Practical Church

A lot goes into planning a sermon series. Here are some free resources that can help.

Welcome to welcome to episode 70 of Practical Church Planting.

More goes into a sermon that just preparing its content. We also have to think of sermon series graphics, videos, bumper videos, and more. Money is tight with most church plants, and so is available time. So in this episode, we talk about these four free sermon series resources:

• Ask other churches
• Canva.com
• Church Media Drop
• Church communications Facebook page

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.

Ministry can be grueling, so how can we stay healthy?

Welcome to welcome to episode 69 of Practical Church Planting.

It's pretty common to hear about ministry leaders burning out or having to step out of ministry due to moral failure. In this episode, we share six ways leaders can stay healthy in ministry. We talk about:

• Not neglecting physical health
• Prioritizing family
• Creating healthy boundaries
• Planning time to have fun and relax
• Take a Sunday off
• Go to a conference/join a ministry leader gathering

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

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

Connect better with your people with this unique idea.

Welcome to welcome to episode 68 of Practical Church Planting.

If you work at a church you have undoubtedly been asked this question: what do you do during the week? In this episode, we share a fun way to answer that question, build more trust and connection between church staff and your members, and how you can let people behind the scenes of what working at a church is like.

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

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

A healthy marriage leads to a healthy ministry.

Welcome to welcome to episode 67 of Practical Church Planting.

One of the difficulties about being in vocational ministry is how much you have to give. You give much of your time, money, nights, and days off helping other people. While that can be, and is, a privilege and a joy, it can also be hard at times. Because of that, there are times when you can (and should) do things to help encourage your wife and ensure she isn't being burnt out. Here are three ways you can help your wife thrive in ministry that we discuss in this episode:

• Be picky about who is in your small group
• Your wife doesn't have to be involved in the kid's ministry
• Make sure your wife has at least one (if not more) night out with her friends a month

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

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

Are you making some easily avoidable mistakes on social media?

Welcome to welcome to episode 66 of Practical Church Planting.

Social media is vitally important in connecting with people in our culture. In this episode, we share seven mistakes we see churches make on social media and how you can avoid them. Here are the seven problems we discuss:

• Not taking social media seriously
• Spamming people with posts
• Using stock images
• Thinking social media is only for young people
• Not asking people in your church to engage your content
• Not using consist handles across platforms

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

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

While launching large has a lot of benefits, having a small start can be helpful as well. Here are five dangers of launching large.

Welcome to welcome to episode 65 of Practical Church Planting.

There are some great benefits of launching with a large team. However, most churches don't. So in this episode, we want to share some encouragement to the majority of small church plants and share some of the dangers of launching large. We discuss these drawbacks for large church launches:

• It's harder to establish culture
• There isn't much time to create healthy systems and structures
• It's harder to get people connected
• The post-launch drop off can be more discouraging
• You only get one shot with most people

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

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

Do you work with your spouse in ministry? Here are some tips for doing it well.

Welcome to welcome to episode 64 of Practical Church Planting.

In ministry, and in particular church planting, there is a good chance you have or will work closely with your spouse. So today, we share 4 tips for you can work with your spouse well while also protecting your marriage. Here is what we discuss:

• Recognize where you work well together and where you don't
• Don't take conflict personally
• Don't let your marriage revolve around ministry
• Make sure it's something you both want to do

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

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

Seminary is not a replacement for local church involvement.

Welcome to welcome to episode 63 of Practical Church Planting. You can watch the episode below, or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode.

It can be easy to think that being involved in a local church isn't that important while in seminary. In this episode, we talk about why that isn't true, and how not being involved in a local church while in seminary is a huge detriment to your development. Here are four reasons why:

• Everyone needs a local church Community is a command of God
• The classroom is valuable, but real life happens in the local church
• The local church provides great opportunities for learning and growth.
• You can find your ministry "gems" in the local church

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

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

Even with the best of intentions, church planters often still have these four unrealistic expectations.

Welcome to welcome to episode 62 of Practical Church Planting.

You've planned, prayed, and talked to a lot of people. You know church planting is going to be difficult and you want to be realistic. Unfortunately, there are some things you can't really know until you've experienced it. So in this episode, we share these four unrealistic expectations most church planters have.

• How many people will come to things
• How to move people to serve, give, join a group, etc.
• Underselling the huge need for organization
• That people don't need as much training as they really do

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

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

You shouldn't be shy about including more apologetics in your sermon.

Welcome to welcome to episode 61 of Practical Church Planting.

Apologetics (defending the faith) is not something only seminary students or professors should engage in. In this episode, we give six reasons why you should include different aspects of apologetics in your sermons. The reasons why that we discuss:

• To show you aren't afraid of Truth
• Most people won't hear it anywhere else
• Many people reject Jesus out of ignorance
• People want to be called to something
• More non-Christians will show up
• Christians will be more encouraged in their faith

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

Have questions or want encouragement from other church planters? Join the Practical Church Planting Fa