Practical Church

What should you do when you feel God might be leading you to plant a church? You're excited and nervous, but what are you supposed to do about this prompting? The good news is that there are practical next steps that you can take, and it doesn't have to be as confusing as you might think. In this episode, we'll share with you what you should do next.

Welcome to welcome to episode 190 of Practical Church Planting.

Here are the six next steps we discuss in this episode:

• Tell three people and ask them what they think
• Look into and reach out to church planting networks
• Join a local church and serve in a significant way
• Reach out to pastors in your area about meeting and hearing their story
• Figure out your needed theological training
• Don't rush your decision but do take steps

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Have questions or want encouragement from other church planters? Join the Practical Church Planting Facebook group.

We know how discouraging it can be to pray, prepare, and serve as faithfully as you can, but not see any growth in your church. How can you get people to invite their friends, coworkers, and classmates? What does it look like to even create a culture of invitation at your church? The good news is there there are some very practical things you can do to help people invite their friends.

Don't sit in frustration, take steps in making invitations the norm and not the exception. In this episode, we share 5 ways to create a culture of invitation at your church.

Welcome to welcome to episode 189 of Practical Church Planting.

Here are the five tips we discuss:

• Encourage people to invite their friends
• Preach to Christians knowing there are non-believers in the room
• Have a quality Sunday service
• Prioritize your serve teams
• Spend time, effort, and money on social media

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Have questions or want encouragement from other church planters? Join the Practical Church Planting Facebook group.

You've been praying and dreaming about what your church could be and the impact it could have. But, you're not sure how to get people on board with your mission or even how to best articulate it. In fact, you're not even sure if you have a compelling vision for your church plant. If you can relate to any of this, you'll want to check out today's Practical Church Planting podcast episode.

In today's episode, we share 6 tips for creating a compelling vision for your church plant. Don't waste time wondering how to create a compelling vision when you can use these 6 tips and make one.

Welcome to welcome to episode 188 of Practical Church Planting.

Here are the 6 tips we discuss in this episode:

• Don't focus on statistics
• Don't focus on big dreams
• Outline practical steps of how you will accomplish your mission
• Share a story of a real person
• Speak positively of other churches/what God is doing in your area
• Give a clear next step at your meetings

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Have questions or want encouragement from other church planters? Join the Practical Church Planting Facebook group.

How can you make the most of a church planting network?

Welcome to welcome to episode 187 of Practical Church Planting.

In this episode, we share 7 things you can do to get the most out of a church planting network. We discuss:

• Don't pick a network based on what you can get from them
• Pick a network you believe in
• Commit to network gatherings/events
• Proactively find ways to serve and support the network
• Find a church in the network to partner with, plant, or support
• Be humble and ask lots of questions
• Join a network

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Have questions or want encouragement from other church planters? Join the Practical Church Planting Facebook group.

How can you find leaders for your new church plant?

Welcome to welcome to episode 186 of Practical Church Planting.

In this episode, we talk about seven qualities that can help you determine current and future leaders for your launch team and church plant. We discuss:

• Uninitiated desire to help
• Initiated excitement to help
• People who do more (or better) than asked
• Financial giving to the church
• Buy-in in disagreement
• Social media engagement with the church
• Track record with other churches (is it bad?)

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Have questions or want encouragement from other church planters? Join the Practical Church Planting Facebook group.

It's impossible to know everything there is to know about planting a church before you do it.

Welcome to welcome to episode 185 of Practical Church Planting.

In this episode, we discuss these five things that church planters often don't think about before planting:

• What they want the church to look like in three years
• The long-term importance of outside support
• Clearly defining your spouse's role
• How often will you preach?
• Creating a culture of serving rather than programs of serving

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Have questions or want encouragement from other church planters? Join the Practical Church Planting Facebook group.

What changes should be made to your church's finances when crisis hits?

Welcome to welcome to episode 184 of Practical Church Planting.

All churches face financial difficulties at some point. Given COVID-19, many churches are experiencing crisis together. In this episode, we discuss these six tips for budgeting your church's finances during crisis:

• Be proactive
• Anxiety increases where budgeting decreases
• Freeze non-essential spending
• Locate a minimum financial threshold for big cuts
• Budget with wise counsel
• Be honest with your people (eventually)

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Have questions or want encouragement from other church planters? Join the Practical Church Planting Facebook group.

What have we taken away from being online only for over 3 months?

Welcome to welcome to episode 183 of Practical Church Planting.

In this episode, we discuss these 5 reflections as we get ready to regather in person on Sunday for the first time on over 3 months:

• Online church isn't church
• Sunday's are not just about the service
• The Sunday gathering leads to other opportunities
• Focus on your solid core
• Your people are a blessing

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Have questions or want encouragement from other church planters? Join the Practical Church Planting Facebook group.

What causes some churches to grow while others stagnate or decline?

Welcome to welcome to episode 182 of Practical Church Planting.

In this episode, we discuss these four characteristics that growing churches typically have in common:

• They have a realistic financial plan and stick to it
• There is seasoned leadership influencing big decisions
• The staff is bought into the mission
• They have relationships with churches/networks/denominations

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Have questions or want encouragement from other church planters? Join the Practical Church Planting Facebook group.

Should you live stream your church service?

Welcome to welcome to episode 181 of Practical Church Planting.

As churches across the country slowly begin to regather in person, should you throw up a camera and live stream your service? After all, you've been doing online-only services for a while. In this episode, we discuss these six reasons why we don't think that's the best idea.

• A bad looking live stream isn't neutral
• The cost isn't worth it for church plants/smaller churches
• Poor audio quality makes it hard to engage
• Poor camera angles make it hard to engage
• If you can't create a separate stream designed specifically for a stream, don't do it
• Reach is secondary to impact

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Have questions or want encouragement from other church planters? Join the Practical Church Planting Facebook group.