Where Do I Go From Here? Part 1

Tim O’Neill, Executive Director

“I think I’m called to plant a church. Where do I go from here?”

A church leader friend told me that this was a question a person recently asked him.

How would you answer the “what’s next” question?

It’s tempting to jump straight into how they’ll be trained and equipped, but before getting there, a better approach is to start by asking questions rather than giving advice.

The responses to the questions will do three things:

help you to gain clarity about potential next steps
help them to understand what the church planting journey may entail
determine whether they should really plant a church.

In this article and the next, we will explore 10 great questions that you can ask. Here are the first 5:

1.How have they discerned that Jesus is calling them to plant a church?

Having a conviction that Jesus is calling them to plant a church is critical. Planting a church involves taking a step of faith into spiritual battle zone where trials and testing will come. When planting a church was just a “good idea” or even someone else’s idea, it’s easy to falter when times get tough.

I remember one such time when my wife Sharon and I encountered the hard. We asked ourselves “should we continue?” We did, because we felt certain that Jesus had called us to plant the church and that it wasn’t finished. We simply didn’t want to step outside of His will, and so we kept going.

That’s not to say that there aren’t times when a church plant should be put down. There are. And wise counsel is incredibly valuable at such times. But without a sense of conviction about the call, it’s unlikely that plant will bloom into a healthy, established church.

2. Is there a particular style of church they feel called to plant?

Whether a person feels called to plant a mega church or a micro church, or any other variety of church is important to discern. Different skills and temperaments are required for different kinds of churches.

I remember some years ago assessing a person for church planting. They ticked all the boxes for being a successful planter and were fruitful in their evangelism ministry. However they were in their 40’s and had never organisationally built anything. I discerned that planting a church that had staff and required structure wouldn’t be the right fit for them, but planting a micro church or a network of micro churches would likely be a good fit for them.

3. Is there a particular demographic they feel called to reach?

Sometimes God will lay a burden on a church planter for a particular demographic, be it single parent families, wealthy business people, first nations people or some other grouping.

The burden helps provide motivation to be involved with that particular grouping. In addition, it’s likely that something in the planters background experience or personality would link in with people in that demographic.

Some years ago Rick Warren spoke of a planter couple that he sent out. They planted a church but floundered and so after a time were pulled out from that location and after a while planted afresh in a new location with a different demographic; one they were much more suited to reach. The result was that this second plant thrived as they ministered to a demographic they were suited to reach.

4. Do they have a sense of where this church would be located?

Population shifts are happening across our nation, with new suburbs growing quickly and providing huge potential for new churches that will reach people to be planted. At the same time, some other areas are seeing a population exodus or a stagnant aging population.

The location for a church plant is important. The location dynamics will also influence the kind of church being planted. For example, in some low socio-economic areas, missional communities may be most suited to be planted but in healthy growing suburbs, a more traditional Sunday service based church with children and youth programs may be best suited.

The location of the proposed church will likely influence the kind of activities the church engages in, the skills the planter and team need to develop as well as needing to be a fit with the team and proposed church style.

5. What will their relationship with a mother church or network be?

It’s important to explore this question early on. Generally the healthiest model is where there is a supportive relationship between mother church and church plant. But it’s not the only model.

A church planting leader recently told me that his denomination had seen 10 churches planted in one Australian state in recent years, but only 2 of these were plants in a mother/daughter church plant relationship. The other 8 were in essence planted directly under the denomination.

Some planters want to team with the mother church and do so well. Others don’t. It’s important to clarify expectations early so that frustration and pain are avoided later.

These are 5 questions that will help provide a great deal of insight into the prospective planter and what they have in their minds to do.

In the next article we will present another 5 questions that will help you to go deeper in ascertaining whether a person is actually “qualified” to lead a church plant.