Category Archives: Church Planting
The Impact of OFF-CAMPUS Church Multiplication
A multiplication mindset is essential to church & kingdom growth. Our churches grow through on-campus multiplication of leaders, groups, & ministries. The kingdom grows through off-campus multiplication of ministries, churches, & campuses. Most of us pastors & churches tend to operate by addition thinking or by “protect against subtraction” thinking most of the time. Multiplication is more audacious, risky, & forces our minds to think big. And if tried, it tends to help us add people & protect against subtraction. Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird in their great book Viral Churches point out a study by Jeffrey Farmer of 309 churches that sponsored a new church(es) that showed that worship attendance increased 22% and giving increased 48% for the five years after sponsorship of a church plant.
Out of curiosity, I did a little research on Louisiana churches that have made the biggest commitment to OFF-CAMPUS multiplication since 2010, either through financially supporting a church plant in a big way, sending leaders to help start a new church, or launching an additional campus. There were 24 very obvious choices. Further research on sponsor churches in Louisiana will be ongoing. These 24 churches range from 120 to 4,000 in attendance, with annual receipts from $90,000 to $5 million annually. Here’s what we found:
>> 92% (22/24) increased in attendance WHILE sponsoring a new church.
>> 83% (20/24) increased baptisms WHILE sponsoring a new church.
>> 88% (21/24) increased undesignated receipts WHILE sponsoring a new church.
Five of these churches had MORE THAN DOUBLED while aggressively focusing outward on church multiplication. As a matter of fact, the smaller the church, the more dramatic impact that multiplication had on their numbers.
There were 9 churches that had started & carried additional Multi-site campuses since 2010. Out of those 9:
>> 9/9 reported increase in attendance within 3 years.
>> 8/9 reported increase in baptisms within 3 years.
>> 8/9 reported increase in undesignated receipts within 3 years.
Now, there are so many factors that play into a baptist churches growth, including pastoral transitions, economic factors in the community, etc. But interesting to see that most of the time, when churches give away themselves, they tend to grow.
A Multiplication Mindset is our solution for growing the Kingdom, revitalizing churches, reaching the world. I’m passionate about church planting, but I can say the greatest need is not more new churches, but more mother churches. Bob Roberts, in his book The Multiplying Church said it like this,
“The future of faith in America (and anywhere in the world, for that matter) is not tied to planting more churches, but in raising up of mother congregations of every tribe, tongue, denomination, and network that are reproducing like rabbits.”
And for some, turning to multiplication will be the key to turning around & revitalizing. Ralph Moore in his great book How To Multiply Your Church says,
“I believe a stalled congregation can nearly always grow its way back to momentum by preparing for and launching a new church. The process is invigorating.”
How can you begin to think MULTIPLICATION instead of ADDITION? Sponsoring a new church, mentoring a potential leader, looking at potential ministry to a population segment that is underserved in your area.
And if we are going to reach our world for Christ, we can’t just add, we must multiply. In my area, we found that only 3.3% attend worship at a SBC Church on any given weekend, & only 7% attend an evangelical church of any kind. If we wanted to double these figures to 6.6%, tracking with population growth over the next 10 years, we would have to add over 16,000 worshippers! Sounds daunting, but the potential for lives & communities changed makes it worth the effort! Let’s get to multiplying!
Check out these resources to help you get started on your church multiplication journey:
“In every apple there is an orchard” #churchplanting
Got another Basic Training event, now called Greenhouse in this week on the I-12 corridor in Walker. Seventeen church planting & revitalization projects represented from across South Louisiana. Excited about the potential for each of these works. We had to rush through the last few hours due to pending dangerous weather arriving, but it was indeed a great couple of days of collaboration.
Our next Greenhouse Training event will be April 7-8 in Grand Isle. All of our trainings are free, but you’ll probably need a fishing license for this one :). Register & info HERE. Contact me – lane.corley@louisianabaptists.org – about bringing this training to your church or your region.
Why Do Most Churches Stay Small?
Largely because most pastors don’t know how to build systems, structures, and processes that are not contingent upon them. Most pastors can care for people, but don’t build systems of care. Most pastors can develop leaders individually, but lack the skill to implement a process of leadership development. When a pastor can’t build systems and structures that support ministry, the only people who are cared for or empowered to lead are those who are “near” the pastor or those very close to the pastor. This limits the size of the church to the size of the pastor.”
