Every Church Can Support Church Planting

Church planting is a powerful way to expand God’s Kingdom, but not every congregation will be ready to launch a daughter church this year. Still, every church can take concrete steps today to prepare for planting and to support others who are planting.

• Planting is a marathon of prayerful preparation, not a sprint of frantic activity. Simple, small steps will add up, as you adopt a “planting posture.” Even if planting is on the distant horizon for you, these practices will also increase the health and vitality of your church today!

Five Elements of a Planting Posture

1. Pray Like Planters

• Every great move of God starts with prayer. A great way to cultivate a heart for the lost among your congregation is to intentionally pray for those who do not know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
• Your congregation can also pray for church planters in your town by name. Your council could also devote time to praying for wisdom about next steps in church planting at each meeting.

2. Grow a Leadership Pipeline

• Healthy church plants have healthy leaders. As we mentioned in Part 2 of this series, pastors who succeed at the challenging work of planting are entrepreneurial, resilient, relational, and inspiring. Beyond pastors, though, church planting requires a robust core team filled with deeply committed Christian leaders.
• Where do you find these leaders? Most often, you have to develop them. That is one reason why an effective discipleship and mentoring ministry is a must for your church. This pathway should guide people through development in theology, mission, evangelism, team leadership, and other important areas.

3. Practice Generosity Now

• Planting successfully often requires a large initial investment. By setting aside a small, steady percentage of your budget toward this goal (even just 1-2 percent), you will be preparing for the future.
• You could fund this part of the budget from general giving or you could take pledges outside your ministry budget, so people feel even more connected to the effort. Even if you do not end up planting a church yourself, this fund could be used to help others who do.

4. Share what you have

• Often young church plants have energy, enthusiasm, and momentum but lack financial funding and facilities. By contrast, many established churches have funding and facilities but lack momentum. When the two humbly come together, God blesses their partnership!
• Is a church plant looking for a facility? Consider offering the use of yours. Do church plants need funding? Pray about supporting them financially. Alternatively, you can give through your denomination, Classis, or a church planting network. Do younger planters need mentoring? Relationships with your more experienced leaders may be just what they need!

6. Clarify your strategy and goals

• Is church planting part of the vision conversations your congregation and council are having? If not, it may be time to start casting that vision! Start with why. (See Part 1 of our series of articles for a quick refresher on why church planting matters now more than ever!)
• Next, consider which particular strategy might work for your church. (A good place to start is last week’s article, in which we compared five different church planting models.) Which is the best fit for your church? What is your timeline? Alternatively, a perfectly wonderful goal is to dedicate yourself to supporting other churches that are planting!

We all have a role to play in church planting. What goals will you set for the next quarter, the next year, and the next three years?