from what I've learned
(by experience and trial and error) from my own work and what I've learned in watching other's fail or
succeed.

Many systems list 10 things as essential. Or 30 things. I actually firmly believe there is only one thing
essential for a successful church planting movement. Prayer. Obviously planting a church is not easy.
If it were many more would be successful. But it IS simple. Love the one who created you. Follow
him.

If you are regularly humbly praying then you will be tuned in to God's will. You will be walking closely
with the Lord. And it will be difficult to not catch His vision and follow His direction for what you're do-
ing.

Therefore prayer is essential throughout this. First and foremost - everything listed here must be
sprinkled, covered, and drowned in prayer.

Prerequisites:
Love God and seek His glory first
You need to have authority in your life *1
Have a friend who will punch you in the face when it becomes about you. (Accountability)

Step 1 - Gather People - Pray with them

! 1 - Pray for, read about, and ask God to help you understand what the Church is and what a
! ! church is. And pray for wisdom to know how this affects you what youʼre doing.
! 1 - Invite a crowd of 4-5 to a restaurant and start meeting weekly.
! ! The place is unimportant
! ! The length/type of the sermon is unimportant
! ! The education of the preacher is unimportant *2
! 2 - Cast vision for church growth.
! ! Via multiplication (not addition).
! ! Cast a vision for evangelism
! ! If we really believe Jesus is the BEST thing in our lives we will talk about it.
! 3 - It has to be about loving the Lord
! ! Not building your own name, becoming a famous church planter etc...
! ! Therefore
! 4 - Pray that it would be about the Lord
! 5 - Pray for converts, growth, and wisdom in your methodology.
! ! Get your members praying with you.
! ! Get your members praying FOR you. You need all the prayer you can get.

Step 2 - Evangelism - Pray for it

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! 1 - Can happen before people attend the church, but non-Christians can come too if they're !
! ! willing.
! 2 - Understand sharing as necessary
! ! For non-Christians to have any hope in this life
! ! For the church to grow
! 3 - Learn how to share your faith
! ! Via practicing - Share regularly
! ! Attend trainings
! ! Read books etc...
! 4 - Do evangelism - Regularly
! 5 - Teach others to share
! ! Pass on what you've learned
! ! Put on your own trainings
! ! Bring people along with you
! ! Pass on books that were helpful to you

Step 3 - Raise up Leaders - Pray for them

(it's not about you, it's about the Kingdom)
! 1 - Call people to what they're called to do and enable them to succeed at it.
! ! People are called to something
! ! Help people understand their calling
! ! Enabling them to do what they're called to do may mean releasing them to leave your
! ! ministry and do something else
! 2 - Entrust to faithful men (2 Tim 2:2)
! ! People become responsible when given responsibility
! ! Call people to step up in maturity
! ! Leaders are defined in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus
! ! Not by how much education they have
! 3 - Provide training (ongoing)
! ! Leadership training
! ! Theological development
! ! If you cant provide this send them to someone who can
! ! It does not have to be full time
! 4 - Shepherd your flock of leaders
! ! So they can shepherd their flocks

Step 4 - Prayer - Pray that you'll know how to faithfully do it

! 1 - Organize prayer meetings outside of regular church time
! 2 - Give away leadership of prayer meetings
! ! To those who can train others
! ! And then give it away to others
! 3 - Pray yourself
! ! Ask God for wisdom and direction
! ! He will give it to you
! ! Ask God that you would do His will not your own
! ! You will be tempted to the opposite
! 4 - Pray with your leadership
! ! Teach them to pray
! ! Model prayer for them
! 5 - Pray for the church itself
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! ! That it would be built according to Godʼs plan

Step 5 - Send people out - Pray for wisdom, patience, and direction in doing this
! 1 - Hand steps 1-5 to a member in your group
! ! They will not be as ready as you
! ! Hand things off before people are ready
! ! Otherwise they will NEVER be ready
! 2 - It should make you uncomfortable
! ! Because it includes people. And people are messy
! ! Because God's Kingdom is bigger than your idea of it
! ! This means gifted men and women may have different theology and methodology than
! ! you
! 3 - Make mistakes
! ! If it's not messy then you're moving too slow
! ! Better to plant 10 churches and 1 heresy than no churches
! ! You pray against this but you cant control everything

*1 - This person should know the answer to the question, "What sin/s is most likely to disqualify you
from ministry?" And included on your list of answers to this question should be "Pride"

*2 - The patterns you set will affect the DNA for the future of the church. If prayer is not an essential
part at the start (and it should be) then it will be difficult or impossible to add in later. If you meet in an
expensive building to start then others, when they are released, will think they need an expensive
building before they can plant. If you meet in a house and preach 20 minute sermons then you're cre-
ating something reproducible. Think strategically.