I am currently reading Brian and Amy Bloye’s book, entitled, IT’S PERSONAL:  Surviving & Thriving On The Journey Of Church Planting.  It is an honest and encouraging look at exactly what’s involved on a personal level in the decision to plant a church.  In one of the early chapters, Bloye outlines four questions to ask before deciding to plant.

#1 – Are You Certain Of Your Calling?

‘There is only one reason to plant a church (or to do anything, for that matter).  That is the sturdy conviction that it is the one and only thing that God wants you to do.’  Church planting is not something you do because it is trendy or popular.  The price is too high.

#2 – Have You Considered Your Marriage And Family?

‘The greater the challenge, the more critical the need for unity in a marriage and family.’  All major decisions need to be made in unity between husband and wife, but especially ones that involve spiritual resistance.  The first place the enemy will target is the potential division between family members.

#3 – Do You Have A Support Network?

‘Some people leave to plant a church because things haven’t gone well somewhere else…Yet the leading indicator of your future church success is your present success.’  Building a healthy supportive relationships is not something you do because you are planting a church, it is something that you do to live your best kind of life.

#4 – What Specific Thing About Church Planting Captures Your Imagination?

”The draw of church planting must come from a desire to reach people for Christ with the conviction that this is the best way to do it, as well as the way that God wants it done.’  It’s not enough to just want to do church a new way, or to break free from the constraints of tradition or poor leadership.  It’s not enough to just want to follow the church planting model that makes you excited.  You have to want to reach people and to reach a community or city that specifically needs to be reached.

#5 – What Is The Specific Location You Are Called To Reach?

‘You must bond with your vocation, but also with your location.  You must feel a deep burden for it’s people.’

In any organization or endeavor where people are asked to take a leadership role, there must be some key factors in place in order to retain and sustain their effective function.  Without these five components in place, there will either be a drop off in participation or in performance.

#1 – EXPECTATION

If you are going to ask me to lead something, make it clear to me what exactly you want me to do.  What are my responsibilities?  How will I know I have been effective?  To whom do I report?  Who do I oversee?  How much freedom do I have to make decisions?  What do I need to gain approval for before I act?

When these questions are unclear – frustration is sure to follow.

#2 – SELECTION

Many leadership problems can be avoided if we have a sound placement process.  If I am going to lead, I want to be placed in an area where I can succeed.  You do me a great favor to analyze my gift mix and my strengths of personality and place me in a role that fits me well.

#3 – AFFIRMATION

When I am doing well – tell me.  Nothing reinforces performance quite like positive feedback.  It’s important to notice that I am following through on what you are asking me to do.  Affirmation also motivates for future and further effort and sacrifice.

#4 – CONFRONTATION

Just as important as choosing to affirm positive performance is the choice to engage in swift, calm, measured confrontation.  Tell me when I did poorly.  Confront me when I have not been faithful or timely.  Don’t wait for the perfect moment.  Don’t accumulate my mistakes and then dump them all on me at a later date.  Tell me quickly and instruct me as to how I can improve.

#5 – CELEBRATION

Finally, there needs to be a way to publicly celebrate the success and effectiveness not only of the leader involved but of their team.  When you have a clear target for success and arrive at that target well, make sure to throw a party.  Recognize the ‘wins’ of the team.

When we recruit leaders into a culture that reinforces these five things, we enable these leaders to serve and succeed in our environments for years to come.

If leaders (church planters) can be made, then what is the environment in which they are formed, equipped, and released?  In my opinion, developing leaders does not come from a program.  It is not birthed out of a curriculum.  Leaders are not built through a set of classes or even a check list of pertinent experiences in life.

The atmosphere where leaders are built is that of RELATIONSHIP.

More specifically, it is a relationship between a mature leader who serves as a mentor and a developing leader that is looking to be shaped and sent out.  Actually, I think the relationship is best described as ‘father-son’ rather than just ‘mentor-student’.   What happens in a ‘father-son’ relationship is this:

#1 – BELONGING

A mentor may receive a student for a season.  A father is in relationship with a son for life.  As a father, my commitment to my sons are not performance based.  If they fail, I still am their dad.   The relationship is stronger than the project we are involved in together.  It’s a family thing.  There is security in that.

#2 – MODELING

One of the best ways we learn is be watching someone else do what they are eventually asking us to do.  We teach from what we live not just from what we know.  Good fathering involves demonstration and not just instruction.

#3 – EXPERIMENTING

Proverbs 22:6 says, ‘Train up a child in the WAY he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.’  The word ‘WAY’ is a word used to describe the unique trajectory of an arrow.  Every person has a unique bent to their gifting and calling in life.  It’s up to a parent to help them discover that uniqueness so that they can be aimed to hit the target.

Spiritual fathering involves allowing a developing leader to try out some leadership opportunities, in small doses, so that together we can figure out what they are good at and where they best fit in leadership.

#4 – ENCOURAGING

The early stages of development are HIGH ENCOURAGEMENT seasons.  Fathers cheer their sons when the succeed.  They provide plenty of positive feedback to build confidence and vision in life.

