Ten things every church planting team needs to know. (Part 2)

6 - Understand your Ministry is probably not as friendly as you think.

Of course you think your church is friendly. You are a leader in it. Everyone knows you, talks to you, and wants to say Hi to you! But what about the person who is totally new, and doesn’t know anyone? Who greets them?  Who talks with them? Who answers their questions or invites them to grab a bite after the service? Model friendliness, teach friendliness and set up systems where your people and leaders are released to be friendly as well as follow up with newcomers each week. 

7 - Make systems that serve people. Not people that serve systems.

Systems are meant to solve problems for people, but too many times systems are the problem that keep us from reaching more people. Every month take a look at how you are doing, what you are doing and what needs to be changed in order to serve the needs of your greatest asset, people. Never be a slave to your systems. 

8 - Protect the vision at all cost.

The vision is not yours it belongs to God, so protect it. Preach the vision in a way that inspires people. Delegate the vision in a way that releases people. In everything you and your team do each week, stay true to the vision of bringing people to Jesus and helping them live like Him.  

9 - Only do what God has called you and equipped you to do.

You can’t do everything so don’t try. Sometimes we do so many things that we actually don’t do anything well. There is no way, we as a church or you as a leaders can or should do everything all the other churches are doing. It is better to only do 3 things and have them all be great, than do 10 things have them all be mediocre.

10 - The structure that got you where you are may not get you where you need to go. 

If you have a 1400 sq. ft house and you want a 4,000 sq. ft house you are going to have to change your foundational structure. If you have 50 people and you want 500 people then you may have to change your organizational structure. Never change for change sake (that’s stupid) but if you want something in your organization to change, don’t be afraid to change the leadership structure of your organization.

Ten things every church planting team needs to know. (Part 1)

1 - If you are going to offend someone let it be because of the Gospel. 

If you are going to offend someone make sure it is not because of the way they were greeted, treated, talked to or followed up with. If for some reason a person attends your service and leaves offended make sure it is because they did not agree with the Gospel message, not because of the way we presented it.  

2 - Remember that your target audience is the lost - not the found. 

Jesus said that He came to the world to, ”Seek and Save the Lost”. The Church is like Jesus coming into a community. He wants to work thru you and your team to “seek and save the lost”, not “borrow and steal the found”. So make your target market, people that are not already plugged into a church. 

3 - Put emphasis on building a body of believers not filling up a building. 

The Church is not just a 501c3 not profit organization. The Church is not a building. The Church is people. The Church is People that are passionately pursuing and publicly proclaiming Jesus. Your greatest asset in ministry is not your finances. Your greatest asset is not your facility. Your greatest asset is people. So as you work at building the church, use your time, energy, and resources to build and gather your greatest asset. People.  

4 - Be relationally liberal but biblically conservative.

If you want to reach people you are going to have to be in relationship with them. That means if you want to reach lost young people, you and your team are going to have to be in relationship with people that think, act, and believe differently than you do. 

As you are liberal with who you live life with, you have to stay conservative on how you live your life. Be friends with everyone, but as you are friends with them, be sure that you always, believe, teach, and model the principles of Jesus found in the scriptures. 

5 - Give people a chance to become owners of a ministry not members of a club. 

Members have rights but owners have responsibilities. As a Leader in the Church you do not want members of a club. Members are people that pay some money to have the right to sit down and tell other people what needs to be done. Members are people that simply show up and let others do the work for them. As a Leader in the Church you need owners. You need people that are not only financially invested but also physically alongside of you, so together you can do the work of the ministry, bringing people to Jesus.

For more ministry tips check out Youth Ministry University or Build 6 Month Growth Curriculum

Consuming Christian products or producing Christ followers? (Don't read this if you don't have thick skin).

There is a whole generation of people that think, attending a concert, worship night, or hearing their favorite speaker at a mega church event is being a Christ follower. 

There is absolutely nothing inherently wrong with any of these things. However, Christ has not called us to simply attend events, He has called us to fully follow Him. 

Jesus did not call us to a concert, He called us to surrender our lives.  

Jesus did not call us to hold a book written by our favorite Pastor. He called us to let go of sin. 

Jesus did not defeat death, hell and the grave, so that we could be entertained. He shed His blood so we would serve others the way He has served us. 

Far too many believers in Jesus today are consuming Christian products, rather than producing Christ followers.

I have been as guilty of this as anyone.

Several years ago, I came to the concussion that I am done.

I am done consuming, I want to produce.

I am done being entertained, I want to serve.

I am done attending, I am going to fully follow Jesus. 

Are you done? 

I hope so. 

Questions to ask today? 

Have I surrendered to Jesus?

How am I doing at loving others?

Where am I serving in the Kingdom of God?

How to live a chaotic life without losing your mind.

This past Sunday I did a message titled ...

Balancing Act - How to live a chaotic life without losing your mind. 

Here are the five points of the message. 

1. You can't do everything, but you can do one thing. 

2. Focus on the few and you will accomplish much. 

3.  Write down your schedule. 

4.  Do one thing at a time. 

5. Success and failure is not based on the tasks you accomplish but how you accomplished them. 

ere is the full length message video.

welcometothechurch.com watchthechurch.com

Fight for your Family!

We are living in a season of transition, trouble, and turmoil as a nation. But this is not new! The children of Israel faced similar seasons of unrest in their history. In this message we look at three stories of the past to learn lessons that apply to our story today. 

It is time to Fight for your Family. Hope you enjoy and share this link with a friend. 

welcometothechurch.com watchthechurch.com