CCM:City South

"CCM:CitySouth is beginning to come to life"

The challenge of bringing the good news of the kingdom of God to a great city like Manchester has lived with me for more years than I'd care to remember. Manchester is a city with great diversity and complexity. The dream we had all those years ago is being amazingly worked out by a growing number of churches from many backgrounds in many different ways across Manchester.

Twenty years ago God gave us a vision to plant churches into the different communities of Greater Manchester (Hyperlocal). These churches were to be webbed together (Multisite) giving them much greater impact and profile across the city in a way they could never achieve on their own.

In January of this year I found myself sitting with a group of friends in the basement of a cafe/bar in Withington (South Manchester) dreaming about what a new church could look like in this community. It had all the energy, laughter and intentionality that captivated each of the previous plants. CCM:CitySouth is beginning to come to life.

A mile up the road, as you travel towards the center of Manchester in Fallowfield, CCM:City is gathering pace. After having started in September 2009 in a vodka bar with a small group of motivated people and a few ridiculous ideas we have seen some success. After a year in the vodka bar CCM:City moved to a theological training college where it is has gathered momentum. We have seen around 80 first time visitors since September 2011 and a number of them wanting a morning meeting. CCM:CitySouth is looking to fulfill this need as it also serves the local community.

If you want to follow our progress then check out on the CCM:CitySouth Facebook page as well as following Christ Church Manchester and me on twitter.

The rip effect

"Sending people out in small pioneer teams can help minimise this as fewer relationships are affected."

“The rip affect” is my way of describing what has happened to a number of churches around the country that have been involved in church planting. Some churches have planted out 3 or 4 times and then stalled in their own growth often for many years.

In my opinion this is mainly due to those people, who have stayed with the sending church, needing to recover from the loss of their friends who moved on to new church plants.

This is sometimes due to confusion with the strategy of trying to build a resource base before you send people out. This can happen because two philosophies are being operated simultaneously. One is where we spend the first few years building people together into a community, and then when we have achieved this you “relationally rip” that community apart by sending a number of people out. 

Sending people out in small pioneer teams can help minimise this as fewer relationships are affected. Also, effectively communicating the church planting vision encourages people to build relationships with those they will be planting with in the longer term.

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.

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.