It is very common for a new church to experience a significant drop in attendance the week after its public launch. I usually tell planters that if their week two attendance is 50% of the launch week, they are doing well. However, if the launch Sunday is Easter, the week two drop will be even more severe and a real momentum buster.

On the other hand, churches that have chosen to launch one, two, or three weeks prior to Easter have found that Easter becomes a momentum builder. A pre-Easter launch allows the new church to have two events in a short span of time that make it easier to invite unchurched friends and family members. The launch itself, followed in a week or two by the natural Easter surge keeps relational momentum headed in the right direction. 

Now, if you’ve already locked in your plans and are laser focused on an Easter opening day, fret not! Over the life of the church, the most important activity and focus should be making disciples. If your disciple making relationships are healthy and disciples who make disciples are being made, you’ve already got the most important momentum on your side. Keep loving God with all your heart and loving people with all His strength. 

The recent trend toward incarnating the Gospel in tangible acts of compassion is an overdue mid-course correction for our multiplication methodologies. When appropriately implemented, building “compassion bridges” to connect with sociologically isolated “tribes” is  a crucial part of an effective discipleship and evangelism strategy. Compassion bridges demonstrate God’s compassion “with skin on”- they make the Kingdom tangible to people who need to know God and that is a good thing. Walking the talk is way better than just a lot of talking.

However, we must avoid the tendency to “over-compensate” to the degree that we replace God’s power to save with our own efforts to demonstrate His compassion. Starting a new community of disciples is a supernatural action of God. We co-labor with Him to make it so. In our efforts to partner with Jesus as He builds His Church, we must always be dependent on the Only One who is able to save. Our good works show God in 3D and are part of His plan to demonstrate His kindness. But our good works can not save. 

We must not lose site of the reality that being used by God to bring to life a community of disciples is a supernatural endeavor from first to last. We are absolutely dependent on God to do what we cannot do. We are even dependent on Him to empower us to do what we CAN do. Only God can empower us to authentically love the unlovable. And only God can transform a person from the inside out.

The road to planting a church has become cluttered with a lot of voices proclaiming “this is the way to do it.” As a church multiplier our pathway forward is actually quite simple. “Trust” and “Obey.” Know God and do what He says. Keep first things first and the rest will follow…

The March switch to Daylight Savings Time is always a challenge for churches. The church I planted in Ogden, Utah came up with a novel solution to the problem. As a congregation, we all changed our clocks together at the END of the service on the Sunday of the switch to Daylight Savings Time. That way, everyone got their normal night of sleep and nobody showed up late. A few people didn’t get the message and showed up early, but we had a nice continental breakfast spread. It gave us time for some extra fellowship with them.

Just a thought. Try it, you might like it.

http://www.vimeo.com/3501539

By Steve Pike, National Director, Church Multiplication Network.

OK, I don’t mean “hot” temperature wise. I doubt it is ever “hot” in the sense of temperature in Minnesota. The whole of downtown Minneapolis is built with the idea that people don’t want to go outside because it’s too cold.

I mean “hot” in the sense of being active and fired up about starting new mission focused churches.

I just got back from a couple days at the Minnesota District hosted BootCamp that is conducted in partnership with North Central University. This camp is unique due to the fact it is held on the campus of North Central and students whose major is Church Planting get academic credit for completing the Camp. The strong contingent of young developing leaders add a lot of energy and passion to the “personality” of the Camp.

Veteran facilitators Roger Stacy and Larry Mederich did an awesome job of cultivating an environment where discovery and “ah ha” moments happened every hour. The table teams were energized and engaged.  The Minnesota District also provided an outstanding group of coaches that helped the table teams stay focused.

Over on the Revitalization side, Rex Bornman and Ben Hodge helped a group of determined leaders discover the way to help their existing churches become vigorous and reproductive.

The Minnesota District, led by Clarence St. John has made starting new churches a priority for a long time. They have started 95 churches since 1990 and there is no sign they plan to slow down. Today they have 51 churches committed to starting a new church in the next three years!

It’s great to be partnered up with such Kingdom hearted leaders. GO Minnesota!