Vision and Culture
One of the most exciting aspects about starting a new church is the opportunity to intentionally shape a church’s culture from nothing. As a church planter, you get create its culture so that it aligns with and supports the church’s mission. Everything a new church says and does as it is getting started will affect its culture for years to come. That’s why church planters must give careful thought to the language they use to cast vision for the new church and equally to the behaviors they ask their people to engage in.
The culture of a new church is like wet cement. There’s a short time in which it is malleable, but quickly it will harden and be set in stone.
If God is calling you to plant a church, make sure to spend time clarifying God’s vision for this new church and what will make it unique. Without clear vision for where God is leading you and how you’ll get there, you’ll expends lots of energy doing lots of good things, but make little progress toward any one thing.
As a church planter, God is calling you to makes disciples in your unique time and place. Don’t settle for planting the church God is calling someone else to start. Plant the one that God is calling you to start. That means you have to spend time listening to God’s voice and discern His vision for the church. Don’t copy the ministry of the church down the street or across the country. Study the book of Acts and look for principles to guide your ministry efforts. Spend time in silence and solitude, listening for God’s voice to offer you ideas about how your community will be different ten years from now as the result of your church making disciples there.
The unique vision God gives you will guide how you make decisions, what language you use to cast vision, and what ministry activities you’ll engage in to saturate your community with the gospel. Clarifying that vision and articulating it with clear language needs to be a priority for you if you’re planting a church. That’s why we’ve filled with newsletter with resources to help you do just that. Even if you’re leading an established church the following resources will help you clarify and articulate God’s vision for your church as well. Enjoy!
-Patrick Bradley, Director of Operations
July 2024 – Content
- Clarifying Values
- Clarifying Success
- Clarifying Vision
- Clarifying Training
Clarifying Values
Does your church have values? Yes, it does. Just like you have personal values. You may have never recognized or named those values, but beneath the surface they’re there and influence every decision you make. The same is true with a church.
Values are the heartbeat of the church. They aren’t what you do, but they characterize everything you do. They serve as filters for your decision-making and reveal your strengths. This is true for both your personal values and the values of your church.
Values act like the banks of a river, keeping your ministry efforts following towards your vision. Your church plant can survive without them, but you’re more likely to thrive when you have a set of actual and aspirational values that shape everything you do as a spiritual family. To help you identify and articulate values for your church, read the recent blog post by Carey Nieuwhof 3 Steps To Create Church Core Values.
Clarifying Success
Every church has the same mission: make disciples. How you articulate that mission and pursue it in your context will be unique, but the end goal is always still the same. Your church exists to glorify God by making disciples of Jesus.
However, if someone in your church were to ask you to give them a clear picture of what a disciple is, how would you answer them? Do you have a concise definition that they can memorize, so they know what you’re talking about when you say make “disciples”? If your people don’t have a clear understanding of what a disciple is, will they ever be able to make one? If you don’t have a clear definition of what a disciple is, how will you ever know if your church is successful at making them?
That’s why it’s important to come up with a clear and contextual definition of what a disciple is. Gain inspiration for this task from Bobby Harrington’s blog post The Definition of ‘Disciple’. You may also find it helpful to come up with a short list of attributes that define the life of a disciple. The book Church Unique calls these Missional Life Marks. It’ll take time, prayer and effort to define these marks, but having them will help people within your church evaluate how they are doing growing as a disciple. And they’ll help your whole church aim at the same target of success.
Clarifying Vision
At Passion for Planting, we tell church planters that one of their main roles as a leader is to allocate their finite resources to the critical growth path. That’s how they can build momentum within their organization to accomplish its mission. The key to building momentum in a church is getting everyone heading in the same direction.
One tool we’ve seen church leaders use to get their people working towards the same mission is Auxano’s Vision Frame. Its form and function are described in the seminal book Church Unique, which we think is a must-read for church leaders. While we do highly recommend reading the whole thing, we know you’re busy, so here’s where you can access a free visual summary of the book: Church Unique Visual Summary. Develop your Vision Frame and start building momentum within your church.
Clarifying Training
Do you know someone who has a vision for starting a new church? We connect with church planters on a regular basis that have a vision for a new church, but lack the knowledge, experience, and training necessary to make their vision a reality. That’s why we offer a Distance Church Planter Residency cohort.
Our cohort equips you to start healthy reproducing churches in your local context. No need to uproot and move to a new city to participate in our training. Our program doesn’t just fill you up with vision; it offers you practical training on how to make disciples and turn them into a spiritual family on mission for Christ. To learn more about how our program can equip you or another leader you know to plant a healthy, reproducing church, visit our residency webpage. We’re now accepting application for our 2024-2025 cohort which starts in September. Start your application today!