Tips on Starting New Congregations
- A team approach is essential. According to Lyle Schaller 60% of churches planted by a single person fail within three to four years. Those that succeed typically average only 120 in worship by their tenth birthday.[1]
- According to George Barna, church plants will typically begin with a paid team that includes a pastor, director of music director, and a director of lay ministry.[2]
- George Bullard suggests that the church planter (or team) recruit fourteen adults who have "positive, spiritual passion about the new congregation's mission." They then identify up to twenty-eight additional adults who are ready to provide leadership for the new church. These 42 adults, thus, serve as the church's founding core.[3]
- According to Schaller, establishing new congregations using a multi-site model appears to be overall more successful than a sponsoring-church (daughtering) model.[4]
Notes
[1] Conference-call with Lyle Schaller, July 13, 2001, Chicago, IL.
[2] Net Results, October 2001, p. 14.
[3] Ibid., p. 26.
[4] Conference-call with Lyle Schaller, July 13, 2001, Chicago, IL.
