By NewChurches.com: In Episode 564 of the NewChurches Q&A Podcast, Daniel and Todd discuss things that established churches and pastors can learn about the church planting stage.

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

How flexibility and agility benefit church plants
Why all churches need entrepreneurial leaders

 Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches):

“Every church plant is going to be an established church and every multisite church is an established church.” – @danielsangi
“You don’t want to hold the label church plant forever.” – @danielsangi
“One of the biggest things they can learn is flexibility.” – @toddadkins
“Churches that were able to adapt and be nimble were the ones who leveraged what happened with COVID.” – @danielsangi
“It’s the approach and attitude of a startup.” – @toddadkins
“When you look at organizational life cycles, church plants that fail lack entrepreneurial leadership. Established churches that grow old and stale lack entrepreneurial leadership.” – @danielsangi
“Established churches that are growing have those entrepreneurial leaders.” – @danielsangi

Recommended Resources:

Listen to Episode 560: Organizational Life Cycles

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The post Episode 564: What Established Churches Can Learn From Church Plants appeared first on NewChurches.com – Church Planting, Multisite, and Multiplication.

Source: Episode 564: What Established Churches Can Learn From Church Plants

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By Brent Dolfo: In their newly released research on multisite trends, Dave Travis and Warren Bird reveal some of the ‘why’ behind “the dramatic growth of church planting and of multisite,” particularly among the emerging generation of leaders. According to the report, leaders are converging on a new mindset: one that values not just reproduction, but multiplication. It is a vision that involves planting churches and launching campuses that, in turn, multiply through new church starts and campus launches.

This multiplication focus has led senior and executive pastors to an increased emphasis on the development of high-end talent from within their own large churches.  Churches that are having the most success in this endeavor are strategically appointing Pastors/Directors of Leadership Development. These leaders carry the primary responsibility of ensuring enough leaders are raised up so the multiplication of church plants and multisite locations can continue to flourish.

Another critical success factor for churches that look to accelerate their leadership development efforts: they choose not to go it alone.

That’s where Leadership Network’s cohorts have had such a tremendous impact. Over the past several years we have served hundreds of leaders who wanted to upgrade their leadership development models to increase the quality and quantity of high-capacity leaders developed from within. The ability to accelerate learning and speed up the implementation of new models for leadership development has had a profound impact on the health and growth of these churches.

Steve Hutmacher, an executive pastor at Cedar Creek Church described the benefits they saw this way:

“We really appreciated the collaboration with other churches and pastors learning from them. Coming in we thought we were doing good at leadership development, but now we see a path to becoming a lot better. With our renewed emphasis on developing our campus pastors, we’re seeing them focus more on the development of their leaders and teams.”

Cedar Creek, like so many large and growing churches, recognized the pressing need to continually develop enough leaders who can effectively oversee ministry teams and future campuses. But rather than try and figure it out on their own, they chose to engage in a process and experience that exposed them to effective models, engaged them in dialogue with other leaders, and encouraged their progress through coaching and accountability.

But it all starts with a clear understanding of your church’s needs.

A simple question to ask yourself to assess leadership development in your church would be: “If your church was to grow by 50% in the next year, would you have enough quality leaders to handle the influx of new members, ministry opportunities, and locations?”

For most large churches, the answer is “no.”

In May of this year, Leadership Network will launch its next experience for large churches that recognize the need for “upping their game” in leadership development.  Its called the Leadership Development Accelerator, a 12-month experience that goes beyond anything we’ve offered before.  The Leadership Development Accelerator will guide your team in:

Building a stronger bench of high potential leaders able to tackle the next wave of ministry opportunities ahead of you.
Engaging with several of the best church models of leadership development in the U.S.
Learning from some of the most dynamic, multi-national businesses about how they’re developing high potential leaders.
Clarifying your church’s unique core leadership competency profile, providing a baseline to compare to potential leaders
Retooling your processes for taking the raw material of high potential young staff and making them “better, faster.”
Using data to compare the profile of your existing senior leaders to those already sitting in your pews to determine who potentially might have the “right stuff” to be a future key leader.

