If you are wanting to learn how to start a church plant, it is a one-of-a-kind experience. There’s nothing as exhilirating as seeing droves of people come to faith in Christ—and nothing as disheartening as seeing your new church plant suffer. Here are seasoned church planter Steve Pike’s six big how-tos every church planter must know to succeed.
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1. How to pray
Starting a new church is a miracle, and only God can work miracles. If you start a church without prayer, it won’t be a church, it will be a club. If you don’t know how to pray, learn how. Make prayer a central part of your planting strategy. Recruit others to help pray. Keep them informed of answered prayers as well as prayer needs.
2. How to build teams
There is only one Lone Ranger, and he is not you. He wasn’t actually even “lone,” because he had Tonto. It is not good to go it alone. To be successful in church planting, you must create teams—even before you start. At the very least, you will need a prayer team, finance team and launch team. If you can’t recruit planting teams early on, your church plant will most likely stay small and struggle for a long time. Read Doing Church as a Team by Wayne Cordeiro. Apply what you learn.
3. How to share the Gospel
The reason we plant churches is to join Jesus on His mission of seeking and saving people who are far from God. When the Gospel is shared, Christ’s Great Commission is fulfilled. Share the Gospel, first in deed, then in words. If you don’t know how to walk the walk and talk the talk, you should not plant a church! But don’t stop because you feel unqualified, learn how to share the Gospel by hanging out with others who do it successfully, and then emulate them. Then you will be ready to plant!
