Practical Church

Become easier to find online.

Welcome to welcome to episode 110 of Practical Church Planting.

Regardless of the size of your church, there are things you can do to make your church more discoverable online. In this episode, we share six free ways you can make that happen. Here is what we discuss:

• Ask for Google reviews
• Ask for Facebook reviews
• Ask your people to engage your content
• Don't only post announcements
• Create a church Facebook group
• Google Adwords

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There are advantages to being a smaller church.

Welcome to welcome to episode 108 of Practical Church Planting. You can watch the episode below, or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode.

It can be easier to look at larger churches and want many of the things that they have. However, there are certain strengths and things that smaller churches have that can be harder to come by at larger churches. So in this episode, we share these six strengths of smaller churches:

• Community
• Great sense of ownership
• Easier for people to get plugged in
• Higher percentage of generosity in your people
• Easier to try new things
• Pastoral care

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

Here are a few great podcasts for leadership and ministry.

Welcome to welcome to episode 108 of Practical Church Planting.

Here are the nine podcasts we recommend in this episode:

• Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast
• Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast
• This Cultural Moment
• Pro Church Tools
• The Bible Project
• Radio Free Leader
• Ted Talks
• Unseminary
• Listen to other pastors!

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

How can we avoid becoming inflexible leaders?

Welcome to welcome to episode 107 of Practical Church Planting.

No one sets out to be a leader who is "stuck in their old ways." Unfortunately, it can happen much easier than we think. In this episode, we share five thoughts on why leaders resist change. We discuss these reasons:

• It worked in the past
• New somehow is considered bad
• It's intimidating to learn something new
• Things are broken and we don't see it
• The new idea wasn't ours

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

Small things can make a big difference to first time guests.

Welcome to welcome to episode 106 of Practical Church Planting.

In this episode, we talk about things we often unintentionally do that can make new guests feel unwelcome. We talk about:

• No parking lot volunteers/distracted parkers
• Volunteers on phones
• Dirty/unkept facility
• No acknowledgment of new people
• No/poor signage
• Rules over relationships

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What should you do when someone signs up to serve?

Welcome to welcome to episode 105 of Practical Church Planting.

A solid follow up process is crucial for getting people to serve or volunteer at your church. In this episode, we share how we do it at New City Church.

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How can we make parents feel more comfortable when dropping off their kids?

Welcome to welcome to episode 104 of Practical Church Planting.

Parents (especially new parents or families visiting your church for the first time) are extra cautious about dropping off their kids to your church's kid's ministry. This means we need to do everything we can to make parents feel good about dropping off their kids so that they can actually enjoy the service. Here are 6 ways to make parents feel safer that we discuss in this episode:

• Safety serve team members
• Restrict access to the kid's ministry
• Room safety and security
• Have a visible evacuation plan
• Tags for kids and parents
• Shirts or badges for those that are serving

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

Summers don't have to be a dead period in the life of your church.

Welcome to welcome to episode 103 of Practical Church Planting.

Summers can lead to less engagement (and people) for many churches. But does it have to be that way? We don't think so. While people may travel more in the summer, it doesn't mean churches have to suffer. Here are five ways churches can create engagement over the summer:

• Have a live Q&A Sunday
• Don't cancel groups all summer
• Try some church-wide events
• Put as much energy, effort, and prayer into your summer Sunday's as you do the rest of the year
• Don't make a big deal about the drop in attendance

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Here are some books to help take your ministry to the next level.

Welcome to welcome to episode 102 of Practical Church Planting.

Check out these non-ministry specific books (except #4) to help improve your ministry:

• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Free to Focus by Michael Hyatt
• Do You Talk Funny by David Nihill
• Sticky Series by Larry Osborne
• Ted Talks by Chris Anderson
• Talk Like Ted by Carmine Gallo
• Crushing It by Gary Vaynerchuck
• Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath

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Did you know that you can watch the Practical Church Planting podcast? Connect with us on our Facebook page or our YouTube Channel.

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

Here's what you should think about when starting a student ministry.

Welcome to welcome to episode 101 of Practical Church Planting.

When starting a student ministry (middle and high school) there are a lot of things to consider? Do you wait until you have enough students, or do you start one in the hopes that it attracts students? What should the beginning phases look like? In this episode we discuss these four things:

• Go big at the start
• Embrace the small community
• Start slow and manageable
• Don't underestimate student's spiritual understanding

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Did you know that you can watch the Practical Church Planting podcast? Connect with us on our Facebook page or our YouTube Channel.

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