#5 – TRAINING

The best kind of learning is not based on a curriculum, but rather on specific input given during a TEACHABLE MOMENT in life.  On the spot, applied learning is given as requests and needs arise.

#6 – CONFRONTING

Eventually, a shift has to be made from HIGH ENCOURAGEMENT to HIGH INPUT.  Like a bird that is getting ready to fly needs to be pushed out of the nest and into the uncomfortable space above the ground – so a leader needs to be pushed to deal with the issues that will keep them from soaring in life.

#7 – RELEASING

The final stage is when a leader is established as a fully functioning leader without any propping or support from the outside.  This moment also comes with great celebrating and blessing.

Hopefully then, this leader who has been prepared repeats this very process with sons of their own.  Reproducing is then passed down from one generation to the next.

This is the issue that has been debated for decades!  Are leaders just born that way?  Are they made by effort, mentoring, and through experience?  My experience is that when two things exist with such tension that a little bit of both must be true.  So my opinion to the question is YES and YES.

Spiritual Leadership is something more than just the innate ability to influence others to follow you.  Spiritual Leadership is a God-breathed capacity to influence others to follow you as you follow Christ.

When I see a man who has totally blown up his life experience the life-transforming power of God’s grace, I am motivated by that man’s story to follow Jesus more.  Being redeemed from something doesn’t sound like much of a leadership quality, but when it comes to Spiritual Leadership it actually is.

The selection and preparation of a church planter is more than just an exercise in reviewing someone’s resume and checking their references.  Most definitely those steps are involved.  But there are some other key questions that must be answered along with the due diligence of resumes and references.

#1 – Have They Ever Led Anything Successfully?

Some of the best church planters are raw and have little church experience.  Their leadership may have been as an athlete?  Or maybe they were the leading drug dealer in their community before coming to Christ?  If they know what it is to influence people to follow, that experience can translate in influencing people to follow them in planting a church.

#2 – Do They Have Contagious Passion?

It’s hard to resist a deeply passionate person.  It’s hard to be around a person who is asking you to sacrifice for something that they hardly believe in themselves.

#3 – Do They Want Advice?

Teach-ability is a major factor the process of ‘making’ a leader.  Maybe they are not ‘born’ with every characteristic of a great leader.  But many of these qualities can be learned (at least to a degree) if they are willing to learn and listen.

#4 – Are They Willing To Submit To Authority?

My father has a great quote:  ‘God will never put you OVER until you are willing to be UNDER.’   When we rebel against authority, we lose a level of backing from heaven.  When we submit to and honor authority, we can a level of backing from God and from those who are sending us out.

#5 – Do They Love People?

It is possible to want to plant and/or grow a church without truly loving the people you are trying to reach. There are all kinds of motivations for trying to be successful at something.  When a church planter has a true heart for people who passion comes across and has an impact.

In fact, you can have a leader with all of innate skills and abilities for leadership – but a lack of love for the people they are reaching will stall and limit their ability to lead.

Last week, I had a conversation with Daniel McNaughton about the key factors involve in one church effectively reproducing itself in another.  Inevitably, the conversation kept coming back to a common theme.   The most effective time spent in effectively planting another church is not actually the time spent in planning HOW TO LAUNCH this new church.

The most critical aspect is the time spent in building, coaching, and training the church planter.

There is so much GREAT MATERIAL  available to us today about techniques and strategies for an effective launch process.  In fact, there is no reason why to attempt to plant a church without a well-informed, time-tested approach in a new community. In addition to sound training and advice, there are also many great FUNDING SOURCES available to a church planter getting ready to plant. There is no reason why you should attempt to plant without solid financial backing as well.

Nothing, however, can replace the need for a STRONG CAPABLE LEADER as the point person in this new church plant.

In fact, I believe that if you have nothing else.  No money.  No training.  Zero information on demographics or current techniques.  If you have a STRONG CAPABLE LEADER the church plant will succeed.  It might take a little longer without the funding or the training, but a leader will find a way to make it work.

The opposite is true as well.  If you do NOT have a strong capable leader as the planter -  money, training, and coaching will not be enough.

Having the right ‘point leader’ is everything!

The next question is this:  Are these leaders born or are they made?  Can a person who lacks certain natural leaders gifts be groomed and prepared to be a great church planter?  This is the question that I will attempt to address as my theme for the week.

What a tremendous response to the post yesterday on the TOP 25 POPULATION CENTERS in the North Eastern USA.  These 25 areas are our target areas to see churches planted over the next decade of ministry.  In my opinion, this is the area of greatest need within our nation.  If anywhere there are churches needed, the North East is that area.

Many of you echo and share that burden! I heard from people all over the world yesterday affirming this vision for the North East.  And some of you are asking how you can be involved.

ARE YOU A PRAYER WARRIOR?

We are in the process of defining how to mobilize thousands of prayer warriors to intercede for these cities and these new churches as they are planted.  I don’t have a specific pathway for you to join just yet.  But I will have something for you very soon.

ARE YOU A CHURCH PLANTER?

We would love to begin to dialog with you about the possibility of planting together.  The first step we would have you take is to go through an Assessment Process.  You can contact Dr. Daniel McNaughton if you are interested in this:  danielm@allisonparkchurch.com.

