My friend Jonathan McIntosh has followed Jesus’ leading from the comforts of a significant staff position at The Journey in St. Louis (A29) into the raging sea of church planting.
For what it is worth, I am very proud of him.
In the process, he has produced what I believe is one of THE BEST church planting proposals that I have ever seen.
If you are a church planter who hasn’t yet planted, download this, print it out and rip it off. Just make sure you change his city to yours and his picture. Otherwise that might be awkward ; ).
Click HERE to get it.
Dustin – thanks for posting this. I’m grateful.
1. I have good church planting coaches. One, McKay Caston (http://mckaycaston.com/) was instrumental in helping me hammer this thing out.
2. And if anyone out there is looking for a new church plant to support…
ok devils advocate here.
I think the proposal is good.
But I for one don’t understand the exorbitant budget,
and through it I don’t get a sense of where the core people are going to come from (although that may be implicit since it’s a vision packet for launch team)
sorry to rain on the parade,
a fellow bloke who knows the ups and downs of planting.
These are great questions. You should contact Jonathan himself at jonathan@rethinkmission.org. I’m sure he’d be happy to answer.
Great post. And I loved the package.
One question that I have as a guy that is almost 3 years into planting a church (as a layman, with no outside help) is this; Most of the info on church planting that I find on the web is very slick. Now it may be the self-selecting minority effect, but it seems to me that a high degree of corelation exists between the tech savvyness of the planter & funding.
My expirience is that my wife & I invited a few friends to our house one Sunday evening 34 months ago & we now have several ministries & 40+ at our Sunday service. Total budget aprox 20k that was collected at our meetings.
So we waited aver a year to buy a (cheap) sound system. We had no sign for 24 months, and we woud have stopped meeting months ago if we had not been able to make great deals on our rent.
So since I have no tech skills, how do I advance to the next level? We are in a city of great need. No other reformed church exists that has not compromised in a major way (mainline denomination) or that is anti-missional (evangelical mainstream). I know that God wants a reformed church in this city, nut I can’t put that kind of package together.
The fundraising does not scare me. I am a salesman by trade & a former funraiser. However when I raised $ for a living I had staff that did all of “that stuff”.
Do you know of any way that I can translate our vision into a matketable format that will help us reach outside of our group to obtain the resources to grow?
peace.
Wayne – I don’t think it’s an exorbitant budget at all. Of course, it all depends on perspective and on what you want you are trying to accomplish as a planter. Most likely, a highly incarnational approach with a bi-vocational pastor wouldn’t require this budget. Of course, the “large launch” guys look at my budget and to them it looks slim. 200k is normal for year 1 if that includes more than one salary, facilities, promo and other launch costs. (BTW, potential churches and team members can have access to the budget – they just have to ask.)
As to where the core group comes from – this document doesn’t line that out… it only hints at it (Renewal projects, etc.) I believe that a church planter needs gathering and evangelism skills in their gift mix. If you’d like to talk more about gathering a initial launch team – let me know. Thanks for touching base.
The Truth – While I know from experience how funny Landover Baptist Church can be – I wouldn’t quite call them a “resource.”
Kevin – is there a pastor you could connect with in your area that might be a resource to you as a bi-vocational pastor? When I was at The Journey in St. Louis – we loved to honor bi-vocational guys and help them through relational coaching. Anyone around that knows your context fairly well that would love to help think through practical next steps?
In my world – if there is an Acts 29, Converge, or newer PCA church anywhere near by – those pastors generally love to connect with missional pastors in their areas.
Let me know if you want me to help pair you with someone.
-JMac
Kevin,
I am encouraged to hear about your situation, thought I know that does not help you at all.
I am in rural (what is not rural about) Iowa, where the description you gave fits my scenario as well. A29 church planters have both told me to shut down and also keep going. Lots of mixed advice because it is not cut-and-dry as a bi-vocational pastor.
I heard a sermon a long time ago by Eric Mason about fund raising and being bi-vocational. I have not seen or heard much else from the Acts 29 guys about this because it is true: when you work for a living and then do church ‘on the side’ it is very, very difficult.
A benefit: you never ever get blamed for being lazy by members of your church who think church planting and pastoring is not work. You have an incredible ability to relate to those around you without appearing “professional.”
With that in mind, would I take full-time salary? You bet.
Rejoice in your situation and enjoy the unique trials which come from being “hybrid” or “non-traditional.” The book of Acts documents the lives and trials of under- and un-funded church planters, I think.
Enjoy Eric’s sermon: http://bit.ly/5cyq9l