Do’s and Don’ts of Church Planting

This past week I was blessed with an opportunity to go to Sydney Australia for the Hillsong Conference! All I can say is… 2 thumbs! Such a great conference! Amongst the awesome general sessions I was part of the Church Planting elective. The one that spoke to me the most was the one where 3 church planters (Hillsong Paris, Hillsong Stolckholm, Hillsong Moscow)  shared their “What I would change or What I wouldn’t do again?” in their journey.

Here are some notes that I took down that I wanted to share with you all:

Brendon White: Hillsong Paris

• Model an excellent church right in the beginning
• Connect groups first
• Early Days buy a simple sound system, not large and complicated
• Go slow bringing people into leadership roles. Build out of Character and not need.
• Start things you can sustain. Keep it simple and wait for the right people.
• If you need a translator then must be together, same page.
• Don’t get caught up in church events. Don’t forget about people. Balance service and community.
• Select Volunteers. Don’t allow them to get caught up in the building and forget to flourish in the world.
• You can’t fix everyone’s problems.
• Don’t criticize culture. Build people, culture, country up! Speak life!
• Make sure worship team comes from community and not gig mentality.
• Learn the language
• Build checklists, runs of the day, be organized
• Keep a good rhythm in peoples lives. Set expectations
• Sit down with individuals and see their capacity of helping. Its not about hours but on capacity.
• Create stepping blocks
• Relationships are important!
• Don’t be discouraged when people leave. They will leave. They may be just scaffolding people.

Andreas – Hillsong Stockholm

• There is a difference between burden and calling.
• Make sure you are sent out.
• Ask people their opinions about your dreams
• Dream with your team
• It doesn’t just show up… be patient
• From Day 1… lead people to Christ. It’s all about people. As a pastor bring new people all the time
• Look to what you have and your own strengths
• In the beginning you set the decisions with your call but get people’s opinions
• Spend money on the life, people, fun side, buzz, of the church and not just offices at first.
• Baptize quickly

Zhenya – Hillsong Moscow

• There is always a cost of planting. Sacrificial
• Spend more time on your team
• Develop more teams
• Talk to more people in the plant area
• Keep it in the language
• Stay Positive!! However you approach your city that is how the city will treat you
• Don’t put unneeded pressure on yourself and your family. Don’t put a # bar on your ministry. Just do God’s call!
• (During the QA I asked Zhenya how long did it take to create a local core team) 3 years to build full local team! Jesus took 3 years to build his core!

Hope you were blessed!

Nolan