– Darrin Patrick
Shared by Ed Stetzer on Episode 23 of the Newchurches.com Podcast
From 15 to 175! Another Successful Revitalization
Another huge turn around on a property gifted to a healthy church from a church struggling to stay alive. Fellowship Church on Airline, planter/pastor Todd Blount, was gifted Immanuel Baptist Church on Airline Dr. in Gonzalez. Immanuel last reported 15 in worship. Fellowship has had between 130 & 175 since moving onto the property. Fellowship plans to construct a new building on the property later this year with the help of the Mission Builder Program (https://louisianabaptists.org/missionbuilder).
This makes at least NINE huge turn arounds in Louisiana through church mergers or gifting of properties in the last few years. At least three more in the works this year.
- Is your church struggling to maintain healthy systems? Would merging or gifting your property be a good option for your community?
- Is your church ready to multiply? Are you in a place where you could merge or take on an additional campus?
A few resources to help with these conversations:
2016 Church Planting Scoreboard
Yea, I love whiteboards… First scoreboard update for Louisiana Baptists Church Planting in 2016.
A few Observations:
- 73% of church starts since 2014 have been in south Louisiana, where 70% of Louisiana’s population & 35% of Southern Baptist churches are.
- 2/3 of church plants have been non-Anglo, so hopefully we’re making progress toward our “every people group” objectives from the President’s 2020 Commission a few years ago.
- This year, we should eclipse 10,000 new commitments to Christ since 2010 in our church plants years 1-3.
- Salvations & baptisms were down last year which may reflect more churches in first year cultivation stage or more in south Louisiana’s harder to reach areas.
- Currently 78 projects receiving Cooperative Program funding across Louisiana.
- Grateful for planters, partners, generous churches, & the prospect of 1,000+ new people coming into the kingdom this year through our efforts to plant new churches.
Check out these resources to help you get started on your church planting journey:
- 10 Biblical & Practical Ways to Get Involved in Church Planting
- Every Church Can Encourage Church Planting and Multiplication
- Every Church Can Be a Church Planting Partner
- Your Church Can Be a Parent to a New Church or Campus
Connect with other church planters in Louisiana by joining our Facebook Group – Louisiana Church Multiplication Network.
Your Church as a Greenhouse
I enjoy gardening. Even though I’m not very good at it. Why? I don’t always have the time to do what’s necessary to grow and multiply plants to their fullest extent. The best gardeners know how and put in the time to create the right conditions for growth and multiplication. The very best gardeners will start with a greenhouse to nurse the plants in early stages before they are ever put in the ground. A greenhouse is a tool where you can create the perfect conditions for multiplication & growth of plants at all different stages and with various needs.
I enjoy gardening in part because of the many parallels it has to church planting and ministry. I’ve began to see church as a greenhouse – a tool to create the right conditions for multiplication & growth OF DISCIPLES. Here are five truths I’m learning on church as a GREENHOUSE:
1. Disciples must be nurtured.
Like plants, like a garden, like a greenhouse, disciples need time and attention. One of the greatest books on discipleship has in its title a reminder we constantly need – Disciples Are Made, Not Born. While we are not completely responsible for the growth of a disciple, part of our commission from Jesus requires time and attention and energy and prayer, etc., etc., etc. One of the greatest disciple makers, the apostle Paul, said it like this in Colossians 1:28-29,
“We proclaim Him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. I labor for this, striving with His strength that works powerfully in me.”
If we’re going to make disciples, we must expect to give much time and attention to people from sharing the gospel, teaching basic truths, responding to questions, correcting, forgiving, etc., etc.
2. A Disciple’s needs change over time.
A greenhouse or a garden is organized based on maturity and needs of the plants. Expectation are based upon time and stage of growth. Just like this, as churches, we need to provide a variety of opportunities for growth for people at different stages of maturity. And we need to teach our leaders what you can expect from people as they grow. The best tool I’ve seen that helps with this is Jim Putman’s great book Real Life Discipleship and the Real Life Discipleship Training Manual. Putman guides readers to understand where people are spiritually based upon what they say, and then how to respond and what to provide for them at that stage. (See my post Things Spiritual Infants Say for a run down).
