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Daniel Im

Pastor + Author

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Articles

Church Planting! Is it for you?

November 22, 2016 By Daniel Im

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The question, “Am I called to be a church planter?” is not a straightforward one. It’s not like, “Should I breathe?” or “Should I love others as Jesus does?”

The question, “Am I called to be a church planter?” is kind of like asking, “Should I go into an Arts program, Science Program, or a Trade Program?” What’s implied behind this question is the importance of further education. So the question is more a matter of, “Which route will you take?”

Or it’s like the question, “Should I eat a pop-tart for breakfast?” Yes, obviously you need to eat food, but if you eat a pop-tart for breakfast, how is that going to affect what you eat for lunch? And how will you deal with the sugar crash and belly rumblings mid-morning?

When we look at the biblical commandment to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,” the natural outflow of that is the planting of new churches.

We see this through the Early Church and how the apostles preached the gospel, made disciples, and planted churches that then preached the gospel, made disciples, and planted churches. I mean, just look through the book of Acts! And then look at how the New Testament was written to new churches in their respective life situations. Essentially, the New Testament can be seen as an anthology of church plants. The fact is, just like we all need to eat food or we will die, we need to all be about church planting, or the church will die.

We need to all be about church planting, or the church will die.

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So the better question that we need to answer is, “Am I called to be about church planting?”

And let me make this easy for you. If you’re a follower of Christ, the answer is a default yes.

Now there are people who will object to church planting and will say things like,

  • “Isn’t one larger church better than a lot of smaller churches?” Well, the fact is, it’s not an either/or. Both are good and necessary, but according to our recent State of Church Planting research, we discovered that new church plants are extremely effective at winning people to Christ. So while there isn’t anything wrong with larger churches, there is definitely something wrong if we don’t plant new ones!
  • “We have enough churches!” Based on the census data from 2011, there are 11 churches for every 10,000 Americans. Now unless, there are mega churches in every neighborhood in this country, there simply aren’t enough churches. Add that to the fact that our population continues to increase, and the numbers speak for themselves.

We all need to be about church planting.

But the next question we have to ask ourselves is, “Am I called to be a church planter?” That question is a bit more complex.

In the second edition of Planting Missional Churches, we walked through a few of the characteristics of Paul, the church planter, throughout the New Testament. Here’s a few of his characteristics:

  • He was an evangelist (Acts 9:19-22)
  • He was entrepreneurial (Rom. 15:20-23)
  • He empowered other leaders (Titus 1:5)
  • He cared for people (Acts 20:17-21)
  • He stayed committed to his calling despite the sacrifice (Acts 16:25)

How many of those characteristics do you identify with? It’s not enough to just be excited about the idea of planting a church, being the boss, and not having to do ministry the way others do. Planting a church is much more nuanced than that. If those are the types of reasons that are pushing you to plant, you will fail, the enemy will have his way, and the cumulative aftermath will be devastating.

Planting a church is not just about being the boss!

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So who is the ideal church planter? What does a church planter look like?

There certainly isn’t one type of church planter, since there isn’t just one type of church. Depending upon the model you choose, and the context that you plant in, the type of planter will differ.

However, regardless of model and context, the fact is that every planter and pastor needs to first put themselves up against the biblical qualifications as outlined in passages like 1 Timothy 3. For example, planters need to be above reproach, able to teach, self-controlled, not lovers of money, and so on. Be sure to read through this passage and put yourself up against it.

There certainly isn’t one type of church planter, since there isn’t just one type of church.

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In addition to that list, there are a few other indicators that will give you a glimpse into whether or not God is calling you to be a church planter:

1) Starter. Do you have a pattern of starting things? Lemonade stands, Bible studies, compassion-based ministries, and the like? Are they still around after you’ve left? You will be doing this over and over again in planting.

2) Equipper. Do you always have to be the one doing the work of ministry? Or can you lead and equip others to do the work of ministry? How about leading others who lead others? This is our task as church leaders and pastors—to be equippers, not doers as we read in Ephesians 4:11-13. Without this, your church will never break the 50 barrier or grow beyond your personal leadership lid.

3) Dreamer. Do you long to make a greater impact and change this world? Do you see the world in a different way? Can you help people catch that vision? This hunger and drive is critical for church planters.

4) Doer. No I’m not contradicting myself from point two. Instead, I’m asking, Do you execute, follow through, and get things done? There are many pastors, church planters, and visionaries who love the dreaming stage so much that they can’t actually get things done.