If you are looking to leap ahead in your ability to develop high-capacity executive and campus level leaders, the Leadership Development Accelerator will provide you with the insights, relationships, and tools your growing church needs. Space in our upcoming group is limited. Set up a discovery call today by completing the form below.

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Source: The Best Path to Accelerate the Development of High-Capacity Leaders in Large Churches

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by Dave Travis: Our fearless research director, Dr. Warren Bird, has done it again. By mining the great insights of the polling we did in 2017 he has uncovered more great facts that clearly show how the multiplication mindset permeates today’s thinking.

The next generation of church pastors is aiming to grow via outreach by multiplying sites and congregations.

While some church commentators seem to be obsessed with a narrative of decline among churches, this report highlights the renewal coming among younger generations of leaders.

Among the findings:

83% of the pastors under age 40 have a vision to plant or launch a new campus or church.
Church Planters/Starters and Campus Pastors in their first five years at a church are 2.3 times more likely to have a vision to plant a church as compared to those in the same church for more than 10 years.
Multisite churches rate themselves 82% more likely to launch another church/campus than those that have never done so.
Half of new congregations are in portable environments such as schools, theaters or other borrowed spaces.
Those in portable environments grow 12% faster on an annual basis.
A multisite campus is 2.5 times more likely to have trained future campus pastor or church planter.

These findings, and others embedded in the report, illustrate the various ways churches are envisioning, planning and multiplying leaders and congregations throughout North America. Other parts of the report focus on the dramatic increases in church starting and the explosion of multisite churches. The full report can be downloaded for FREE at leadnet.org/portable. This report is full color with lots of convenient illustrations.

The report is the second in a series based on research conducted by Dr. Warren Bird with 1,621 churches and multisite churches in 2017. “This new report shows how younger churches and their leaders are remapping the views of future church leaders. It speaks of the great hope we have at Leadership Network for the church of the future,” says Dave Travis, CEO of Leadership Network. Mr. Travis is the co-author of the report with Dr. Bird, longtime research director of Leadership Network.

Leadership Network’s research is based on growing, vital churches, not focused on average churches doing average things. As such its sample is admittedly skewed and is not representative of all churches in America and Canada.

Our clientele is not focused on being average however. Our church leader clients want to attempt great things for God’s kingdom.

This report is already being quoted widely by other commentators in pre-release versions. Download it to read and get your own sense of the report. Readers will also note the good attitudes and interest of older church leaders in these areas. They are not quite as aggressive as the younger leaders, but are still attempting great things in church planting and multiplying sites.

The survey and writing were conducted independently but the report’s distribution is sponsored by Portable Church, Inc. The company gave no direction in the findings but represents one of the many specialty companies and organizations that have grown over the last two decades and are helping make it easier for churches to start new congregations and multiply into new sites. For more information see portablechurch.com.

We are grateful to our friends at Portable Church for their support of this project.

The post The New Multiplication Movement appeared first on Leadership Network.

Source: The New Multiplication Movement

The post The New Multiplication Movement appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Warren Bird: What did leaders from more than 1,500 new churches or multisite campuses tell us about what they’ve learned and experienced? “8 Launch Wins,” our newly released report gives you wisdom from comparing various approaches and circumstances. Here is the infographic from the richly illustrated report, which is a free download, available now. To download the full report, simply fill out the short form at the bottom of this page.

Click the image to be taken to the full-size infographic.

The infographic highlights only a few of the main findings. Over a dozen additional illustrations are included in the full report that look into issues that planning teams and launch teams want to know more about. For example:

Should we plant a new church or open a new multisite location?
Should we initially rent and be “portable” or should we immediately lease/buy something “permanent”?
How do we become more effective at making disciples of Jesus Christ, and not just at gathering a crowd?

