1 Year of Church Planting - lessons I've learnt...

 It has been one year of church planting ‘on the ground’ although work went into the planning of this far before this date, however to mark this moment I thought I would write some of my learning reflections. 

Luke 9:57-62 relays someone telling Jesus they want to follow him. The title in my Bible above this particular passage says ‘the cost of following Jesus.’ Jesus kind of says things that would make someone not want to count the cost but the next chapter directly after this tells us of 72 that did count the cost. The reality is that stepping out in faith requires a level of faith that I have never had to use before but I am reminded that there are many who have gone before me to do this and that has definitely inspired me to GO! As I reflect on the past year, I can only give thanks to God because it is His story after all. I just get to be a part of it! Below are a few of the learnings….

• Can I really do this?

• Why do I have to do this on my own?

• How will I build a team when it's not comfortable?

• I am a woman.

• I am single.

• I don’t have any money.

• I’m scared. 

In the end I felt God say to me, ‘what's the difference between someone who does wild things for me and one who doesn’t?’ I wanted to come up with a clever answer, but then I felt God say ‘the difference is that they just get on and do it.’ So that day I chose to ignore what was going on in my mind. Literally. When things came to mind, in my mind I kicked them out. I pretended I didn't feel what I felt and I just went for it. 

There's always reasons not to. 

The call of God gives us a reason to 

I think there is something very powerful about stepping into new territory. There is something spiritual about it. I’m reading Exodus at the moment and we know that for the Israelites to move into new territory it was hard work. 

I knew that before planting I had to understand the history and context of the area. I had grown up in a particular area of east london and it had my whole heart and family history. This new place didn't have so much. I had to walk the streets and take in the air! 

In the course of my research, I met with a local vicar who is totally full of the Holy Spirit and she took me down what I will call the ‘stronghold line.’ This place begins on a road called ‘Freemasons road’. At various points she stopped and told me that hundreds of years ago there were sites where young boys particularly, were sacrificed and their bodies taken out to the river Thames. We walked further and we came to the corner of a street where multiple teenage boys have been stabbed and murdered. Then we walked further and came to a bridge that overlooks London. Covered over the bridge are samaritans stickers because its notorious for suicide. Follow the line down and you come to the place where one of the worst explosions happened in a munitions factory killing a ton of people. Follow the line down and you come to the river thames - this was the docks where the slave trade came in. 

I know that's all a bit shocking, but I needed to know because there are levels of strongholds to be broken in prayer. Particularly involving young people and diversity.

I spent a ton of time before actually being on the ground preparing practically….

• Saving my tithe. 

• Writing policies

• Getting trustees in place

• Sharing my vision with people. 

• Setting up systems to facilitate growth. 

• Setting up a website.

• Getting accountability structures in place.

I'm so glad I did as it's a blessing now! Some things were easier than I thought and others harder and longer. Doing it early was a blessing! 

I started meeting with a team 2 years before we started anything. For me this was planting a church not any kind of ‘launch sunday’. We met (and continue to) once a month, sitting around a table, having food, breaking bread together and learning and growing and building towards each other. People came and went, but some remained and are still with me today. 

I didn’t know anything about church planting so I got people to speak to us who had and we learnt together. I tried to facilitate a learning space as well as creating a space to impart values and culture. The team all knew me but didn’t know each other. We needed time to become friends. To laugh together, share some tough stuff together. Just last week we had a team retreat and one part that blessed me the most was hearing how blessed everyone else is by what we call our ‘Pioneer nights’ - in that moment the consistency of doing this felt so worth it!

I am committed to multiplication and so anything we launch (normally what we call hubs) should be able to happen with just two people. That means technically out of a team of 10 we should be able to launch 5 hubs. We have one now but are about to launch another 4 taking us to 5, so we are getting there! It’s very easy to sit in a coffee shop and engage with people if there are two of you. You think about simple ways to do things if you only have 2 people. Jesus sent people out in 2’s so we are giving that a go! 

We just keep showing up. Every week. Same place. Often the same table in the coffee shop. The coffee shop now knows us. We know them. 

We have started running a games night once a month in the coffee shop - the owner reserves us tables and we show up with board games and non christians come because it's in a coffee shop and is normal. 

The coffee shop knows each week that we will be there to read our bibles and that once a month we’ll play board games. 

For about 6 months, we showed up and every week read a chapter of the book of Mark. No non christians joined. On mothers day, me and my mum arrived and pulled out a pack of uno cards. A woman looked over so we asked her if she wanted to join. She said yes. Then my team came. I explained that we were about to read the bible and she decided to join us. I read the passage about Jesus dying and at the end she said ‘so what you are saying is that Saturday in the Easer story represents the loss of hope but you as Christians believe that is not the end….’ I nearly fell off my chair. There was so much beauty in that statement especially coming from someone who doesn’t yet know Jesus. 

