Ideas for Church Plant (or Renewing Church Zeal) - Part 2

Teach Church to Give to Missions.

Have a missions conference by the second year of church’s existence. Don't support other Americans, find local pastors/missionaries/church planters. You may have to ask other missionaries, but you can likely find someone even if they live many hours from where you are working. Let the people know that you have come as a missionary and other countries and areas need missionaries as well. Talk about the need to get churches planted all over your city, but someone has to support them to begin. Missionaries do their church on the field a big mistake by not letting them feel the weight of giving (church of Macedonia was in deep poverty yet still gave according to II Corinthians 8).

Start Youth Meeting Right Away.

Make it fun, interesting, a place where they can get questions or doubts answered and a place where they want to bring friends. Friday or Saturday evenings are good options. They do not need more games than preaching and teaching time. Offer free drinks. Don't make it infantile and be clear that they'll learn Bible and get their doubts or questions answered in this meeting. The youth meeting will likely be the training grounds from which your future leaders come from.

Your Preaching.

Preach messages that are basic, helpful and that will attract people. Of course our preaching should be based on Bible, but remember that preaching is not for your own good but for the good of the people. Don't use big words without explaining the meaning. Teach basic discipleship lessons and truths. Don't try to be deep, go wide (lots of truth and reachable for everyone). People are curious about certain subjects/ topics and as long as you stem from the Bible, you can hit on topics that draw and help people (creationism, family, finances, success, who is God, what happens after death, etc.). Stay Basic. Use object lessons. Use stories. Look at the people. Include them in your preaching. Find topics that are going to help and attract people. Keep it on the bottom shelf. Preach children's church style, don't go deep. Remember to give spoon by spoon bites, not an entire plateful. Let them take one thing home, not many things. Follow the old acronym "K.I.S.S." - Keep It Simple Stupid.

Bibles.

Offer free Bibles at church for people to use. Offer to give them a Bible if they come to church 4 Sundays in a row (gets people back and you want them to have a Bible anyways). Using the same Bible will help people at the beginning so you can tell them what page number to turn to until they grow and learn where books of the Bible are located.

Begin Discipleship Immediately.

Find a system that works best for you and encourage everyone to go through it (there are many good discipleship curriculums). Talk about the discipleship you offer in the service and have a volunteer with copies available every service. Give a special certificate for anyone that finishes the lessons (we had 26 lessons in our 1st level). Discipleship helps people learn about salvation, baptism, faithful church attendance, tithing or giving and much more without you having to keep repeating and preaching on it. You may have some lessons you do together (later teach them to take others through it once they’ve finished) but have a entire level of lessons with fill-in-the-blanks so they can take it home and do it on their own pace (Bible passages they look up and the spaces is a phrase or word from that verse). As they finish one lesson, they bring it back and you give the next lesson to take home (checking the lesson they turned in and later talking to them about any misunderstandings). When they finish you give a certificate in front of the church and give them back their lessons all stapled together. You can do another level where it is one on one with the person. There are many ways to do discipleship but goal is to make sure they do it (and you have to be strategic since you only have so much time to offer every person).

Entryway.

Make a small and cheap entryway in your building (use plywood or drywall) as to silence street sounds (just as some bathrooms have a small wall/division so you can’t see in). Church people get distracted too easily with others coming in, people talking outside or vehicles driving by, so you have to try to silence out the distractions. You have prepared and ready to preach and you need their attention, so minimize distractions. Making a small entry way (even if it’s just 1 or 2 meters) doesn't have to be expensive, but it will double your efforts in teaching and preaching.

Holidays.

Find out their holidays and do something that shows you are one of them, such as putting out a flag on their Independence Day or recognizing a national historical day. If a holiday is something where you can’t biblically celebrate it because it is paganistic, sensual or sinful, plan another non-related activity. It could be a special youth meeting or activity at the church or go to the streets to pass out tracts.

Advertisement.

Pay to get advertisements everywhere you can - on public transportation, street signs, billboards, etc. Likely big city busses are too expensive but smaller businesses (taxi companies or smaller busses) would accept your advertisement. Get something printed up that they need or will use and have your church name/info on it.

Be Specific.

Teach how to do offering, announcements, be a greeter or anything you want done. Be specific how you want it done and show them. Remember they have never seen it done or know what you are thinking. Show them how to receive people at the door, how to pass offering baskets down every aisle, how to give announcements or everything else you want done.

Everyone should Take Something Home.

Plan to have both visitors and church people take something home with them. Give first-time guests a visitors packet with a pen, Gospel brochure, calendar or other little gift. Pass out sermon notes they can either read to follow along or fill in the blanks. If they take something home, others may read/see it. You can print up brochures or booklets on how to read the Bible with a “Read you Bible Through in a Year” plan.

You always want people to take something home from church to remember activities and to be able to influence them throughout the week.

Record All your Preaching and Teaching

You can upload it to YouTube or Sermon Audio, put it on the church’s website or make it available on CD, but make sure to record everything you teach and preach.

Get your Family Involved.

Let your kids stand outside to invite and help pass out tracts. Your children give the impression of life, fun, healthy and family friendly. Kids attract other kids, other families and just about everyone that sees them.

Encourage Everyone to Evangelize.

Have tracts available and easily accessible. Make it fun and a challenge for everyone to pass out 10 tracts a week. Teach them how to invite people and be excited about bringing new people.

Teachers and Workers Meetings.

Hold a teachers and workers meetings every week (before or after a service is probably easiest). Allow anyone interested to come whether they are working in the church yet or not. Give practical, ministerial lessons on how to receive people, how to disciple someone, how to evangelize, how to teach a lesson, how to study your Bible, why be faithful to church, etc. The goal is to teach the people to become faithful workers and to do ministry.

Give People Jobs Immediately.

Someone doesn’t have to be saved or spiritually mature. Their are many things a new Christian or even an interested unbeliever can do. They can be greeters, set out chairs, be ushers, turn on projector (or put out songbooks), pass out bulletin, turn on lights, sweep the floor, count attendance, prepare front entrance, decorate, help with cooking meals for special days, etc.

Here’s a little flyer that we used in Argentina to encourage church people to get involved: