This is our Stratigic Plan for starting a church in Miami, Florida for people that don't like church. We realize this comes from our hearts and is subject to change as we find the need and the plan don't necessarily match. We will change the plan to accomodate the culture, remaining flexible to what God shows us and tells us what is best.
Core Vision
Love God
Love People
Turn the World Upside Down
Our vision is to love God, love people, and turn the world upside down.
Those of us who are starting this church hope to continually grow in loving God, loving people, and turning the world upside down. We believe that as we move to Miami and build relationships and serve the community, people will notice these individuals and this community that loves God and loves people. In fact, we believe that there are few places in the world where such a lifestyle would be more counter-cultural and more magnetic. Miami was in fact rated the no. 4 rudest city in the nation.
Our prayer is that as people are drawn in by our lifestyles and how we share life, they will begin a journey toward loving God and loving people. And, thus, we'll turn the Miami and eventually the world upside down one life at a time.
Of all the possible options, why did we choose “love God, love people”? Because when asked what was most important in life, Jesus answered in Luke 10:27, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself.” He added in Luke 10:28, “Do this and you will live.”
By that last comment, Jesus seems to indicate that it's possible to live without really living. So many people are alive but are not really living. What will give them true and eternal life is loving God and loving people. It's what they were made for. On a larger scale, so many churches are alive but not really living. It's only when a church focuses on loving God and loving people that it starts experiencing real, full, abundant life. And a church where real, full, abundant life is being experienced is a church that will turn the world upside down. That phrase comes from the Bible as well. In the book of Acts we see Christianity starting and then spreading across the globe. Finally, for the first time, some Christians come into the town of Thessalonica. When they do, the people of that town say, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too…” (Acts 17:6).
Christianity had only been around for a short time, but already Christians had such an impact that they're called “the people who have turned the world upside down.” Our hope is that as we live lives of love for God and for people, we might have such an impact on individuals, in Miami and around the globe that we could be called people who turned the world upside down.
Love God
Love People
Turn the World Upside Down
Core Values
As followers of Jesus we have certain core values that we live by and that guide us. Even more, they define who we are as individuals and who we will be together as a church.
We have committed to love God.
God says in Jeremiah 29:12-14, “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me,
and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your
heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity.”
Then Jesus came along and said in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his
righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” He taught us to “hunger
and thirst” for God and His Kingdom.
God isn't looking for people who might be willing to show up for a church service each
week or who simply believe. He wants people to pursue Him with reckless abandon.
Together we want to go on a journey toward truly living a “Love God” life. Jesus said that
we are to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all
our mind.
What we value, who we are, who we are becoming? God Stalkers.
We have committed to love people.
Grace means to get the opposite of what you deserve; to receive mercy, forgiveness, and
love when judgment is warranted. A wholesaler is a store that only sells in bulk
quantities.
God treats us with amazing grace. The only way we can be in relationship with Him,
grow spiritually, and end up in Heaven is through His grace.
Jesus came and exactly represented God the Father. And perhaps the most startling
thing about Jesus is that He was the one sinless person who ever lived, and yet the most
sinful people wanted to be around Him. They flocked to Him. They were transformed by
their interactions with Him. Why is that? It's because He treated them with amazing
grace.
The church is to be the body of Christ. We are to exactly represent Jesus, and so we will
give people mercy, forgiveness, and love…in bulk. And we believe that people will flock
to us and be transformed by their interactions with us. Why? Because we will treat them
with amazing grace.
What we value, who we are, who we are becoming? Grace wholesalers.
We have committed to turn the world upside down.
There are two basic forms of warfare: the “shock and awe” approach where you have the
bulk of power and resources so you try to end the battle as quickly as possible by blowing
the enemy away; and, “guerrilla warfare” when you are undermanned and resourced, and
so you use intelligence, strategy, creativity, and the element of surprise to make repeated,
close-proximity, low-intensity ambush attacks until finally your enemy gives up.
For a long time in America, the church has had an, “If you build it they will come,”
mentality and has used shock and awe tactics to impress people. We realize that
America is increasingly post-Christian and cynical of all things church-related. Therefore
we plan on using guerrilla lovefare. We will use intelligence, strategy, creativity, and the
element of surprise to build relationships, serve our community, and touch people
repeatedly with the love of God.
What we value, who we are, who we are becoming? Guerrilla Lovers.
Core Process
We believe that life is complex enough and being part of a church shouldn't make it more
complicated. We want to be simple. Simple works. People respond to simple. (If you don't
believe that, take a look at iPod sales.)
Our core process shows how people get connected and grow at our church. Our core process is simple. Similar to our core values and core practices, it is also based on our core vision.
Why? Well, because that keeps it simple.
Our core process – and the three core environments in which they happen:
We have committed to love God, and the core environment we offer in which that happens are our Sunday Morning Services.
At our church, no perfect people are allowed. The cool thing is that God loves us and
wants to have a relationship with us despite our imperfections. We've found that having
a relationship with God is really possible and is the best life has to offer.
Our Sunday morning services are designed to be a safe, fun place to experience His love
and to learn how to “Love God” in return.
We have committed to love people, and the core environment we offer in which that happens is our Small Groups.
The Bible teaches that our love for God should flow into all our relationships; that people
who love God also “Love People.” Our church is made up of smaller communities that
meet in living rooms to eat, laugh, discuss faith, and develop real friendships.
Small groups are the next step for people coming on Sunday mornings, and why we say
that, “No one stands alone.”
We have committed to turn the world upside down, and the core environment we offer in which that happens are our Ministry Teams.
Jesus taught that love leads us to serve others. Two thousand years ago, the original
Christians served and did so much good that they were called the people who “turned the
world upside down.” Our goal is to do the same.
Ministry teams help us to find a place to serve and make an impact – in the church, the
community, and around the globe. Ministry teams are the next step for people in small
groups.
Core Practices
We can have environments like worship services, small groups, and ministry teams where we provide just about everything a person would need (except a right heart) to participate and grow through the experience. But there are some things that we cannot do for people and yet are vital to their spiritual growth and to the growth of God's Kingdom if they're able to do these things. We will make sure we provide teaching and resources to equip people to engage and grow in these vital practices.
Our core practices:
We have committed to love God and so we share our time with God.
We want this to spread throughout our lives, and to happen in every conceivable way, but
a critical component of this is to have a consistent, quality time with God in Bible study and
prayer. Relationships are built on shared time together and communication. A relationship with
God is no different. God offers to pour Himself into us through His Word, and invites us
to pour ourselves out to Him through prayer.
Many people are at a loss as to what to read in the Bible and how to pray.
As a church we are committed to equipping people to have quality time with God.
We will inspire and equip our people to have a consistent, quality time with God through
teaching series, through our Going Deeper and Submerge small groups, and through
resources we provide on our website, on Sunday mornings, or through small groups.
We have committed to love people and so we share our lives with people.
" This needs to happen in all kinds of ways including, for instance, sharing our lives with
other people on a similar faith journey in our small groups. But one of the key ways God asks us to share our lives with other people is serving people who don't have a relationship with Jesus and then looking for strategic opportunities to share our faith with them.
Jesus said that He came to seek and save the lost (see Luke 19:10). He also said, “As
the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21). He repeatedly commanded His
followers to share Him with others (see Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8).
Many Christians want to share their faith, however, most don't. For many there is an intimidation factor, but it doesn't have to be that way.
We will inspire and equip our people to share their faith through teaching series, through
our Going Deeper and Sub-Merge small groups, and through resources we will provide.
We have committed to turn the world upside down and so we share our resources with the world. God has called us to live with open hands in every way. And so we are willing to share our time, our skills, our resources. One of key ways we need to practice this is by sharing our finances with the world by giving generously back to God.
The consistent command of God throughout the Bible is that we should give generously back to Him and that minimal giving is ten percent.
Many don't tithe because they have never been taught to give generously or even why to give generously. Others feel handcuffed by financial debt.
We will inspire and equip our people to get out of debt, practice wise stewardship, and give generously back to God through teaching series, through our Going Deeper and Submerge small groups, through small groups dealing solely with stewardship issues, and through resources we will provide.
Questions We’ll Be Asking
As We Move to Miami
The Bible teaches us that we have a timely message, but we are to share it in a timely manner.
The gospel is for all people at all times and in all places, but we are to strategically live out and share the gospel in a way that it connects and compels people. This principle may be taught nowhere more concisely and powerfully than in 1 Corinthians 9:19-22,
“Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as
many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under
the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to
win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the
law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those
not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all
things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the
sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”
This means that one of our first responsibilities as bearers and bringers of the gospel is to learn the culture of Miami and the worldview of the people. These are questions we will
be asking and discussing*:
1. What is the worldview of our target audience?
2. What is the culture's decision-making pattern?
3. What does it cost a person in this culture to become a Christian?
4. What redemptive analogy is best for this culture?
5. How does this culture view Christianity?
6. What does this culture understand about the basic components of the gospel story?
7. Is this culture based on shame or guilt?
8. How will this culture understand Christian rituals?
9. What is the best delivery system for exposing the people of this culture to the gospel?
- Adapted from “Reconnecting God's Story to Ministry: Cross Cultural Storytelling at Home and Abroad,” by Tom Steffen and David Hesselgrave
Our Target
Let's start broad and slowly narrow our focus.
Our target is people in Miami who are truly lost spiritually. We are not interested in people who go to other churches. To be honest, we're not even interested in great Christians who are moving into town and need a good church to go to and would be a perfect fit for us. We want to reach the lost. There are over 2.2 million people in Miami-Dade, and only 14.5% go to church (the national average is about 18%). That means over 1.9 million people in the Miami area do not attend church.
We want to reach lost people who live in the North Miami/North Miami Beach area, which demographically is the most diverse ethnically and economically. The racial and economic divide, splits the sense of community in this area right down the core. A 50 block span along Biscayne Blvd. contains both the super rich and the extremely poor. It contains thriving business and shuttered dreams. You can find carpet, prostitution, drugs, yachts, homelessness, Maserati's, McDonald's and gourmet restaurants.
In a 3-4 mile radius of North Miami, only 7.75% are church attenders. That means 92.25% are not.
Building Our Launch Team & Preparing the
Community for Our Opening Day
As we move to Miami (projected: October 2011) we will immediately begin to serve and
build relationships in hopes of adding people to our Launch Team and creating a positive image and buzz in the area in preparation for invites and advertising for our Opening Day (projected: March 2014).
We have a variety of very strategic actions we will take. Most of these have been used with
great results at other church plants, and we expect they can be just as effective for us.
1. Needs-assessment and establishing a non-profit, faith-based community service
organization.
- We will conduct dozens of meetings with civic, education, and business leaders to determine local needs. This will ultimately lead to the establishment of a faith-based community service NPO.
- This strategy will help us to know our community, develop countless contacts, and bring in people who want to serve with the NPO, even if they are not yet interested in joining a church.
For more information on this approach, see http://www.compassionbydesign.org/.
2.Missionary routes:
- Everyone on our launch team will establish regular places (and days and times) where they will shop, eat out, fill their car with gas, get coffee, etc. We will be working on developing relationships with the employees at each of these places. We will train our people on ways to do this. We will all then invite the people we have met to our opening service.
- We will probably have t-shirts that we all wear often that will act as conversation starters, and also to help people notice that they keep seeing the same thing over and over in hopes of getting their attention, creating buzz, etc.
3. Doughnut Drop-offs:
- Everyone on our launch team will choose at least one business where they will drop off a box of donuts weekly. The box will have a card with info on our church.
4. Block Parties:
- Everyone on our launch team will host block parties between when we move in and our opening day. This will help us to develop relationships and make inviting our neighbors much easier.
5.Culture Pubs:
- We will try to have a culture pub night every couple months. This is when you
rent a place and have bands, poets, comedians, painters, and other artists do their thing.
Our people will invite their friends. At the event we'll let people know that the event is
sponsored by our church and have information available.
To learn more about this, check out: http://internationalmentoringnetwork.voxtropolis.com/2008/07/09/culture-pubs-vschurch-plants/ and http://internationalmentoringnetwork.voxtropolis.com/2008/07/23/planting.
6. Serve neighborhoods in a 3 mile radius:
- We will do a variety of service projects focused on the people who live within a three mile radius. (There are over 170,000 people who live within a three mile radius.) We will always wear the “official” t-shirt (see #2 above) during these service projects.
7. Community Events:
- We will be looking for community events we can be a part of, or put on ourselves, that might be an effective way to meet needs, get our name in front of people, and create a positive impression. For instance, we may do “Movie in the Park” nights where we show a recent family movie with free popcorn and drinks in a park. We will always wear the “official” t-shirt (see #2 above) during these service projects.
8. Advertising to three-mile radius:
- We will likely do some kind of advertising for our opening service to the homes that we have been serving. This may take the form of postcards, or door-hangers, or Frisbees thrown into their yards.
9. Radio ads:
- We may use radio ads on the most popular local rock stations. Radio ads have been incredibly effective for us other church plants and we will probably test their effectiveness in Miami.
10. Create viral buzz:
- We will use MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, blogs and more to create an online and word-of-mouth buzz.
11. Coffeehouse Offices:
- Rather than renting office space, we plan on each member of our team making one or two local coffeehouses their personal office. The hope is that by being a nearly constant presence, we will develop relationships with the employees and other regulars.
12. Focus Groups:
- We plan on using contacts we make in hopes that we can put together focus groups of Miami-ans. At these focus groups we will ask why these people don't go to church and what they would be looking for in a church. We will certainly learn something, but we will also use this as an opportunity to share what we are doing to try and create interest. We will also seek to find ways that we can serve through these focus groups.
Launch Team Member Expectations
There will be two very different types of people on our launch team: non-Christians and
Christians.
This might sound strange, but there are many people who are not Christians, or who may be
Christians who have drifted away from God and church, who get excited about the idea of
starting a church that isn't like the church of their negative stereotypes. Once we move to
Miami we hope to build relationships with non-Christians and invite them to be a part of
starting our new church.
We will also have Christians moving to Miami from around the country to start this church
together. We will not be looking for Christians in Miami to join us, but realize that there is a
possibility this could happen.
So what are our expectations for members of our launch team? It depends on the type of
person.
Expectations for non-Christians on the Launch Team: None. We believe the only expectations here are the ones God puts on us to love them, lead them to Christ, and help them to grow spiritually.
Expectations for Christians on the Launch Team:
1. Feel called by God to be a part of the launch team
2. Believe in and support the vision, values, process, and practices of our church.
3. Pray consistently for the church
4. Own a ministry area: Our hope is that our launch team members will not merely be
volunteers but will be leaders in ministry areas. As leaders, they will own that area, have an
apprentice, and recruit and train volunteers to serve in that ministry.
5. Serve in another ministry area if needed, but seek to train up a replacement so they can
focus on the ministry area they own.
6. Have consistent missionary routes (see page on “Building Our Launch Team & Preparing the Community for Our Opening Day).
7. Have at least one doughnut drop-off location (see page on “Building Our Launch Team &
Preparing the Community for Our Opening Day).
8. Host block parties (if possible) and/or other relationship building events.
9. Build relationships and invite people to preview services and social events
10. Participate in community service events whenever possible
11. Tithe a full 10% of gross income to our church.
12. Attend and participate in launch team meetings.
13. Live in accountability: Miami is a very tempting place to live and we want all of our
leaders to have accountability relationships where they are being supported, encouraged,
and asked the difficult questions.
Launch Phases
Although at this point all of the dates are not set in stone, our current plan is:
Initial Assimilation: Around the 1st of October 2011, We will be moving from Missouri to Miami. We will immediately begin building relationships and serving the community.
Launch Team Development: Starting in January 2013, we will meet on Sunday evenings to pray together, worship, cast vision, do strategic planning, and check in on how people are doing. We plan on having these meetings almost every Sunday until our public launch.
Preview Services & Social Get-Togethers: From October through March 2014 we will have
one preview service and one social get-together each month. These will be the key events to
which Launch Team members invite their friends, neighbors, and co-workers. We will do very
little (if any) advertising for these events, but will make them more word-of-mouth and by
personal invitation. At each of these events, we will have an invite card for the next such event.
We will also seek to set up individual meetings with new people who attend these events. At
those meetings, we will get to know the person, share the vision for our church, and possibly
invite them to start attending our Sunday evening launch team meetings. Here are potential
dates for our preview services and social get-togethers:
1. Saturday, February 25: Social Event
2. Saturday, March 24: Social Event
3. Saturday, April 14: Social Event
4. Sunday, April 22: Preview Service
5. Saturday, May 12: Social Event
6. Sunday May 20: Preview Service
7. Saturday June 9: Social Event
8. Sunday June 17: Preview Service
9. Saturday July 14: Social Event
10. Thursday July 26: Preview Service
11. Saturday August 11: Social Event
12. Sunday August 19: Preview Service
Public Launch: Our current target date for our public launch is March 2014. We hope to bring together the momentum we've already created through our community service,
relationship building, preview services, and social get-togethers coupled with a strategic
advertising campaign; along with God's grace and blessing to have an excellent first service
with a good crowd and lots of excitement.
Systems
Picture a bunch of athletic guys playing football. What did you picture? Guys running up to an imaginary line of scrimmage in a big back yard with a self-elected quarterback yelling, "Everyone get open!”? Or maybe it was those guys, but they did a quick huddle before the play, with the quarterback drawing out some routes for his receivers in the dirt and asking a few of the guys to stay back and block for him this time? Or perhaps it was one level up; a group of guys who play every Saturday morning in a park in a rec flag football league. The players each took assigned positions at the beginning of the season, and someone on the team put together a little playbook with which everyone has become familiar. Or you might have pictured the New England Patriots, the closest thing we currently have to a football dynasty, and probably the best coached and trained team on the planet. Individuals on the Patriots have specific positions, guys with similar positions meet with their position coach regularly, they all have an extensive and very strategic playbook, and they watch game film to analyze how they're actually executing their plans. A bunch of athletic guys playing football can take many different forms.
The same is true of church. There are churches where the leadership is flying by the seat of
their proverbial pants everyday, and there are churches that have a very strategic plan, specific positions and teams, systems designed to achieve desired results, and who regularly evaluate the effectiveness of what they're doing. We plan to be the latter.
We've had experience in the “reinvent the wheel everyday” and “Wait, who is supposed to do
that?” kind of churches. There can be something cool and organic-feeling about that, but the
problem is that it creates a lot of extra stress, often extra work, and usually things end up falling between the cracks. The biggest problem is that the “things” that fall between the cracks are often people. Someone who doesn't get called. A person who isn't followed-up with. A person who never really connects to, or never really grows at the church, not because anyone had a bad heart, but simply because they were overlooked.
We plan on having effective systems which will help us reach out to people, assimilate people, connect people to Jesus, get them into small groups, and lead them to serve. We will continually evaluate our systems and tweak them for greater effectiveness when necessary. What we plan on not doing is reinventing and repeatedly making wholesale changes to our systems. We believe that consistency will help win the day.
The Evangelism System
Our primary method of bringing in new people will be what's become popularly known as “invest and invite.” We will teach our people to build relationships with people who don't go to church and then look for strategic opportunities to invite them to “come and see” what God is doing in people's lives through our church services. We believe this is the most effective way to reach out to lost people. Research shows that 60-80% of first-time guests come to church because of a personal invite. Also 25% non-churchgoers say they would go to church at the very first invitation of a friend.
We will hold the “invest and invite” lifestyle up as a high value. We will not only inspire our
people to do this but equip them as well. How will we do this? In a variety of ways:
- We will offer a high-quality, safe, fun, relevant service every week that will give our people confidence in inviting their friends.
- We will teach our people (through occasional sermon series and through our “Go Deeper and Submerge” groups) how to talk about their faith and effective ways to invite their friends to church.
- We will have our people put on paper and consistently pray for several non-Christian
friends that God has put on their heart.
We will do exciting, relevant sounding message series and provide invitation cards so our
people have something to hand to their friends when they invite them to it. We will also
provide an “e-vite” for each series which, in addition to having the series graphic and
pertinent info, will also include a link to a fun video about the series.
We will offer various low-intensity events to which our people can invite their friends. For
instance, we will have “dinner and a movie night” for the openings of new blockbusters,
Super Bowl parties, block parties, play day at the beach, etc.
We will “reward” people who invite their friends by sharing their stories and by
encouraging them to baptize their friends if and when that moment occurs.
We will also teach and live out the idea that serving sets the stage for evangelism. If our friends are soil, and the gospel is the seed, serving is the way we till the soil. Therefore, we will teach our people to serve in every setting and at every opportunity. To provide a listening ear, to give a big tip, to help clean up after the office party, to bring the neighbor's garbage can back up to their house, etc.
Not only will serving be something every member of our church does individually, it will also be something we do together.
Miami, is hard soil, it was recently voted the 4th most unfriendly city in the U.S. and so we have a lot of work to do to prepare people to hear the gospel. We will constantly look for ways to touch people through serving. Some of the types of ideas weʼre considering are
mentioned in the section on “Building Our Launch Team & Preparing Our Community for Our
Opening Day.”
If we determine that it could be effective in bringing in non-Christian people, we may do some
marketing (radio ads, postcards, door hangers, billboards, theater screen ads, etc.), but this will never be the main thrust of our outreach efforts. We will always focus on serving our community and investing in relationships with and inviting our friends. In fact, any marketing efforts we would consider would be not be “stand alone” but would be viewed as partnering together with our serving and relationship-building.
The Weekend Service
We will offer relevant, exciting, high energy, emotive services each week for both adults and
children.
We will employ the following principles in planning out and executing our services:
The “Unfolding Arms” Principle: We will seek to unfold the arms (and open the minds and
hearts) of those who come in jaded and skeptical of churches and Christians.
The “Wear Their Shoes” Principle: We will put ourselves into the shoes of those we are
trying to reach. We will seek to think what they think, feel what they feel, see what they
see, and hear what they hear.
The “Guests for Dinner” Principle: Just as my home is mine and belongs to me, our
worship service is God's and belongs to Him. Our main intention with the service is to
give God's people a chance to worship and learn about God. However, when I have
guests to my home for dinner, I am very sensitive to their presence. There are some
things I might not do or might feel the need to explain because they are there. We will do
the same with our services.
The “Joe Dimaggio” Principle: Joe Dimaggio once explained that the all-out, total hustle
way he played every game was because he knew there was always some kid in the
stands for his first game who was watching him to see how baseball should be played. In
the same way, we will always keep the first-time guest in mind. If our regulars don't
understand something or are offended, they will still probably come back. And even if
they do leave, it would likely be to attend some other church. However, a first-time guest
who is confused or offended won't come back and may never try another church again.
The “Check Your Influences” Principle: Our guidebook for everything is the Bible.
However, there are many matters to which the Bible does not speak. For instance, what
should be the order of service? How should we design our lobby? What style of music
should we use? For such questions, our major influence will not be other churches
because we have found influences that are more effective in reaching non-Christian
people. Our influences? MTV, Conan O'Brian, Disney, Starbucks, Saturday Night Live,
Chucky Cheese, and so on.
The “Creatively Use Their Culture” Principle: We will follow the Apostle Paul's example
(see 1 Corinthians 9:19-22 and Acts 17:22-31) in using the culture of the people we are
trying to reach. In doing so, we will meet them where they are and then walk with them to
where they need to go.
The “Be Careful Not to Use Our Culture” Principle: We will use the Bible, consistently and
passionately, but we will be very cautious in using Christian or church culture. We will not
use language that could be foreign or confusing to the people we want to reach. We will
not make assumptions that the people attending have a certain knowledge base. We will
explain everything that needs explaining.
The “Authenticity” Principle: Unchurched people do not walk in and give the pastor
respect because of his position. They come in cynical. The way to break through that is
by being authentic. People are looking for someone who is real and will share who he
really is. We will, in all things, be authentic.
The “Love” Principle: No matter how much we strive for excellence in our teaching,
music, and creativity, the simple reality is that we cannot compete in those arenas with
the best the world has to offer. But we have something to offer that no one else can: the unconditional love and amazing grace of God. In the end, the primary thing that will attract people to and keep them at our church - the critical element that will change their lives - is the
unconditional love and amazing grace of God.
An Alternative to the Weekend Service
As we move to Miami, learn the culture, and begin to build relationships, we will be seeking ways to reach, minister to, and build up people who cannot come on Sunday mornings.
One option we're considering is this Saturday night services.
We are also, planning on posting video's of our weekly service online.
Are there weaknesses to this plan? Yes.
How will those people give financially?
What about worshiping God through singing?
What about their children, how will they be ministered to?
Will they eventually engage in the church as a whole, or will this be the extent of their
involvement?
Will they ever connect with the pastors of the church?
Yes there are weaknesses, but with some creative thinking and strategic planning we believe we can overcome these weaknesses. We also believe that the strengths far outweigh the weaknesses.
This is just one way we will be going to people, to make them disciples (as Jesus commanded) rather than just inviting them to come to us and become disciples.
We will be meeting people on their turf, where they are more comfortable and more open
to hearing a dangerous message.
The Calendar
Much of what we do will be systematically structured around the calendar. Here are some
examples of calendar-driven systems and planning:
Sermon Series Type:
January:" Church Vision
February:" Attractional series
March:" Series on Jesus and/or attractional
April:" " Series on Jesus and/or attractional and/or Easter-related
May:" " Relationships (marriage, dating, friendship)
June:" " “Wildcard” or begin Bible book or Bible character
July:" " Bible book or Bible character
August:" Serving and/or evangelism training and/or missions
September:" At the Movies (basics of Christianity)
October:" Attractional (Christian book-based)
November:" Financial Stewardship/Spiritual Disciplines (alternating every other year)
December:" Christmas-related or other
What We'll Be Promoting:
January:" Small groups
February:" Volunteerism
March:" Starting Point/Baptism
April:" " Baptism/or ?
May:" " Small Groups
June:" " Starting Point/Baptism
July:" " Missions
August:" Volunteerism
September:" Small groups
October:" Starting Point/Baptism
November:" Baptism/or ?
December:" Bible reading (w/ Bible reading plan for next year; commitment encouraged)
Small Group Semesters: February–April; June–August; October–December
Small Group Breaks/Promotion Months: January, May, and September
Starting Point Classes: Mid March, Mid June, Mid October
Baptism Services: Mid April, End of June, Mid November
The Assimilation System
We will have a strategic system in place to help move a person from a first-time visitor, to a
second-time visitor, to a regular attender, to a growing Christ-follower.
We will ask people to fill out a connection card at least twice in every service. The connection
card will have a place where the person can indicate that he is a first-time guest, a second-time guest, a regular attender, or a member. Following the service, the first-time guest will receive a free gift at a designated location where they can also ask questions or talk with a host or staff person. The first-time guest will receive an e-mail within 36 hours thanking them for attending. This e-mail will also include a link to a quick online survey which will also connect the person to our website. The first-time guest will also receive a handwritten note in the mail within 96 hours of attending. This letter will invite them back, and may include a small gift. That first time gift will also receive a typed letter in the mail approximately one month after their first visit. A second-time guest will again fill out a connection card. The second-time guest will receive an e-mail within 36 hours which will focus on a specific way the person can get connected at our church. The second-time guest will also receive a typed letter within 96 hours of their second visit. It's possible that the “small gift” will come in this second-time letter rather than the first time-letter.
Our goal with first-time guests is to get them to come back a second time. Our goal with
second-time guests is to get them to come back a third time. Once someone comes a third
time, we will consider them a regular attender and our goal will be to get them connected. We will encourage and give opportunities for regular attenders to take part in our Starting Point class (newcomer/membership), small groups, serving teams, etc.
In addition to this assimilation “system”, we will also train our people that everyone is a part of the hospitality ministry and a greeter. We will teach our people to look for unfamiliar faces and to introduce themselves while reading the person's reaction to determine what the appropriate next steps might be.
We will also have a follow-up system for people who have attended Starting Point and for people who have been baptized. These are critical times in a new attender and/or new Christian's life, and we want to walk with that person through the process.
The Small Groups System
We plan to use a semester-based small group system. After experiencing and studying the
alternatives, we feel like this system offers some important advantages:
1. It keeps small groups more at the forefront of the church's consciousness.
2. It provides a much better avenue for developing new leaders and multiplying groups.
3. It allows for unhealthy groups to be easily dismantled.
4. It allows specific topics to be offered.
5. It helps people to know and be connected to a wider group of people in the church.
6. It gives leaders the months of January, May, and September off to recharge.
We will have a variety of types of groups within the semester system. Some will be men-only,
others women-only, while others will be co-ed. We will have groups that meet at the typical
small group time (evenings) but will also offer breakfast and lunch-time groups. We feel this will be important because of the nature of jobs in Miami where nighttime is often the prime work time.
We will have three small group semesters. January, May, and September will feature huge
promotions and will be our sign-up months. The groups will then kick off in February, June, and October. Groups will last approximately twelve weeks.
As far as the topics of our groups:
1. Fall groups will all be on one topic that will focus on the message series we are doing,
and will also connect to a Christian book on the theme of our series.
2. In the spring and summer semesters we will offer a variety of topics. Eventually, if not
immediately, we plan to offer several groups with specific themes at every Spring and Fall
semester:
a. First Steps
b. Next Steps
c. Financial stewardship
d. Pre-Marital / Marriage
e. Hunger for Healing
3. In the spring and summer semesters we will also offer groups that will study through
books of the bible and various other biblical themes.
The Ministry System
For the sake of full-disclosure, this is one system that still needs a little more refining before we go into action. Fortunately, we still have time to work on it. Here are the building blocks of the system we will implement:
1. Every ministry area will have a matrix. This matrix will be a chart of boxes representing
all the positions needed for that ministry to run effectively and be able to reproduce as
needed.
2. Every ministry area will be led by a team.
3. Every team will have a team leader. This ministry team leader may be a staff member,
but preferably will not. If it is not a staff member, the ministry team leader will have a
specific staff member he or she reports to and is equipped and appreciated by.
4. The format of the ministry area matrix for every ministry will be: coach – leader –
volunteer.
5. Every position (coach, leader, volunteer) will have an apprentice. One way we will
determine church health is by measuring our leader to apprentice ratio. True health has
a one-to-one ratio.
6. Everyone who serves will be trained and equipped to do so. Depending on the ministry
area, training may be on-the-job or classroom-style or a combination of both.
7. We will have two months out of every year where our main focus is to encourage new
people to sign up to serve.
8. At least one message - but more typically an entire message series - will focus on our
need to serve on a ministry team at the church.
9. People will be encouraged to sign-up for a “first serve.” A first serve will be a one-time
ministry test-drive. Every ministry area will be fully prepared to provide an awesome first
serve experience. Every ministry area will also conduct a follow-up process whereby
they help the new volunteer to determine if he or she wants to continue serving in that
area or would like to do a first serve in a different area and to make that connection if
necessary.
10.In addition to ministry-specific training, we will have monthly leadership podcasts
generally featuring our lead pastor teaching on our core vision, values, processes and
practices. This will also allow him to talk directly to our leaders in a way he wouldn't be
able to do on Sunday mornings. Occasionally, this podcast will feature another staff
member or possibly even interviews with pastors from other churches.
11.We may do Leadership Community events where we provide vision, training, etc. If we
decide to do these, they will be on a consistent schedule.
12.We will show appreciation to our volunteers. Every ministry will have an approved plan
for appreciating their volunteers. We will also likely do an annual appreciation event for
all volunteers.
The Stewardship System
We intend to build a church full of generous people. We will take a variety of strategic measures to help achieve this goal. We will have all staff and key non-staff ministry team leaders set the example by giving a minimum of 10% of our gross pay. We believe that people give to vision, and so we will cast our vision often and help people to really own it. We will teach on giving. Every other year we will do a three or four part series on financial stewardship. On the alternate years we will do a series on spiritual disciplines in which one of
the messages will be on tithing. We may send out a letter to first time givers thanking them for their offering. This letter may also include CDs of a series we have done on financial stewardship.
We will also send out giving statements in April, August, and January. The April and August
giving statements will serve as a reminder to people that will hopefully inspire them to give as
they intended. The January statement will be for tax purposes.
