10 Traps To Avoid When Planting a Church

Launching a new church plant will generally be an exciting, adrenalin filled, faith inspired time. If God has called you to plant, and you know that your area needs more vibrant, soul winning, disciple making churches, what could go wrong?

Sadly, the answer is plenty. But it doesn’t have to be that way because there are some common traps that can generally easily be avoided; especially when you and your team are aware of them. Failure to avoid these traps can easily result in your church plant failing with your hopes being dashed or the future potential of the plant being stunted and the planting team most likely becoming disillusioned.

Here are 10 common traps to be avoided.

1. Skipping A Proper Church Planter Assessment

A robust church planter assessment is not only ideal, it is essential. A person or couple who have a conviction to plant a church need more than faith. Faith is essential, but so is the right gifting, skill set and character.

I remember doing an assessment with a great couple who were convicted of the call to plant a church. They were good people with good character, but their wiring meant that they wouldn’t make good lead planters. After the assessment we helped them find a church plant where they could become a valuable part of the team.

The impact on planters, the team and people in the new church of the plant failing can be devastating. Planter assessments are an essential safeguard. You can read more about church planter assessments here.

2. Launching Too Soon

Birthing prematurely can cause problems with the baby church plant being weak and struggling to survive. If it does survive, it will often be weak. So when is too soon? That will generally depend upon the model of church plant. For example a church plant that is intended to be a mega church in little time will need a large group to plant.

Keep in mind that the launch team and the core team may well be different groups of people, with the launch team involving people who can lend a hand but who might not be appropriate to be part of the leadership group.

If the plant was happening in a small rural area, the expectations about the team size would be different. Also a church that was planted through disciple making would have different dynamics.

When determining whether the timing is right to launch, consideration should be given to issues such as whether you have the necessary leadership roles filled, whether everyone is on the same page in relation to vision, values and strategy, whether the financial model is sustainable and whether the desired behaviours such as disciple making are already evident in your team.

3. Not Having A Healthy Financial Model

Having a healthy and sustainable financial model is critical. This would involve factors such as whether supporters had committed to financially underwrite the running costs of the church, whether there would be full time staff or the team would be bi-vocational, and whether funding assistance was available.

Care needs to be taken when relying on external funding assistance with the question being asked about the impact on the church if funding assistance was withdrawn or no longer available.

Another consideration is whether expectations about giving are made clear to the fledgling church congregation. If they aren’t, this will be a weakness that may hamper the church for a long time.

4. Jumping The Gun With Leadership Structures

Sometimes church planters make the mistake of not putting in place an eldership or board structure soon enough, but sometimes it’s the opposite; they put one in place too early and with too much authority.

In the New Testament, there are two passages that talk about qualifications for elders, Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 3. Whilst they cover the same general areas, the two lists are very different because the context for Titus 1 was recently planted churches (on Crete) whilst Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 3 about appointing elders in the established church in Ephesus. So the qualifications in 1 Timothy might be regarded as the ideal with Titus listing the starting point.

As a church plant matures, typically the church planter will go through the process of handing over greater amounts of authority to the elders or board but to do that at the beginning runs the risk of passing authority to a group that is not yet ready to receive it.

5. Taking the Focus Away From Reaching Out

As the church plant grows, there will be a tendency for pressure to arise to divert more attention to those in the church. This is particularly the case when there is transfer growth with people coming into the new church with expectations as to how the pastor will serve them.

Mechanisms like a healthy small group structure will be important to integrate people into the church and see them become relationally connected with others, alleviating the church planter of the expectation that he or she needs to be all things to all people.

If a church plant begins with a strong outward focus, it will be important to see that this outward focus is maintained rather than diverted inwards.

6. Making It All About The Weekend Service

The weekend service is the focal point of so many churches and takes so much by way of time and other resources. But the church should be much more than just the weekend service. Small groups for example are critical for people to engage deeper with both God and each other and to go on a discipleship journey.

Community engagement is another important aspect where the focus will be on the people of the church going to others rather than just expecting people from the community to come to the church.

7. Too Much Reliance On Too Few People

An effective church plant will see the planter empowering others for the work of the ministry, spreading the load. Numbers 11 tells the story of Moses being crushed by the expectations of others. God’s solution was to spread the load by appointing others.

Church planters must develop a rhythm that includes rest and delegate to others even though they mightn’t do it as well as themselves. They must also look for those who will take on responsibility rather than just lend a hand. Too much reliance on the planter will potentially stunt the growth of the church and bring harm to the planter and their family.

8. Failing To Have A Clear Disciple Making Strategy

Gathering people to attend events or a service does not equate to having a clear or effective disciple making strategy. Jesus made it clear that central to the mission He was giving us was to make disciples; people who would develop intimacy with Him, obey His teaching, be transformed into His likeness and go and make other disciples.

A scary fact is that it’s estimated that only 2% of church attendees in countries like Australia would meet the biblical definition of being a disciple.

If we don’t make disciples we will instead make attendees who will become consumers of a range of religious products and services. Consumers will ask “what have you got for me” whilst disciples will ask “how does God want to use me”.

It’s critical that every church planter asks questions about how they will do this. You can read some thoughts about how this might be done here.

9. Putting Off Developing A Leadership Pipeline Until Later

Not only the growth of a church plant but also it’s sustainability will be greatly influenced by the ability to raise and release leaders. It’s a question that should be grappled with first up rather than later. A simple step to begin with is requiring every leader to have an apprentice.

The leadership pipeline should be the natural extension of a church’s disciple making pathway. You can read some more thoughts on that here.

10. Not Engaging a Coach or Mentor

The health as well as the effectiveness of every church planter needs to be a critical priority. Mentors and coaches can play an important role here. When I planted many years ago I had a person I could go to and talk issues through with. They helped me and stabilised me. Years later I still have people in that space that I meet with regularly.

Coaches can help keep a planter keep on track. Mentors can check in on a person’s health emotionally, spiritually and relationally. Church planters should have people like this who are outside of their church plant to provide wisdom and even to bring challenge when necessary.

The above is not a definitive list of the traps that church planters may fall into, but it goes a long way to listing some of the main dangers to be aware of. A good coach or mentor will help in providing guidance to successfully navigate the traps and dangers that might otherwise undo a church planter.