by Patrick Bradley: Have a specific plan to celebrate temporary launch team members as you send them back to your supporting church. There’s a lot that is riding on it.

If you’re recruiting temporary launch team members from a supporting church, start with the end in mind. And that end is not getting people to come and serve your church.

There is a direct correlation between how well you celebrate them and:

how they feel about having served
the kind of leadership and initiative they take after they return to their sending church
the chances that they’d volunteer for another plant in the future
how likely the sending church will be to help another planter in the future
the health of your ongoing relationship with the sending church
to what degree your indigenous workers will step up to fill the gaps that are left
…and probably some other things, too

Whatever the agreed upon time frame, you need to publicly celebrate their contribution. Probably even if they decide not to stick it out for the whole term. They joined you on mission and they are heroes of the Church.

The great news is that it’s not difficult or necessarily expensive.

Celebrate Temporary Launch Team Members

Bless them as you release them back to the sending church. And if some stay on and make your church plant home, bless them publicly, too.

Here are some ideas to celebrate temporary launch team members:

acknowledge them from the platform during a worship gathering
call them forward and pray a blessing over them during a worship gathering
record a video of one of the above and send it to the supporting church or post it online
throw a dessert or party (a surprise party?); just don’t make it a potluck
give them each a gift card and thank you note
give them each a memento or trophy
contact their sending pastor and brag on them
post a picture of the whole group on social media

Pick several of these ways to celebrate temporary launch team members. Everyone wins when you do.

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Source: How to Celebrate Temporary Launch Team Members

The post How to Celebrate Temporary Launch Team Members appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Patrick Bradley: It can be scary for the sending church to send out temporary launch team members to help a church plant. But it can be a blessing to that church, the workers, and to the church plant.

The Kingdom Math

There are no guarantees in ministry. But I have seen this pattern: both the church plant and the sending church get blessed. The church plant because it gets the critical mass it needs to avoid low birth weight. The sending church because it re/connects with mission, and because it cycles its own leadership and volunteer pool:

I serve in church planting today, in part, because in 1999 others were recruited from my church to be temporary launch team members. My pastor announced that we’d be planting a church in the next city over and that we’d be sending some of our best and brightest out to serve. Which meant that those riding the bench would have to step up and fill the gaps they left. I decided that was something I could sink my teeth into, something I could give my life to.

Sending out temporary launch team members certainly is unpredictable, but you never know who you might activate when you do.

And I could give you several stories of churches that ended up with higher attendance after they send out temporary launch team members.

SWAP Team

Of course, some of the temporary launch team members may fall in love with the new church. They may get so interwoven into the fabric of the church plant that they decide to move from SWAT Team members to Servants Willing And Permanent.

In the end, this seems to work itself out, too. After 6 months, the sending church has back-filled their vacancy and feels the pressure less. Or the sending church doubles down on investing in church planting and figures out a way to make it work.

When the Church is openhanded enough to send out temporary launch team members to church plants, there’s opportunity for everyone to win.

The post Why Your Church Should Send Out Temporary Launch Team Members appeared first on Church Planting Tactics.

Source: Why Your Church Should Send Out Temporary Launch Team Members

The post Why Your Church Should Send Out Temporary Launch Team Members appeared first on Passion for Planting.