- With each of these giving statements we will include a letter re-sharing our vision for the church and also highlighting some of our church's accomplishments in the previous quarter (number of baptisms, number of people in small groups, a story of life change, etc.)
- With each of these giving statements we will also include an invitation to do designated giving. We know that some people don't like to give to the general offering and will feel more inspired to give to a specific ministry or need. Therefore, we will have a list of some ways people can give over and above their regular giving and have items ranging possibly from $20 to $20,000. Examples could include: Invite cards for an upcoming series: $100. A week of radio ads: $1,000. New monitors: $10,000. We will provide a self-addressed, stamped envelope for people who want to send a check for one of these designated giving items.
At our Christmas Eve Service each year we will take a “benevolence offering.” We will explain
that 100% of the money offered that night will be used for things outside of our church like
paying for people's counseling, feeding the homeless, paying an electric bill for someone, etc.
We will use this offering as our benevolence fund for the following year which will allow us to
take benevolence out of our regular budget.
We will likely provide different options for giving. In addition to giving at the weekend service,
we will have an automated bank debit option and an online giving option. We will be very
careful as to how we present these options so as not to be a turnoff for new people.
Children & Youth Ministry
We believe that children and teenagers are not only the church of tomorrow, they are the church of today. One of the highest - if not the highest - priorities of every church is to invest in the lives of their children. We also believe in doing ministry with excellence, and that of all the different groups that deserve high quality, kids are perhaps the most deserving.
Because of our desire to invest in our kids but only to do with excellence we have the following plan:
Years one and two: Offer children's ministry through 5th grade
Year three: Add a middle school ministry for kids in grades 6 through 8
Year five: Add a high school ministry for kids grades 9 through 12
This plan is also partly based on our assumption that we will not have a lot of kids.
However, if we end up having more kids, especially teenagers, we may accelerate our plan to
offer ministry specifically designed for them. Until we can offer such ministries, we will explain to parents that as a new church we aren't yet able to offer ministry for older children and we will offer to help find them a church that does.
With our children's program, we will always create an environment where our children can
experience God in a manner that is relevant to their age. Each age range will have a specific
curriculum and environment that embraces the joy of knowing Jesus personally. We've seen
from experience that if joy can be fostered in the children of a church, parents will be influenced and encouraged to continue attending and will hopefully grow in their faith and in their relationship with Jesus.
Church Planting & Missions
We will be a church planting church.
Our hope is to have at least one church planting resident with us all the time beginning from day one. Our vision is to focus on starting new churches on the most sinful streets in the world. We are starting this church in Miami because it is so dark spiritually and the people who live and work there desperately need someone to bring them the light of Jesus. If God allows us to be effective in reaching out to the people who live, work, and party in Miami, we want to pass on that experience and those insights to church planting residents with a similar passion. We then want to be a part of sending those residents out to plant churches in similarly dark and sinful streets.
Management
Our plan is to eventually have a team of elders who provide prayer, wisdom, encouragement,
and accountability for the Lead Pastor as he leads the staff, who in turn lead the church. Our
model will be “staff led, elder protected.”
Our goal is to have those elders in place after three years of existence as a church. It likely
won't be any sooner than that and may be later. We want to wait until a time when we feel
confident that we have people who are mature and firmly committed to God and our church.
Until we have a local team of elders, we will have a Management Team from outside the church.
This Management Team will provide guidance on key decisions, approve budgets, determine
the Lead Pastor's raises and approve raises the Lead Pastor recommends for other staff
members. We are currently forming the Management Team and trying to strategically put together people with different experiences and abilities that will relate to our planting a new church in Miami. We will especially be looking for people who can provide wise financial guidance.
Our Lead Pastor will also have a Church Planting Coach – someone who is an experienced church-planting practitioner who primarily serves as a sounding board for strategy. This Coach will likely work with our Lead Pastor until the church is three-years-old.
Our Lead Pastor will also have a Mentor – a mature believer who offers personal, pastoral care. We will also have a Project Coordinator – a specially trained person from outside our church who provides operational and administrative support, utilizing the web-based Converge system from Passion for Planting or something similar. The Project Coordinator will work with us until a few weeks after our “public launch.”
Financial Plan
There are three types of expenses to launch a church: pre-move expenses, start-up expenses and ongoing regular expenses. As the following breakdown will show, we need outside funding sources to pay for all of our pre-move and start-up expenses, and then will have our local offerings take more and more of the brunt of the ongoing regular expenses, until the beginning of year five when we expect our church to be fully self-supporting. Some new churches become self-supporting in three years, but because of the nature of the people will be reaching (very high percentage of lost people) and the expensiveness of the area (South Florida) we believe it will take us a little longer to become self-supporting. If our local offerings surpass our expectations and we become self-supporting earlier than expected, we will let our supporting churches and individuals know that their financial support is no longer necessary.
