Keep the Church Young

"If a church wants to stay young, some of its original members need to be encouraged to go and plant new churches"

Keeping the church young is another factor we must consider if we want to create churches that keep sending out pioneers. John Wimber said that young people have babies and young churches tend to plant churches. If a church wants to stay young, some of its original members need to be encouraged to go and plant new churches. This movement will make room for new people to come in with fresh energy and enthusiasm to take up major roles in the church.

South Manchester Family Church was the first church I was involved in planting when we relocated to Greater Manchester in the early 1990s. This wonderful church sent out six church plants in the first nine years, some 200 people. I was always amazed at the vitality and faith in the church as new people stepped up to fill the gaps that sending made available.

Christ Church Manchester is the church plant I am currently leading and it is so exciting to see how, even in its formative days, people started to pray for another congregation to be pioneered. In the spirit of young churches having babies they stepped out before they were properly established, giving money and people. This has enabled CCM:City to start in south central Manchester and has now gathering around 50 adults in just over 2 years. CCM:City is now involved in pioneering a new congregation in Salford and is praying about other parts of Manchester.

Multi-site church is all about the team

"Every pioneer leader at CCM must feel part of the team reaching the whole of Great Manchester"

Team is very important for pioneer leaders and planters as often they can find themselves isolated.

At Christ Church Manchester we have endeavoured to help every pioneer leader feel part of the team reaching the whole of the Greater Manchester Region. They can then draw on a diversity of complimentary strengths and gifting, also helping one another through difficulties. Some will concentrate on the city wide work while others are diligently reaching their locality.

Having a commitment to one another and therefore for the whole gives a great sense of unity and enables the strength of the whole to be utilised in breaking open hard areas.

We often talk about being a Hyperlocal and City Wide Church. The essence of that is the team context where everyone loves the whole city and is focussed on a particular locality.

Wanted - Untried and untested pioneers

"Having a strategy for on the job training, as well as oversight, is vital for new pioneers"

As the rate of church planting increases we are going to find ourselves using untried and untested pioneers. Many who are in significant leadership today found themselves in situations that they were unprepared for. It was being on the edge of their comfort zone and experience that they learned and grew the fastest.

Having a strategy for on the job training, as well as oversight, is vital for these new pioneers. Making sure that the pioneers have a sober assessment of themselves is also important as they take on more responsibility. They will need to see that as the church grows they will probably have to hand over leadership to someone else, who’s gifting and ministry fits the growing work. Putting in the time and energy to see the church begin to grow, and yet not holding to tightly to a leadership position is emotionally challenging.

At Christ Church Manchester we have developed a training academy where we deliver generic leadership skills to all who desire to be involved in leadership. We also gather pioneers to learn specific incites and keys from gifted pioneers. They also benefit massively from each other as they share their own stories and challenges. These training schools allow us to give experience and coaching to the untried and untested. 

Mega Church v Community Church

"I believe that we should have a church planting strategy that encompasses both the mega church and the community church"

Should we build a large resource church; or do we plant a number of community churches in different parts of the city?

In every community there are people whose lives revolve around their immediate locality. They are very linked into the community where they live. It would be very strange and difficult for them to feel part of something that gathered miles away. For others they are used to commuting and getting in a car to travel. This is part of every day life for them and therefore a large resource church a few miles away can be a very attractive option. With this in mind I believe that for most cities we should have a church planting strategy that encompasses both the mega church and the community church.

Years ago as a teenager, I worked for a major super market chain. They decided to close the local small branch, as it did not fit their current strategy of concentrating resources on larger premises. It fascinates me to see that recently they, along with the other major supermarkets chains, are actively developing local smaller outlets. They are doing this to generate extra revenue from those who want to shop local or in a more convenient way.

I am sure that if we are to bring the good news of the Kingdom of God with all the personal and subsequent society change that this initiates. We should be planting hyperlocal community churches and citywide mega churches in every town and city.

Church plants should plant churches

"You get what you plan for"

Should the local church be involved in planting churches? How quickly should a church planter think about planting out again? I want to argue that we need to plan and develop strategises for further plants in the early days of the initial church plant! Church planting must be in our DNA.

To those who are just starting out in pioneering a brand new church, it may feel irresponsible or even arrogant to plan for another church plant before you have achieved the goal of growing the first one. The reason this intentionality is so important is that you tend to get what you plan for. Those leaders who have a desire to send people and plant new churches but do not have a plan find that they don’t achieve their stated intention. This is because without a game plan other seemingly important things crowd their diaries and dominate the churches agenda.

At Christ Church Manchester Tim Simmonds and I regularly find ourselves deep in conversation, often looking and conceptually planning the next CCM site or church plant. People who have recently joined the church spark our imagination and subsequent discussion can stimulate this. Or sometimes our dreams, more often daydreams, catalyses a conversation that gets the adrenalin pumping with an audacious and often unrealistic plan.

In this environment church planting can take on momentum that comes somewhere near the prophesy of planting 1000 churches John Kpikpi mentioned at the Stoneleigh bible week 1999.

Every life stage is an opportunity

"Every age group and circumstance of life can offer reasons why people can’t be involved in this great work of planting churches"

When we look at men like Gideon and Moses we see that they were full of reasons why God could not use them in their current situation. “I am in the weakest clan and I am the least in my family” was Gideon’s excuse. Moses gave a number of excuses why God could not use him including “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” They were both filled with fear and discounted themselves from God being able to use them.

During my years of planting churches in Manchester I have been provoked to see that God is able to use people of every age and situation to start new Churches. 

In recent times at Christ Church Manchester we have been using the catch phrase - “Be a student and plant a church”. However we are aware that this could be fraught with problems. Excuses like time constraints, no money, not old enough, or only being in the city a number of months can easily put people off. Every age group and circumstance of life can offer its reasons why people can’t be involved in this great work of planting churches.

Alternatively we could see the different stages of life as a potential opportunity to get caught up in the great commission of making disciples of all nations.