I don’t consider myself a church planter even though I’ve planted 2 churches in my life. As such I’ve been a student of what works and what doesn’t work over time. It seems to me there are two essentials every church planter must have:
Essential # 1: A Teachable Point of View
By this I mean, it is true that all churches that are indeed churches have as their core objective the preaching, teaching, and spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In that way you could say, we all have the same purpose.
But each new church must have its take on how the gospel is presented, its own personality and style that’s reflected in its teachable point of view. In the first church I planted, our teachable point of view was reflected in the mission statement, “Giving real hope to real people in the real world.”
Now in my second endeavor at The Gathering our mission statement is “Helping non-religious people connect to God and each other.” It’s our teachable point of view. It’s what helps us differentiate ourselves between the other churches that are out there with the same purpose, yet with a different mission.
That’s why we are always going to need more churches. We can never plant too many. They can never be too close together, because while they may be in the same city, they have a different teachable point of view. Without it, people don’t know why you exist and why it’s worth supporting the endeavor in the first place.
Essential #2: A Simple Process
How are you going to take your teachable point of view – for us at The Gathering how are we going to take the idea of helping non-religious people connect to God and each other – and put it into a repeatable process that people can understand and commit to?
It’s great to love God, it’s great to love Jesus, it’s great to feel called to plant a new church. But of all the churches around, what makes yours distinct? Do you have a unique and needed teachable point of view, and a simple process that will lead to growth naturally?
Here are my 2 essentials, what are yours?