Seven Principles and Practices Learned Through a Lifetime of Church Planting
The personal church planting experience of George Bullard and his recommendations about church planting
Seven Principles and Practices Learned Through a Lifetime of Church Planting
By George W. Bullard Jr., Strategic Thinking Mentor for Christian Leaders, Congregations Denominations, and Parachurch Organizations
Do you remember where you were and what you were doing on September 11, 2001 about 9:00 a.m. in the morning?
I was sitting in the lobby restaurant of a downtown hotel in Indianapolis, IN mentoring a new national coordinator for church planting for a denomination on how to launch a movement for the multiplication of churches.
Televisions were within our view as the attacks of 9/11 took place in New York City and Washington, DC. Wait staff updated us on the events. We knew we could see the news of this replayed continuously. We were in no hurry. We were focused.
My Experience
Planting new congregations began for me at birth. My parents were part of a core group to plant a new congregation in Raleigh, NC the year before I was born. The next year my father was called as pastor of the new congregation.
The year I was seven we moved to Baltimore, MD for my father to serve as pastor of a 62-year-old church. In that role he led them to plant two churches.
When I was 15, we moved to Philadelphia, PA to plant churches in southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. I was deeply involved in every step of the first church we planted. Later, I spent the summer between my junior and senior years of college organizing the planting of a new church.
In my late 20s I organized and planted two churches in Charlotte, NC, plus helped a Korean church get started.
At 30 I began serving on the national staff of my denomination’s missions agency. Over the next four years I led a strategy to develop, fund, and otherwise resource the planting of new churches in 12 metropolitan areas around the USA. The population in each metropolitan area was a million or more.
At 34 I went to South Carolina as missions director for the state. I developed and implemented a strategy to launch 500 new churches over a 15-year period. That goal was met.
At 46 I began serving as a national consultant to denominations. I worked with 50 denominational organizations on developing a wide range of strategies – including church planting – over the next 25 years.
My Recommendations for Church Panting
Out of my life experiences I have seven principles and practices I recommend about planting churches.
First, Focus on one of these two things. The community context to which God calls you to plant a church. This should involve an in-depth understanding of the past, present, and future demographic trends. Plus, a personal in-depth knowledge of the culture of the context.
Or to understand the people group to whom God has called you – who may not live in one community context. To understand their faith traditions, spiritual heritage, and culture, and how they hear and receive the message of Jesus.
Second, project the Future of your church planting ministry. Develop a Future Story of Missional Ministry that describes what your new congregation will be like if it with faithfulness, effectiveness, and innovation lives into the call of God upon it. Anticipate several things about this. One is that your future story must be agile and flexible as God reveals more about your spiritual and strategic journey.
Another is to update your story every 120 days as God deepens your understanding. Lastly, anticipate significantly reimagining your story every seventh year as your take a congregational sabbatical to re-envision the next chapter of ministry. Use the pattern of Leviticus 25:1-12.
Third, develop a broad and deep Foundation. Define the needed size of the core group for the context or people group. It is not only about the church planter. It is about the core group God calls out, and the vision they share. If it is only about the church planter, then the planter may burnout or smother the new congregation.
Too small of a core group before public launch may result in too small of a church not capable of ministering to the community or people group.
Fourth, Flexibility is highly important. Continually look for the open doors in keeping with your understanding of the clarity of the mission and vision God has given your emerging congregation.
Church planting is an entrepreneurial situation. If the emerging congregation stays focused on the why and what, the how can change regularly. No single person or team knows all the right answers. Only God knows.
Fifth, let God’s empowering mission and vision drive you and not your Facilities. Saddleback Church had 26 locations before they built their own facilities. Let the passion for fulfilling God’s mission and vision drive your congregation throughout its life. When buildings drive a congregation, they often lose the leading edge of ministry.
Sixth, a new congregation cannot ignore systematic planning and efforts for Funding. Many current models rely on the efforts of the church planter to produce the resources needed. But sponsoring or partner churches are more important in providing a financial base. They can guide the short-term and long-term funding strategy. Also, a strong stewardship and generosity commitment must be a high value for every member of the core group.
Seventh, but not least or last, but most and first, is a Faith foundation for the new congregation. A new congregation is of God and must have a spiritual foundation or it will not be successful, significant, or represent a surrender to God’s will. This is a key place where sponsoring or partner churches can play a role.
It is amazing the difference in new congregations when at least three sponsoring or partnering churches have people praying daily in private and public settings for a new congregation. Unexpected resources and empowerment emerge that are miraculous.