Get Big or Die Tryin'!

(Forgive the 50 Cent reference; it's excusable since he lives in the same town our church meets in Tyson's old mansion). I love the Calvary Chapel movement that I come from, but one thing I believe really think needs to be re-examined is the way we do our church plants. Our typical strategy is to send someone out with no money, no people, very little resources, and then comfort them with the phrase "Where God guides, God provides." Thus, unless you're independently wealthy you've got to work (make tents like Paul) to support your family. The problem I see (and have personally experienced with this) is it creates an unsustainable pace where you must keep three balls spinning in the air -your family, your new job, and your new church plant (not to mention your PERSONAL relationship with God). The problem I had (and others who are still in this pattern experience) is that you can usually keep 2 balls going reasonably well, but it's usually at the expense of the 3rd. So then you divert your attention to the 3rd ball, and then one of the others suffer (family, job or your church).

I call this strategy "Beat the Clock" (or the title of the post if you prefer) because basically your church has to grow larger enough to support you before you and/or your family give up in frustration or crash and burn. Wipe-out is not an uncommon thing, after all, in this model you are pushing an unmanageable load at an unsustainable pace. And if you moved to a new community, you have little or no support network. Your church may grow fast enough to beat the clock, but that isn't guaranteed since so much time and effort is diverted to paying the bills (that could instead be dedicated to the labors of your new church (which is not a start-up business, but takes all the same time, energy, dedication and sacrifice). It's not that the typical church planter wants to work less; he'd just like to take the 40+ hours per week from his employer and give it to the church.

If this sounds like I am complaining, forgive me. I really hope to further ignite a conversation that many of us are already having. And since our church-plant strategy isn't a biblical mandate, but a tradition, can't we re-evaluate it's effectiveness in our current times? Personally, I am fortunate because a good friend (thanks Bob and all the others who jumped on board) helped raise some of my support to go full-time with the church (after I held a job in my new community for 14 months) so I did that in June (though I only have 1/3 of our expenses raised which creates new tensions). It has been a tremendous blessing, and I believe the quality of the entire church experience, the planning and the growth have all increased since that time. Not to mention...may family is much better off. To be sure, there are still sacrifices, but they are more "reasonable."  But as I mentioned, I have friends that are still playing "Beat the Clock" and it isn't easy.

I talked to a large Baptist church in our area and the pastor told me how their guys go out with a group of 40 people, 2 years paid salary and the commitment of 10% of the sending church's staff time to invest in them. I'm thinking of becoming a Baptist since I can't dance anyway...Seriously, I just like that they see it as a team effort and joint sacrifice rather than everything falling on one man's shoulders.

I believe Calvary Fellowship will send church planters out, but I believe we'll really think through our strategy first and ask ourselves about any candidate, "Do we believe in the call of God on this man enough to REALLY invest in him?"

Some closing thoughts and questions that I hope sparks thought and conversation:

• Churches are no longer planted they are launched
• God may provide where He guides, but it's usually through people and churches
• What are reasonable and what are unreasonable sacrifices church planters should be asked to make?
  
• If we support missionaries financially, why not locally as we watch our nation become more post-Christian?
• If we invest in a church plant financially our heart will be there with them; offering more support of all kinds
• Should a current strategy be validated and perpetuated just because previous generations had to "pay their dues?"
• For every success story with our current model, how many planters have lost the game of "Beat the Clock?"

Comments

[Chuck M]

I totally agree with you. I am a calvary pastor that is going through the planning stages of a church plant and I have a lot of the same issues. Many times I take the approach not as one of God guiding but one of laziness. There is this excitement in announcing a church plant but supporting one after that is boring so you just send it off on its own "in God's hands."
I think we need to start this discussion and appreciate you bringing it up.

[Bob Franquiz]

Bill,

The issue also is the type of plant it is. Guys who go into very "churched" areas find that they can "Beat the clock" much easier b/c they attract a bunch of Christians to their church who start giving immediately. But what of the guys who go to areas that are grossly unchurched? "Beat the clock" can't even be an option because many times they won't make it.

People can say, "You've got to just trust God." Fine. But didn't the planter trust God when they uprooted their entire lives to go to an area to plant the church?

So let me just come out and say it: the CC model only works if you attract churched people in the early years. The question is, "Is this success?" Aren't we simply reshuffling the deck?

[Papias]

"Where God guides, God provides" has become a mantra unto itself in the CC movement. I tried a church plant with the same mentatlity. I had no one assisting me in the work, and it failed.
Get yourself some true elders to keep you accountable. If you cannot find some in your church just yet, then get someone! But you need to move into having local elders(in your church) to assist you. This will go a long way to openness with the congregation also. Consider financial openess - talk to your Baptist friends - they get it.
Also, if I can say one thing: Minister to the people that are there, focus on the Lord meeting their needs. Don't getr into the trap of telling them, "people will come as you are faithful".

[Bill LaMorey]

Thanks for your comments guys. By the way the conversation is continuing over at phoenixpreacher.com as someone posted a link to this entry under the comments of their "Much Ado About Nothing" entry. Phoenixpreacher.com (in case you don't know) is a site not favorable towards Calvary Chapel, but (for that reason) is read by many Calvary Chapel pastors; so this "conversation" may have more legs than I thought it would.

[jason berggren]

Great post. What also frustrated me in being part of a CC start-up is that the "God Guides..." mentality filtered to all ares of the ministry. So when I would ask someone else who was a little farther along how they did stuff. They would say that phrase, or the ever- popular "trust God, brother" and of course "just teach the word."

That never helped. I was helping start a church. Those were givens. That advice was so annoying because it didn't teach me anything practical about how to do a Children's Ministry, for example.

[Bill LaMorey]

Jason,

Sorry no one gave you any practical tips for running children's ministry. Let me correct that now: Just teach exegetically through a Bible book -perhaps Leviticus, and the kids will eat it up like candy.

[Luke Layow]

I just had a conversation with a friend of mine on staff at a large evangelical Christian institution. We were discussing the application of business and marketing principles to the work of the church. How can the churh ignore common sense business application as long as it can be applied within a Christian context?

To me, that is exactly what the CC movement is doing. What business would send out a manager to start up a new branch office or a franchise with little to no financial backing?

I can speak to this from the perspective of an involved lay-person currently intrenched in this process with Bill in CT. Our church is growing, lives are being changed, and we are being led by a vision that God instilled in our pastor that he has faithfully brought to us. The faith in this can't be questioned. If faith was an issue, Bill and his family would still be living in their cozy South Florida condo, minutes away from their church - a church that is an offshoot of an enormous Calvary movement with endless opporunities and resources. Faith and the reliance on God to provide...these are not the issues.

As a lay-person working hand-in-hand with Bill I have tremendous appreciation for the churches that have been used by our Lord to change his life and to be a launching pad for his ministry. I just have a very difficult time with those churches not having any skin in the game. After all, we are in the "business" of changing lives for Jesus Christ.