Step By Step

What are the first steps to a new church? I cannot overstate the importance of prayer. As a planter, you'll almost naturally grow in your personal prayer life. And you'll need all the prayer you can get. So enlist prayer partners from your partner churches or anyone that you know will be praying for you. God uses those prayers to encourage you through the launch process.

Second, if you've been a part of an established church, it usually takes a change of mindset. A couple of important ideas to start with. You build a church from the outside in, rather than from the inside out. This "Crowd to Core" idea is one of the main geniuses behind the PD strategy. Make sure you don't view your group that you have as "The Core." At this point, you don't have a core, you have a Launch Team.

You're first step is to impact the community. I would keep the weekly meeting at a time other than Sunday morning so that your group isn't viewed as the way you do church. Moving people through the concentric circles is done through the core classes (101, 201, etc.) Don't try to move people through those circles too soon. Your first step is to focus on stage 1, Just connect with your community through community events and servant evangelism.

Then you can move them into the crowd stage by having a great launch. In year one, the only class we offered was the 101 class. This allowed people to commit to church membership. I wouldn't even advise having official church members until after your launch. Why? Because before you launch, people don't really know what they're joining. So hold off and have a great first 101. We add the next class each year. We're only to 301 so far.

We're in this for the long haul. That's how you build a solid start for the new church. Take it a step at a time.