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Newsletter February 2023

Give Us The Tools

Patrick Bradley, Director of Operations, Passion for Planting

In February 1941 the world was at war. While the United States had yet to engage in the conflict, we offered the Allied troops support and supplies from a distance. In a radio broadcast that month, British Prime Minister Winston Church solicited support from President Roosevelt saying, “Give us the tools and we will finish the job.”

As a church planter, you’re called to take up arms and fight in a spiritual battle. Every day you’re fighting on the frontlines of ministry, invading the darkness of this world with the light of Christ. You are in many ways the special forces of the Lord’s army. That’s why we’re honored to support you.

Our friend Vince Antonucci equates starting a church that reaches non-Christians to starting a steak restaurant for PETA activists. It’s an uphill battle that’s impossible without God’s provision.

Passion for Planting exists to serve church planters who are fighting on the frontlines of ministry. We love equipping you with tools, resources, and training that will help you start healthy reproducing churches and take back more ground from the enemy. That’s why we’ve filled this month’s newsletter with several resources to help you lead the charge against our enemy.

While most of the support we offer you comes from a distance, we’re grateful for any opportunity we have to connect with you in person. We love hearing about how God’s working in your and through you. With that in mind, if you’re attending the Exponential conference next month, please stop by our Passion for Planting booth. We’d also love to have you attend our pre-conference workshop, so we’re making it free to you when you use discount code: churchplanting2023. We’d love to see you in person at Exponential and hear how you’re seeing God move in your life and ministry.

What you do matters. We’re honor to offer you some support in your endeavors. Keep fighting the good fight!

-Patrick Bradley, Director of Operations

February 2023 – Contents

  • Prayer Team Strategy Template
  • MissionHub
  • Prayer Team Recruitment Tool
  • Fostering a Culture of Prayer 

Prayer Team Strategy

Planting a church means engaging in a war against spiritual strongholds. That’s why no team you develop will be more important than your intercessory prayer team. There will be no partner more important, no project more significant than the army of prayer warriors you recruit to intercede for your church plant and support you from a distance. Getting your prayer team up and running early in the life of the plant must be a major priority. No matter how gifted you are as a leader, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment if you neglect to cover yourself and the church plant in prayer.

Are you ready to start a prayer team for your church? If you are, you may be wondering where to begin. A great place to start is our Prayer Team Strategy Template. This template will walk you through several key questions to help you develop a clear vision for a prayer team and give you next steps for developing and empowering one. Download your free template today!

MissionHub

Could you use some help mobilizing your church to take the gospel to where they live, work and play? CRU figured you might. That’s why they created the MissionHub app. This easy-to-use app guides every believer in taking next steps on their spiritual journey.

The app will help you inspire your church to see themselves as everyday missionaries equipped and empowered to share their faith with people in their sphere of influence. Whether that’s by encouraging them to pray for a friend, serve them in a practical way, or share their faith story with them, MissionHub can help you mobilize your church to live on mission seven days a week. 

Prayer Team Recruitment Tool

What would you rather do – ask people to support you financially or with their prayers? For many planters, the answer is prayer. While recruiting financial supporters is important, what’s even more imperative is raising up an army of prayer warriors to support you in the spiritual battle you’re about to embark on.

While there are many different ways to recruit people to your prayer team, one way is to share your vision at your supporting churches and invite their members to join your prayer team. We’ve developed this Prayer Team Signup template to help you clarify expectations and collect information from those interested in joining your team. Customize it, print it off, and have it on a clipboard or info table as you meet people after the worship gathering.

As one foreign missionary once said, “Not everyone can go with you to the field, but everyone can go with you on their knees.” Offer people that opportunity by inviting them to storm the gates of hell with you through prayer.  

Fostering a Culture of Prayer

Several years ago, Pete Greig sensed God calling him to create a space dedicated to prayer. This wouldn’t be your typical personal prayer closet, but would be a place where the public could gather and pray around the clock.

What started as a single prayer room in a warehouse on the south coast of England has multiplied all over the world. This prayer movement called 24-7 Prayer has now touched over 2 million people through 22,000 unique prayer rooms found in 155 different countries. These prayer rooms have popped up in a variety of places and spaces from the slums of Delhi, to a punk rock festival in Germany, to a brewery in Missouri.

Now this movement wants to help make prayer a priority within your church. For ideas and resources to bolster the prayer life of your church visit: Help My Church Pray

Photos by Rodrigo Rodriguez, Small Group Network, Jack Sharp, and Samuel Rios from Unsplash.