ARE YOU A PARENT CHURCH?

Maybe you are dreaming of planting a church out of your church?  We would love to help you take that incredible step.  In fact, the biggest shift we are in right now is the shift of thinking how to come alongside of churches who want to reproduce.  Email me if you are interested:  jeffl@allisonparkchurch.com.

JOINING A CHURCH PLANTING TEAM?

Maybe you want to serve as a part of the volunteer Pastoral Team at a new church?  Or you would just like to join a launch team and are willing to move to be part of what God is doing in one of these areas?  We would love to help connect you with an opportunity.

NEED TRAINING?

We have a first year training school – MCM MINISTRY SCHOOL - available to anyone who is post-high school.  We are also developing a RESIDENCY PROGRAM to offer one year of practical experience alongside of a church planter and or Allison Park Staff Member.

The easiest way to connect with us would be to attend our upcoming event – IGNITE ROUNDTABLE on May 31st – hosted at Allison Park Church.  You can discover more about the event and/or register here.

Last year, I felt very distinctly that God was calling me to lead an initiative to facilitate the planting of 100 churches within next ten years.  While we are open to planting these churches anywhere that the Lord directs, we realize that our primary assignment is in the North Eastern USA.

1. We want to see REPRODUCING churches planted in these major cities.
2. We want to assist churches to become a PARENT CHURCH for the very first time.
3. We want to plant in some of the most DIFFICULT within these cities and with some of the most unlikely church planters.
4. We want to plant LIFE.  Not just churches – but LIFE-GIVING CHURCHES.

Pray with us that God will birth a VIRAL MOVEMENT of church planting across the North Eastern USA.

My first post this week had to do with the skill of LISTENING to PEOPLE.  Genuine care for others starts at this basic place of life.  There is a second, companion ‘listening’ skill that is necessary for effective ministry and that is the skill of LISTENING to GOD.  Or another way of defining this is the practice of DISCERNMENT.

So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.  John 5:19

I am amazed at the above verse.  ‘Jesus did NOTHING by himself.’  When He did ministry, he only followed what the Father was doing and wanted Him to do.  Wow!

How much ministry do we do on our own?

How many ideas that we pursue are our ideas?  We do them and then ask God to bless them.

If Jesus chose to limit his ministry activity to the things he saw the Father doing, then we would have to infer that everything that Jesus did started with DISCERNMENT.  He observed the activity of the Father.  He felt his heart and passion.  He watched for the blowing of the wind of the Holy Spirit.  He listened for the Father’s promptings.

LOOK

Jesus knew the kinds of things his Father would do.  When Jesus entered a city, he would look for a person who was hurting or in need.  He knew the Father would want to meet need.  So he gravitated toward the places of need.

LISTEN

The second thing we have to do is tune our hearts to God’s voice.  God is a speaking God.  He loves to communicate.  The Psalms declare that He confides in those who fear Him.  We worship.  We wait.  We ready ourselves to obey.  And in that position we are ready to hear what He has to say.

LOVE

What does the Father do most of all?  HE LOVES.  When we are not sure what to do, we can always get in flow by identifying someone to serve, encourage, and demonstrate compassion and desire.

This week, I am going to share several posts about what can be some overlooked concepts in this fast paced, high-tech ministry world that we live in – in 2012.  These thoughts could be categorized as ‘fundamentals’ in ministry to people.  Often I find myself striving to establish myself in areas of excellence, mastering new leadership concepts, taking the organization that I lead to the next level.

I believe we should constantly press on to improve ourselves and our ministries.  Learning and growing is essential to avoiding the plague of stagnation and death.  But as we strive to improve, we cannot ever forget some very basic aspects of what makes effective ministry work.

SIMPLE STEP #1:  LISTEN

What a rare quality this is in our world to find someone who will take the time to truly listen.  Building influence with others doesn’t actually begin with talking.  It starts with listening.  You may have tons of amazing things to say and those things need to be said at some point in time.  But before you start to talk, you need to earn the right to contribute by taking the time to listen.

1.  Slow Down

So often we are racing from one place to another to keep an appointment or to get everything done that we need to accomplish for the next event or happening.  You will never communicate that you really care about the people you are serving unless you slow down enough to make a priority on what they feeling or saying at the moment.

2.  Focus

When someone is asking for prayer or pouring out their heart to you, they need you to concentrate your entire attention on them.  Make eye contact.  Focus your thoughts on what they are saying.  Don’t let your mind wander.  Don’t fill in their sentences for them to hurry them along to completion.  Feel what they are feeling.  Focus.

3.  Empathize

Again, this is another rare skill.  Put yourself into their shoes.  Don’t just offer compassion.  That’s really great.  Don’t just sympathize.  Offer empathy, which is the ability to identify with the person and feel what they feel.

4.  Respond

After listening – choose the appropriate response.  It might be immediate.  Or it might be strategic, in that the solution you propose cannot be executed at the moment you are in.  Choose to do something.  Pray.  Connect them with a source of help.  Follow-up.

People who find a church or pastor who truly listens will be people who stick because they know that you care.