3. Disciples will eventually need to be sent out from the greenhouse to multiply themselves.
The Greenhouse is not the final destination for a plant, nor is the Sunday worship service the climax of maturity for the disciple. Just like plants are meant to be outside, producing fruit and multiplying, disciples should be trained, equipped, and released into this world for maximum fruitfulness and to multiply the gospel in their sphere of influence.
4. Not all disciples will respond to the conditions you create.
A hard reality to face for the gardener, and much harder for the disciple maker is the truth that some plants and some people just won’t respond to the conditions you create. It hurts when a disciple doesn’t respond to God’s word. It hurts when a disciple leaves your church, but maybe they needed conditions you couldn’t provide at the time. Jesus even said that perhaps only 25% of disciples would become fruitful (Matthew 13). It’s important to remember that we’re responsible for our faithfulness, not everyones response.
5. The church is the perfect tool to create the conditions for multiplication & growth of Disciples.
The church, with all its imperfections, does provide a perfect environment for growth of disciples. A church offers opportunities to learn from those walking with God for years, opportunities to get involved and serve in various capacities, opportunities to have relationship wins and losses. These and other conditions help us grow. A lack of desire to learn, serve, love, and forgive REVEALS a lot about where we are spiritually and our potential for fruitfulness, maturity, and multiplication.
Does your church function as a Greenhouse? How are plants maturing? Are you providing opportunities for people at different stages of growth? Are you training your leaders to know what to expect as people grow? Are you moving people out to multiply in their world? Are you spending time with people that just refuse to grow & may need different conditions or to be let go?
Greenhouse: Basic Training for Church Multiplication
I’m humbled & excited to be involved with training church planters in Louisiana & our latest training is now called Greenhouse: Basic for Multiplying Disciples, Leaders, Groups, & Churches. Next one is right around the corner, Feb 22-23 at Wholly Ground Coffee House & Concert Venue. It’s free. You can join us & work on your GREENHOUSE. Register Here.
Top 6 Places to Plant a Church in Louisiana
I like to call south Louisiana the back pocket of the Bible Belt. Still many cities & communities in need of new churches in one of North America’s most unique cultures. Here’s the top places to plant a church in Louisiana:
(I use data on SBC, southern baptist churches, because that attendance data is readily available to me as a SBC strategist. Data on evangelicals comes from the.arda.com).
1. New Orleans
Population: 956,000. Only 2.1% attend a SBC Church. Only 11% Evangelical. 432,270 unaffiliated with any church.
Includes the Parishes of Orleans, Jefferson (Louisiana’s 2nd largest Parish), St. Bernard, Plaquemine, & St. Charles. New Orleans is strategic for a lot of reasons: one of North America’s most influential ports, a cultural icon for the world. For Louisiana, it makes up 20% of our population. For Southern Baptists, its one of only three Send Cities in the South.
Contacts: The New Orleans Baptist Associaton, DOM Jack Hunter. George Ross, North American Mission Board Send City Coordinator for New Orleans.
2. Acadiana
Population: 675,000. Only 1.8% attend a SBC church. Evangelical population only 9%. 229,049 unaffiliated with any church.
Includes the cities of Lafayette, Youngsville (one of Louisiana’s fastest growing), Abbeville, Carencro, Opelousas, Breaux Bridge. This is true Louisiana. Cajun Country. The images most shared about Louisiana come from these areas. Amazing food. Gators. Live Oaks. It’s also home to Louisiana’s second largest University, University of Louisiana – Lafayette.
Contacts: The Evangeline Baptist Association, DOM Bert Langley.
3. Baton Rouge
Population: 630,000. Only 2.0% attend a SBC Church. 23% evangelical. 242,000 unaffiliated with any church.
Includes the cities of Baton Rouge, Prairieville, Gonzalez, Port Allen, Plaquemine & others. Louisiana’s state capital & the center of political life & becoming more influential in the Business life of the entire I-10 corridor. Growing refugee populations have been noted & this year will begin receiving Syrian refugees. Also, home to one of America’s most influential universities, Louisiana State University.
Contacts: The Baptist Association of Greater Baton Rouge, DOM Tommy Middleton.
4. Bayou
Population: 208,000. Only 1.8% attend a SBC Church. Only 6% Evangelical. 70,672 unaffiliated with any church.
