The Makings Of A Church Planter (6)

This is the last post I’m doing on what I see as the critical characteristics of a successful church planter. You can read the first five by clicking on the “Church Planting” label in the categories on the right.

So what’s number six?  You must have support, loads of support. What kind of support?

1. The support of your spouse. If your spouse isn’t passionate about starting the church, just don’t do it. Trust me on that.
2. The support of financial backers. Unfortunately it takes money to start a church. If you don’t have financial backing, you’re church will be in trouble. And if you can’t raise money, you’re in trouble. Why? Because the same skills necessary to raise money are necessary to start a church from scratch. If you struggle raising money, you’ll struggle in lots of other ways.
3. The support of prayer partners. Even if you’re the perfect person to plant a church, you still can’t do it. Only God can. And so you need lots of people committed to asking God to help you.
4. The support of a team on site. There are a few examples of someone starting a church by themselves, but personally I think that’s nuts. In the Bible we see Jesus send people out in two’s, and in the book of Acts we see people go out in groups of two or more. You need a team, whether they’re paid or volunteers, they need to be committed to the mission.

What should you do if you don’t have this kind of support? Get it, or find something else to do but certainly don’t start a church.

Want to learn about church planting, especially how to start a church for people who don’t like church? Come to our next Vault Church Planting Lab!