I’ve learned a lot about planting and church administration in the 30 years since I planted my first church. I wrote my first book on church planting, I’ve worked denominationally in church planting, I wrote my Ph.D. dissertation in church planting, I’ve consulted with a lot of other denominations and networks in church planting, and now I’m leading NewChurches.com—a resource for church planters and multipliers—alongside Daniel Im.
The fact is I love church planters and I love church planting. That’s why I want to share with you a few of the secrets that I’ve learned from my 30 years of experience. They have proven to be true across denominational traditions, so my hope is that these secrets will prevent unnecessary heartache and help you in your journey of planting and multiplying.
1. Evangelism is more important than administration until administration is needed for evangelism.
The reality is you can plant a church in the western world today without sharing the gospel in a way that is transformative. In other words, many pastors have learned administrative skills that have resulted in successful congregational metrics. You may know how to structure a teaching series or the way a congregation worships, but not know how to evangelize a church into existence. To evangelize a church into existence, you need to start by planting the gospel through evangelism, which leads to disciple-making, which then leads to congregational formation—this is by far the healthier way to go about planting churches.