Includes the cities of Houma, Thibodaux, Grand Isle, Galliano, Cutoff, & others. One of the best places for fresh shrimp & salt water fishing in North America! Beautiful people & incredible culture. Also, very influential because of the thousands that work out of these communities in the drilling & oil production industry across the Gulf of Mexico. Home to Nicholls State University.
Contacts: The Bayou Baptist Association, DOM Joe Arnold.
5. I-12 Corridor
Population: 541,234. Only 4.8% attend a SBC Church. 25% Evangelical. 270,687 unaffiliated with any church.
Includes the cities of Denham Springs, Walker, Hammond, Ponchatoula, Covington, Mandeville, Slidell & others. Fast growing for years due to suburban life. Now robust corporate life developing. Home to Louisiana’s third largest University – South Eastern Louisiana State University in Hammond.
Contacts: Eastern Louisiana Baptist Association, DOM David Brown. And Northshore Baptist Association, DOM Lonnie Wascom.
6. Lake Charles
Population: 235,000. Only 3.7% attend a SBC Church.
Aw man! If I were 28 again & ready to start a church, I’d plant myself here! Includes the cities of Lake Charles, Sulphur, & Jennings. May be one of the fastest growing areas in the south right now with 17% growth over the last 18 months. Expected to add 40,000 jobs over the next decade. Home to McNeese State University.
Contacts: Carey Baptist Association, DOM Bruce Baker.
Planters & partners needed. Message me for info about these and other communities that need new churches in Louisiana if God may be leading you to the Bayou.
Find other info on Church Planting in Louisiana at https://louisianabaptists.org/churchplanting.
And connect with other church planters in Louisiana by joining our Facebook Group – Louisiana Church Multiplication Network.
On Failed Church Plants: How Many Are There? and Why?
Fifteen. That’s the number of “failed” church plants we’ve recorded in Louisiana since 2010. 15 out of 124 churches planted. I tracked this number down, because it’s one of the regular remarks I hear from people wanting to question or disparage the role of church planting in the ministry of the church.
- “Don’t most church plants not make it anyway?”
- “History tells us that most church plants won’t be around in 10 years.”
- “I’ve heard 80% of church plants fail.” (Don’t know where this number came from, but it has to have joined the ranks of most quoted bad stats).
So that means we have an 88% “success” rate in church planting in Louisiana since 2010. The North American Mission Board has reported a 68% success rate across North America. (not an 80% failure rate! Please quit saying 80% of church plants fail!)
As a church planter, I hate using these words – “failed” & “success.” Here’s why?
- You can’t fail in attempting something great for God. If you’re sharing the gospel, you might not get immediate results, but you plant seeds for the future. The word of God never returns void. In the context of church planting, that might mean you run out of time on financial sustainability, but you can look back & see seeds planted, people that were lifted, & deep lessons learned that led to spiritual growth & character development in the life of a planter & team. I don’t think God would call that a failure.
- Defining success in church planting can be muddy waters. Successful Church Planting is evangelism that leads to the birth of a new congregation. Is it success, then, if a church plant stays open, but reaches very few new people through evangelism? Is it success, if a church plant grows at the expense of other churches in town? Is it success, if a church plant doesn’t impact the community around it through evangelism & people in the immediate area don’t even know it exists? Questions like these lead me to look back at my list of 15 & see a few churches that made the tough decision to close, but may have been more “successful” than some of the 109 that are still open. Self-sustainability is an important factor in church planting, but evangelism & reaching new people, should ultimately define our true success.
Why do Church Plants Fail?
Looking back at our list of 15, & a factoring in a few others that I’ve been involved with prior to 2010, here are the reasons for their failures:
- Character & Calling issues. 4 out of the 15 I mention closed because of moral failure or a deficiency in character in the church planter.
- Wrong Context & Culture. Another 4 in our list, can be chalked up to the church’s strategy & focus or the church planter himself not being a good fit for the context & culture.
- Ran out of Time. The other 7 just simply ran out of time before achieving critical mass or financial sustainability. Lots of factors could go with this one, including work ethic issues of the church planter (which may go back to character & calling), lack of partner development, lack of evangelism & team building, difficulty of the soil in the area (which may go back to context), etc.
These are all things that we can counter with good solid assessments of planters & partner churches on the front end, good equipping & networking opportunities for planters & their teams, & by building great partnerships to come around each new plant.
