Multiplication Field Guide for a New Service or Site when NOT Hiring a Planter
Step 1: Map your starting point
- Build trust.
- Gauge congregation readiness using values assessment.
- Seek God’s direction and where God is already moving around you.
Step 2: Make the case to reproduce
- Discover biblical, demographic, strategic and pragmatic reasons to reproduce.
- Develop a case statement and prepare a winsome presentation.
- Identify your likely reproduction model (site or service) and opportunity (target).
- Outline a simple draft or preliminary plan for your key leaders including readiness to launch indicators, sustainability factors, location, target and budget.
Step 3: Build a lead team and engage the congregation
- Secure the commitment of key leaders to move forward.
- Form a lead team to champion the project with the wider church.
- Engage the congregation in the vision with prayer.
- Connect with the area director for new church development for resources.
Step 4: Navigate hidden forces
- Address leadership and congregational fears.
- Address resistance to change.
- Address leadership alignment factors.
Step 5: Build a sustainable funding plan
- Develop a preliminary funding plan that will bring the ministry to sustainability in three to four years.
- Develop a preliminary budget and define revenue sources.
- Consult with area director for new church development for help in this area if needed.
Step 6: Begin to recruit and equip your team
- Recruit key leadership early (worship leader, primary teacher).
- Begin to recruit launch team with a goal of that team being at least 40% of your launch attendance goal one year after launch.
- Begin meeting with your team at least two times per month for equipping in evangelism and discipleship.
- Start up small group format for meetings.
Step 7: Engage your mission field
- Release your team strategically into your mission field equipping them to discover receptive people, discover missional opportunity, develop contacts and add Kingdom value to their community.
- Begin to build contact data base for prayer with a goal of 1,000 before launching public worship.
- Begin to discern where and how gathering may take place.
- Begin to prepare launch preaching/discipleship series based on community needs and gospel impact.
Step 8: Develop small group system
- Begin to train leaders in simple reproducible small group systems.
- Engage every launch team member in the small group system establishing it’s integral value to the ministry.
- Equip and empower small group leaders to grow their groups.
Step 9: Prepare for public worship launch
- Form the seven key launching teams. Identify leaders, tasks and begin team recruitment.
- Develop multi-layer social media strategy. Website, Facebook, etc.
- Develop three to five bridge events for larger groups.
- Secure all support systems for launch (tech, set up etc.).
- Hold two to four pre-view services whenever you reach 700 contacts. Build attendance each time by continuing to expand contacts.
- Refine launching theme.
Step 10: Launch
- Identify a three to six week period as launch season.
- Promote to your 1,000 contacts via email, Facebook etc.
- Release marketing strategy with broad mailings/door hangers etc.
- Engage five to seven touch follow up with visitors.
- Engage feedback loop for evaluation of every aspect of the ministry.
For detailed help in starting a new service/site, you may want to enroll in the Multiply track. To do so, contact Gail Johnson, or Ben Ingebretson.
Gail Johnson, Congregational Development and Events Administrator
gail.johnson@minnesotaumc.org
(612) 230-6125
Ben Ingebretson, DK-MN Area Director of New Church Development
ben.ingebretson@dkmnareaumc.org
(616) 481-7566
