There is a huge tension between needing to get things done and needing to build a team.  It often feels that the straightest path to pulling off the next event or accomplishing the next task is to just do what needs to be done.

Leadership is so much more than just task accomplishment.

Leadership is about influencing people.  It’s about raising people up.  It’s about giving them an opportunity to participate in a vision or plan that is greater than themselves.  In ministry, leadership is about EQUIPPING PEOPLE TO DO MINISTRY.

Ephesians 4:11-16 provides the job description for those giving themselves to point leadership within a local church.  Our job is not to DO the ministry, but rather to equip people to fulfill their God-given DESTINY.

CHOICES WE MUST MAKE TO BUILD TEAM

I will either do it myself or I will do it through others. We choose to do it through others. 

That means that every initiative that we lead must be done through a team.

I don’t just work -  plan my work so that others can join me. 

Every initiative has to be divided into a sub-set of tasks.  Each of these sub-set of tasks needs a person who will be responsible to accomplish that part of the project.  Your job is to meet with them ahead of time.  Outline the expectations.  Motivate them to see why what you are doing together is important.  Then you walk around and manage, celebrate, and coach.

This means that a lot of work has to be done in advance to plan the event/task and recruit the team.  But once a team is built, they will begin to function without your constant oversight.

I will fight the urge to revert to old ways of thinking and working.

I will never be able to mobilize a team if I continue to do everything myself.

Imagine that you were incapacitated.  You cannot move your arms or legs.  You can only speak.  Yet you continue to lead your department.  How would you get things done if you could not personally do any of it.

• Who would you get to do it with you?
• What would you tell them?
• How would you make sure they are doing it right?
• What would you say to them to communicate your gratitude?

It’s like choosing to work with your arms tied behind your back.

This is the way we want to function now.  Ephesians 4 requires this of us.

This week, I am doing a series of posts for those who love the idea of church planting but would admit, ‘I’m not a church planter.  What can I do to be a part of expanding God’s Kingdom and reaching new people through this timeless method of planting new churches.

I CAN BELIEVE!

Faith is a powerful force.  It is even more impacting when it is focused in a particular direction or on a specific person and their mission.

Back in 1965 my father and mother accepted a challenge to plant a church in Monroeville, PA.  At the time, this community was the growing edge of the eastern suburban region just outside of Pittsburgh.

In reality, they were not planting a church from scratch.  They were revitalizing a church that had been planted and just about died.  They had a building (very small) to meet in and a congregation of four people.  In essence, it was a little harder than a fresh plant because there was a history to overcome.

I was just six months old when my folks left the small country Pennsylvania town of Mosgrove to the new situation just outside of Pittsburgh.  They left a somewhat stable yet small congregation that was about to pay them $35 a week as their pastoral salary.  Not much, but at least it was consistent.

When they arrived in Monroeville, the congregation was not large enough to pay them any salary at all.

But a neighboring pastor believed in them and in the vision to re-plant this church.  Pastor Shink was a bi-vocational pastor himself.  He worked in the Steel Industry and volunteered to pastor a church at the same time.  He knew my parents could not survive without some type of financial support.

So he paid them out of his own pocket for the first year.

He couldn’t match the $35 a week they had been receiving before.  But  he came close.  And out of his own salary, which he made working during his own time, he paid my parents $25 a week until they could grow the church to a size where it could afford to pay them regularly.

Monroeville AG is now a thriving church of over 1000 people per weekend.  They have planted several churches and have given several million dollars to missions over the years.  Thousands of people have been saved there, trained there, baptized there.

Pastor Shink believed and invested and made an enormous difference in the planting of this new church.

I am often invited to share testimonies about the power and potential of planting a new church.  It is one my favorite things to do in all the world.   Quite often people will come up to me and express a mixture of both disappointment and inspiration.  They say, ‘I am not a church planter, but I would really like to be involved somehow in this vision.  What can I do?’

This week, I am going to do a series of posts on the blog to answer that question.  Here’s the first thing that you can do.

I CAN PRAY!

I know this can feel very much like just the thing to say.  ‘Well, you can’t go on this mission trip…you will miss the adventure…but you can be just as much a part of it if you stay home and pray.’  We know that prayer is a powerful thing, but somehow it just doesn’t feel the same to simply be a ‘supporter’ in prayer.

What I am talking about is a little bit more focused that just being a part of the prayer support team.

Let me explain.  Twenty years before the church I now pastor was planted, there was a woman who was praying.  Her name was Arlene.  She began praying for a church to be planted in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, PA back in the 1940s.  It was her targeted and focused prayer.

Then in 1966 a Women’s Bible Study Group sent a letter to 18 different denominations asking if anyone wanted to work with them to start a new church.  Pastor William Bailey was serving as the pastor at Evangel Church in the North Side of Pittsburgh (25 minutes south of the North Hills).  He responded to the letter by offering to help them get started.

He met with them on Sunday mornings at 8:30am prior to his service later that morning at Evangel Church.  Eventually those meetings became the weekly services at what is now Allison Park Church.  And shortly after these gatherings began, Arlene discovered what was happening and became one of the founding members of this new church.

What she had been praying for – for almost two decades, was now become a reality before her very eyes.

1. Select a community or city that needs a life-giving church.
2. Study that community and its needs.
3. Start to pray for that area every day.  Ask God to raise up and send laborers into that harvest field.

Even if you are not the church planter – you can be a significant part of launching a new church!

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.