In Louisiana, we offer these opportunities as part of our Church Planting Networks. Connect with our Facebook Group to keep up with opportunities. Our Greenhouse Training coming up this Spring is specifically designed to help a church planter in Louisiana design systems & strategy to get to self-sustaining status in 5 years.
Church Planting is a risky thing. Not failing every now & then may be a sign that we’re not pushing into the absolute hardest to reach areas. The great axiom is “Failure is never final, it’s only feedback.” If a church plant doesn’t make it, it usually leaves behind some changed people & we can say it’s cultivated the ground for something in the future.
Check out these resources to help you or your church to get started on your church planting journey:
- 5 Things You MUST do Before You Start a Church
- 5 Things You MUST do During the First Year of a New Church
- 10 Biblical & Practical Ways to Get Involved in Church Planting
- Every Church Can Encourage Church Planting and Multiplication
- Every Church Can Be a Church Planting Partner
- Your Church Can Be a Parent to a New Church or Campus
Am I a Church Planter? Some Essential Characteristics
When we think about the question “Am I a Church Planter?” One of the best list of criteria that has been developed is Charles Ridley’s 13 Essentials. These formed the basis of Church Planter Assessments for years & though more recent list may look a little different, Ridley’s work provides the foundation for much of everything done in assessment today. The axiom that Assessments are built upon is “Past behavior is the best predictor is of future practice.” So the way potential candidates & assessors should look at this list is, “Are these qualities present in my life / the life of the candidate?”
These are also good benchmarks for us who are actively seeking to multiply churches. This list has served challenges & tools for personal review for me along my church planting journey.
Here are Ridley’s 13:
- Has visionizing capacity: Generates visions, initiates plans, builds significant projects from the ground floor up.
- Intrinsic motivation: Demonstrates the ability to be a self‐starter who works with diligence and excellence.
- Empowers others to lead: Passes on the baton of ministry so that others can continue the race.
- Reaches the unchurched: Consistently reaches out and influences people toward a relationship with Christ and the church.
- Has spousal cooperation: If married, has a spouse that is committed to collaborating in marriage and in ministry.
- Effectively builds relationships: Evidences the ability to meet new people and engage them in relationships.
- Committed to church growth: Embraces growing the church, numerically and spiritually, and implements church growth principles effectively.
- Responsive to the community: Understands local communities and implements culturally responsive ministries.
- Utilizes the giftedness of others: Assesses, develops, and releases others to serve in their area of giftedness.
- Flexible and adaptable: Negotiates change successfully while staying centered on the overall vision.
- Builds cohesive groups: Orchestrates widely differing people to function as a unified body.
- Resilient: Stays the course in the face of major setbacks, disappointments, and opposition.
- Exercises faith: Evidences a strong, vital relationship with God and willingly takes significant faith risks.
Also see my post “You Might Be A Church Planter If…”
If you’re considering church planting in Louisiana, you can get started with an assessment by filling out our Initial Info Form. Or contact me & I’ll be glad to point you toward some next steps to start your church planting journey.
Also, consider attending our upcoming training called Greenhouse: Creating the Right Conditions for Church Multiplication in Walker on Feb 22-23.
82% of Churches are Below 125 in attendance – How do we breakthrough?
Only 10% of our current church plants in Louisiana have broken the 125 Growth Barrier. Actually, 82% of all evangelical churches in Louisiana are under 125 in attendance. Here’s a great podcast on how to break through at NewChurches.com.
https://newchurches.com/episode-23-break-through-the-125-growth-barrier/
- “Getting past the 125 barrier requires a systems mindset.”
- “To break the 125 barrier, you need 5-10 leaders, and 4-5 leaders of leaders.”
- “Protect your time with the leaders and the lost.”
- “What are the things that only you can uniquely do?”
- “Why do must churches stay small? Largely because most pastors don’t know how to build systems, structures, and processes that are not contingent upon them. Most pastors can care for people, but don’t build systems of care. Most pastors can develop leaders individually, but lack the skill to implement a process of leadership development. When a pastor can’t build systems and structures that support ministry, the only people who are cared for or empowered to lead are those who are “near” the pastor or those very close to the pastor. This limits the size of the church to the size of the pastor.” – Darrin Patrick
Lane Corley 