Download the full “8 Launch Wins” Report:

The post Five New Reasons Why You DO Want to Launch that New Church or Campus appeared first on Leadership Network.

Source: Five New Reasons Why You DO Want to Launch that New Church or Campus

The post Five New Reasons Why You DO Want to Launch that New Church or Campus appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Dave Travis: Pastoral training models are constantly evolving. In our continuing series (link to the previous here, here, and here) of nuggets discovered in our soon-to-be released report from Leadership Network/Portable Church Industries, we found that multisite congregations are 2.5 times more likely to have trained either a new campus pastor or new church planter than a single site church.

Why is this?

Our hunches:

Multisite churches need lots of leaders. This is especially true for those with more than two sites and for those over extended geographies. As the church and number of sites grow, there is a need for more leaders to staff the church across locations.
With this need has come the adoption and deployment of more robust leadership development systems to get leaders at all levels including campus pastors and church planters.
In these processes, some emerging leaders are recognized more as church planters and sent out to plant new congregations independently. Additionally, as more leaders are trained, multisite churches feel more confident in launching new sites.
Perhaps a small group of single-site leaders are fearful of raising up new leaders as they may challenge existing leader structures and systems. In other words, they could have a bias against leader development or development at the congregational leadership level.
While there are many connectional denomination churches that are deploying multisite and church-planting models, the predominance of those streams of churches tend to depend on the denominational system and their educational systems to provide pastors and do church planting. Their systems are getting the results of that design with churches not responding to do it on their own.

This is not to say that some single-site churches do not train, equip and deploy church planters. Some leaders with theological and pragmatic biases against multisite models DO invest heavily in church-planting residencies to send out leaders.

But our latest research shows multisite churches are much more likely to do so.

Get on the list by clicking the box below to get the full report when it is released:

The post Multisite Churches Are Training the Next Generation of Pastors appeared first on Leadership Network.

Source: Multisite Churches Are Training the Next Generation of Pastors

The post Multisite Churches Are Training the Next Generation of Pastors appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Josh Whitehead: Multisite: Extending Your Church’s Reach

Every Pastor has a vision – a vision to make a difference in their community for the cause of Christ. And, every Pastor pursues this vision in a different way. For many churches, extending your reach into your surrounding communities will be accomplished through multisite.

Obviously, you do not need me to define multisite for you.  You have likely had the passing thought of becoming a multisite church or are being driven daily by the desire to be a multisite church – and to be there soon. However, you may be stuck. The thought of embarking on the multisite journey seems overwhelming. You have questions, but you’re not sure where to go for the right answers.

At Leadership Network, we’ve made a part of our identity helping leaders like you. Over the years we have helped hundreds of churches make advances in the area of multisite, including launching their first campuses. Our experience has shown us that leaders must focus on three critical phases for launching a first campus.  Our HUB:Multisite JumpStart experience has been intentionally built around each of the three phases.  Here they are (and how we can help):

Planning Your Journey

There are critical areas that you must consider in becoming a multisite church.  And there is no one-size-fits-all solution.  That’s why it is critical to have a well-crafted, actionable plan for launching your first campus. When should you start casting the vision to your staff and leaders? How will you develop a Campus Pastor? Where will you launch the first location? How will you fund your multisite vision?  These are just a few of the questions your team must answer as you map out your plan.

Through our action-oriented process and newly developed Multisite Launch Guide, we will help you process through 18 “markers” to launching your first campus. We will also add valuable insight from thought leaders in the area of multisite from some of the greatest multisite churches in America.

Creating Your Organizational Structure

As you prepare to launch your first campus, your church must change. And, more importantly, your staff and volunteers must change. Becoming a multisite church can stretch your leadership and thought capacity.  Multisite requires your team to think differently in order to create the culture that you desire to have as an organization.