If you see those four indicators in your life, God may be calling you to plant. If you see some, but not others, perhaps this is the best time to develop those competencies.

Now what if you said yes to all four of those indicators?

Well, you need to ask yourself a few qualifier questions:

1) Do I have a burden and a calling to specifically plant a church? In your time with God, is this something that God continues to bring up? I’m not asking if you’re interested in the idea. I’m asking if God is laying this on your heart.

2) Does my family support us planting a church? If you’re married, God will not lead you to start a church if it means you have to leave your spouse and kids. This is because you can’t see planting a church as your day job, and expect it not to seep into the rest of your life! On our New Churches Q&A Podcast, we recently received a question from a guy who became a follower of Christ after getting married, and who is now in ministry. His spouse is still not yet a believer, yet he feels called to plant. The answer is, “Not yet! Wait!”

3) Does my church support me? Do others affirm this calling? If your church and friends are hesitant about your calling and gifting to plant a church, then you should also be hesitant. Are you allowing others to speak into your life? Are you currently sitting under the authority of another pastor, denomination, or team? If not, then why? If yes, then what are they saying about your decision? Involve them into your decision-making process as soon as possible.

If you answered yes to all of the above questions and indicators, then here are a few next steps that I would encourage you to consider:

  • Get pre-assessed using a tool like churchplanter.lifeway.com. This is the only statistically verified church planting pre-assessment out there. So check it out.
  • Check out Essential Church Planting. Ed and I developed this course for this very purpose.

Now let’s remember. We are all called to be ABOUT church planting, but we are not all called to be church planters.

God may be calling you to be a student minister, an executive pastor, a worship minister, a launch team member, a funder, an elder, or to be pastor of a church that multiplies and sends out church planters. Regardless of your specific role, the fact is we are all called to be ABOUT church planting.

Lack of Awareness, Bad Change Management, and More Things That Prevent Church Multiplication

November 15, 2016 By Daniel Im

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There are barriers that you need to overcome in order to take your first steps towards multiplying your church.

In the previous article, we addressed the first four barriers to multiplication. In today’s article, we will address the next four barriers to multiplication:

5. Don’t See the Need for Multiplication

Before churches can multiply, they need to see it first. The problem is, many churches don’t see the need for multiplication. They assume that multiplication is not for them. Their reasoning is predicated on the assumption that other churches will multiply. While they may understand the vision behind multiplication, they just don’t have a personal conviction to multiply.

Before churches can multiply, they need to see it first.

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We believe every church should not only embrace a vision of multiplication, but personally engage in multiplication.

Leaders do need to assume that even some of the most committed Christians will not have a pre-existing favorable disposition towards multiplication, and will see multiplication as the church’s responsibility and not theirs. This is why it’s vital to share the vision for multiplication, consistently, clearly,
 and in different forms and fashions each time.

We saw this clearly in our research. You can click here to get the State of Church Planting Research Report that this is based upon.

Churches who regularly communicated a commitment to multiplication were more likely to multiply within their first five years than those who didn’t.

Until your church sees multiplication 
as a personal conviction that they should embrace and enact, you will 
be facing an uphill battle. So work on communicating Jesus’ commitment to multiplication to the entire congregation through different means, like vision talks, sermon illustrations, state of the union addresses, print pieces, stories, and video. And if you’re worried about sounding like a broken record, don’t be. After all, “vision leaks.”

6. Absence of a Change Management Strategy

Your efforts to multiply and plant a daughter church will never launch off the ground without a vision for multiplication. However, unless you have a clear change management strategy, your efforts will always stall mid-way. This change management strategy has to address each level of leadership in your church and every venue for public communication. [Read more…] about Lack of Awareness, Bad Change Management, and More Things That Prevent Church Multiplication

Fear, Scarcity, and Other Things That Prevent Church Multiplication

November 8, 2016 By Daniel Im

fear

In every story and aspect of life, there always seem to be opposing forces.

On our planet, you have night and day. In Romeo and Juliet, you have the Capulets and the Montagues. In Star Wars, you have the Rebellion and the Empire. In Marvel, you have the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra. And in life, you have the close talkers, who don’t know what a breath mint is (Seinfeld anyone?), and everyone else, who seems to have a good handle on personal space and emotional intelligence.

There are characteristics that lead to multiplication, as well as factors that prevent multiplication.

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In the same way, we see similar forces when it comes to church multiplication. There are characteristics that lead to multiplication, as well as factors that prevent multiplication. In the same way, there are characteristics that can lead your church to becoming a Level Five church, as well as factors that will prevent that and stall you at Level Two or Three (see below for a chart of the various levels).

