I’ve just returned from a whirlwind tour where I met with a stack of church planters. Below are the questions I used as a skeleton to mine their wisdom. Every single conversation yielded some amazing and helpful insights.

Since this journey began, I have spoken with planters from a massive variety of denominations including Baptist, Anglican, Uniting, Church of Christ, ACC, Acts 29, and some Independents. The planters have aged from their mid 20s to late 40s. They’ve come from Adelaide, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, Toowoomba, Noosa and everywhere in between. Every model is different and every model has merit.

I’m left with the wonderful conclusion that Jesus is building his Church and choosing to do it in a way that best suits the person he has called and the place they are called to. God is good!

QUESTIONS FOR CHURCH PLANTERS:

What has been the hardest challenge you faced?

What things surprised you, between the planning stage and the actually doing it stage?

What have you learned from that you would do differently next time?

What are the greatest threats you’ve found, which you personally need to be vigilant about?

What are the greatest threats to the vibrancy of your young church?

How and when did you establish small groups?

How did you approach membership?

What is the culture of your church and how did you communicate it?

How did you ensure it stayed that way?

What are your values and how did you arrive at them?

What do you think are the most important things to do with your core team when you first start meeting?

How do you develop leaders? What is your approach to this?

What is your discipleship strategy?

What have you learnt about finances, giving and management of money?

How did you establish initial funding for the plant?

How much money do you think you need? How did you talk to people about you getting paid?

How do you think about staffing?

What does governance look like? How and when as this implemented?

What meetings do you have and what meetings were important in the early days?

What are the key roles you need to fill from the start?

What is the greatest book or resource to have helped you think about church planting?

How did you grow your prayer team?

Did you use video, blogs, social media and other forms of technology in particular ways? If so how?

How important is it to work with other churches and how do you approach that?

How did your denomination engage with you planting? Were there any tensions or limitations? How did you manage these?

What are the essential competencies/qualities required in a church planter? What would you make sure are non-negotiables?