I think our consistency will mean we see the same people and we are putting a stake in the ground. This is God’s land now and we believe we will see a harvest as we keep turning up.

I think there is a false misconception that when you start church you have to have everything perfect - a kids ministry, a band, a welcome team, x amount of money in the bank etc. 

One of the best bits of advice we received was ‘work within your limits’. What really is essential. I use Acts 2:44-47 to help with this….

• Teaching 

• Community

• Communion

• Prayer

We try to keep to these things and keep everything simple. As we grow we’ll do more I am sure but for now we do what we can.

I think whether we want to believe it or not most churches see success as large numbers on a Sunday. You may be different of course, but this seems to be what ‘looks good’. 

I had been part of an established church that started about 100 years ago and so it was fairly easy to get numbers both in church and the youth ministry that I ran. There was momentum built and we also should not underestimate the spiritual investment into an area over a long period of time.  

Going into a brand new place that has never had a church is different. I knew this would be the case and wanted my team to understand this. A few points on this…

• We measure growth through our Hubs not Gatherings - the hubs are where discipleship happens. 

• We measure growth through connection with unbelievers - for me, it is an absolute win that a year ago, I knew no one in this area but now I could tell you probably 20 names of people I have met who are not yet Jesus followers. 

• For me, a measure of growth will be us launching another hub in a new area - it means we are taking new ground, but that could take a long time. 

When people ask me ‘how is it going’ about church planting rather than say, we haven’t yet seen someone come to faith - i tell them a story about a miraculous encounter with a non christian that I’ve had! Help people understand your measures. 

I went into this church planting journey with nothing, quite literally. I had no church financially backing us. I personally am on a faith journey and so don’t know from month to month how much I will have in my bank account. I had no team. I had no place to meet. I knew no one in the area. 

Psalm 23:1 says, ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.’ - I have this written at the top of my personal budget and it is very true to our church budget too. 

Starting with nothing has meant I have seen unbelievable miracles! 

• People out of nowhere joining team

• Financial provision from strange places

• Easy access to a community centre with free storage (even though they won’t let other external groups in)

• Favour with the coffee shop we meet in. 

I could go on!

One of the first things I did was meet with various different other church leaders from a variety of church backgrounds. I went in with a posture of learning and it was so helpful. Some of these vicars have come to speak to my team. I just went on a retreat with a group of them. I have become good friends with a local vicar who is a similar age to me. It has enabled me to understand what is happening in the area - e.g. there is a lot being done for homelessness but not lots for young people. So we’ll focus on young people and connect into what they are doing with the homeless if we need to! Doing the hard work of connecting has blessed my life so much!

Sometimes it can be hard to think outside the box when we are in the box…..if I was put in a box and dropped in a mystery place, unless I get out the box I might not be able to see what it's like. 

I think sometimes it can be like this in an established church. It's not really our fault but we just get so used to the box. Church planting, I think, allows for a level of spiritual entrepreneurship. I found that I had to give myself permission to think differently about how we do church. I was, as I said, a part of an established church all my life and I loved it, but it has been so refreshing to think differently. How might the church need to look different for a generation of young people interested in spirituality? I'm trying to ask myself questions like that as we move forward. 

I personally have committed to give my life for the generations coming through. It's why I do Young Lions, a young leaders programme for Assemblies of God. It's why I'm keen to release younger people. It's why I want to reach the next generation and that shapes how I think about building churches. 

What has been fascinating for me on this journey is the blessing of cross-generations. My team is of all ages. The youngest 5, the oldest nearly 70 and everything in between. There is a young man who is part of my team who is about 27. He really loves chatting to my mum who is 69. It seems weird, but I think he’s found a grandparent. 

We don’t have a worship team yet so I'm looking for young people in churches nearby who could give their young people on loan - it gives them an opportunity to grow and helps us to build with young people. 

Everything is about connecting the generations! 

A young woman came to our new church plant about a month after we started. She had previously gone to church but hadn’t been for about 5 years. Although she would say she still believed in God and prayed her relationship with Him wasn’t as strong as it once was and she had lost all sense of spiritual community. She had put a post on social media that simply said ‘Jesus help me!’ Someone on my team saw it and reached out. She has been to our church ever since. I don’t think I have ever seen someone so spiritually hungry. She is now part of our team and is about to launch a Hub connecting with children and families. When I think about church planting, I think about her. Someone who went from little connection with God to full partnership with Him and the plans He has for her life. Sometimes I think if nothing comes of this journey (which I know is a crazy thing to think about when God is involved!) it will be worth it because of this one woman. Stepping into church planting has been one of the most exciting things I have ever done and if you are considering it I hope you’ll go for it!!