In our HUB:Multisite JumpStart experience, we’ll help you unpack the changes that you need to make to become a multisite church – not just a church with another campus. Whether planning your future central support model or learning to develop a multisite staff team, we’ll equip you to create a structure that will lead you into a greater multisite reality.

Evaluating Your Launch

When you launch your first campus, you want to be able to answer one simple question: How do we know if we are successful? By creating a scorecard to evaluate your current and future campuses, you’ll empower your team to create greater momentum. Each of you will be working together for a common goal instead of working for different goals.

With a common goal, you’ll gain a common synergy. With synergy comes momentum and through momentum you can make the changes that you desire in your local community. You’ll begin to see the life-change that defines your church’s impact in the lives of the people attending your campus.

Let Leadership Network Help You Launch

If you are considering multisite, I strongly urge you to consider becoming a part of HUB:Multisite JumpStart. We’ll empower your team to lead your church through the multisite journey – and you’ll launch your first campus with a greater success than you ever could have on your own. If you want to considering partnering with us on your journey, click or tap on the button below to learn more. Then complete the brief form and we’ll get in touch.

Source: 3 Critical Phases for Launching Your First Campus

The post 3 Critical Phases for Launching Your First Campus appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By Warren Bird:

Are you curious whether online church helps or hurts attendance at the physical locations of churches like yours?

Overall, do you think the growth of online church been a good thing for the Christian movement?

Or what about experimentation over microsites, such as “dinner church”? What kind of microsites are most popular in churches your size?

What about church use of predictive analytics to find spiritually receptive people?

We’ve got a bunch of front-line questions like these and we want to collect opinions from people like you about churches like yours.

Our large-church pastors and staff survey is still open, and we’d love to get your take on questions like the ones above.

If you participate in the survey, know that you’ll be helping thousands of others learn from your perspective.  We are also giving away some pretty cool rewards and prizes! Simply click the link below. Thank you.

Source: Does Online Church Hurt Attendance at Your Physical Location?

The post Does Online Church Hurt Attendance at Your Physical Location? appeared first on Passion for Planting.

Do you want to take your church to the next level in leadership development?

According to Leadership Network’s Warren Bird, approximately 80% of North America’s churches are either plateaued or declining. Only 20% are growing and less than 0.5% of all church are multiplying—either by starting new churches or planting new campuses.

Critical to becoming a multiplying church is raising up and developing enough leaders so you not only are starting new churches/campuses but also reaching more people in your community and having enough passionate leaders to disciple others.

Today, we’re desperate for models, success stories on churches that are leading the way in producing an abundance of effective volunteer and staff leaders. Cedar Creek, in Toledo, Ohio is one of those hidden gems.

In June of 1994 Lee Powell attended a church leadership conference at Willow Creek Community church. where he heard Bill Hybels talk about the local church being the hope of the world. Later that night, Lee gathered with four others who were attending the conference with him to talk about the possibilities for a church like that in the greater Toledo area. In November 1994, twenty-five people came together to form the core of what is now known as Cedar Creek Church.

Since those humble beginnings, Cedar Creek has grown into a church of more than 8,000 people in weekly attendance, in five locations. It has helped plant 10 new congregations in the U.S. as well, and has churches in Central America and the Dominican Republic.

One of the most impressive parts of Cedar Creek is instead of importing leaders and staff from other churches, it has identified, developed and deployed leaders from within their own congregation. Of the 100 people on payroll at the church, 97 have been raised up from within.

We recently invited Steve Hutmacher, Executive Pastor at Cedar Creek to join us for a FREE webinar titled “5 Keys for Creating a Culture of Leadership Development.”  Steve oversees leadership development and Cedar Creek’s internship and apprenticeship program.

Join us on Wednesday, April 26th, at 1:00 pm CDT to learn the top five principles that have guided Cedar Creek’s multiplication emphasis.

Source: WEBINAR: 5 Keys for Creating a Culture of Leadership Development

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