In this article, we will examine barriers that prevent a church from multiplying:

1. Fear

Church planters would do well to heed Paul’s exhortation to Timothy,

…for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control (2 Tim. 1:7).

Paul knew that fear of anything other than a healthy reverent fear of the glory and sovereignty of God would prevent believers from fulfilling the call of God. Even Marie Curie, a scientist who won the Nobel Prize multiple times, understood the paralyzing power of fear, which is why she noted, “Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.”

Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.

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The reality is that the fear of the unknown, of losing friends, of losing tithers, of change, and of failure are all factors that prevent churches from multiplying. For example, fear often drives churches to soothe their growing pains by starting another campus, instead of planting another church.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am for multisite, but only when it’s a strategy that comes alongside church planting. For many churches ridden with fear, they never plant a church because they’re afraid it won’t succeed. Multisite needs to be seen as an alternative for building a bigger building, rather than as a replacement for church planting.

Also, fear of people’s murmurs and spats of complaining about planting another church paralyzes leaders (and thus churches) from taking the leap of faith.

Some of your people may wonder why you’re talking about planting another church when you haven’t even broken the 200 barrier, as if a church has to be running over 200 to plant another church. But if you probed deeper, you would find that the murmurs and complaints are coming from a fear of losing friends or even losing control.

If these fears are not understood and addressed on a global scale, and in every ministry and system within the church, then your church will never be able to multiply. Vaneetha Rendall reflects on three Hebrews in exile (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) and offers cogent counsel to those of us who find ourselves vacillating between fear and obedience. She states,

Even if the worst happens, God’s grace is sufficient. Those three young men faced the fire without fear because they knew that whatever the outcome, it would ultimately be for their good and for God’s glory. They did not ask “what if” the worst happened. They were satisfied knowing that “even if” the worst happened, God would take care of them. Even if. Those two simple words have taken the fear out of life.

Replacing “what if” with “even if” is one of the most liberating exchanges we can ever make. We trade our irrational fears of an uncertain future for the loving assurance of an unchanging God. We see that even if the worst happens, God will carry us. He will still be good. And He will never leave us.

One of the easiest ways to gauge whether or not the fear of multiplication is present within your church is to talk to your small group leaders about multiplication. Ask them if they (or their group) are open to multiplying themselves. If they resist and balk at the idea, then you know that there’s a greater measure of fear than faith towards multiplication in your church.

2. Perceived and Actual Scarcity

“What’s the right size to multiply your church?”

There’s a rumor out there that goes like this: “It’s 25% larger than your current church. So if your church is currently at 100 people, then it’s when you’re 125; or if you’re 1,000, then it’s when you’re attendance is at 1,250.” The problem with this “statistic” is that it’s driven by a perceived scarcity mindset, which will ultimately keep your church from multiplying.

A scarcity mindset will keep your church from multiplying.

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Let me explain. This mindset says that you cannot multiply until you have enough leaders to fill the potential vacancies, or until you have more than enough tithers to replace those who are leaving. If this is your mindset, then you’ll never have enough to reach that 25% mark because there’ll always be more needs and additional ministry to do.

The opposite of a perceived scarcity mindset is an abundant mentality.

So instead of thinking that you’ll lose band members or small-group leaders when you multiply, you need to understand that others will step up and fill those vacancies when those leaders leave. We’ve seen this happen time after time. [Read more…] about Fear, Scarcity, and Other Things That Prevent Church Multiplication

Church-Based Leadership Development

November 1, 2016 By Daniel Im

scalable-steps

A few years back, when I was in Myanmar visiting a local Bible College, I remember being in the back of a small oddly shaped “truck” bouncing around the dirt road. It didn’t feel like we were ever moving faster than 30 miles an hour. To be honest, the “truck” probably didn’t even have the capacity to do so.

As we began to drive up a hill and go around a bend, I remember our guide telling us that we were about to pass a Buddhist monastery. This monastery, he told us, had actually prevented the local electric company from extending power to the Bible College.

As I was reflecting on what it would feel like to live in a place where something like that could happen, I felt the air go thin and began to experience a bit of trouble breathing. I then felt this deep sense of heaviness in my heart. It was so vivid that I can still feel it to this day.

Eventually, a few miles later, we arrived at the Bible College to this tall wooden fence. As it opened, not only did I feel the air clear up, but the heaviness in my heart dissipated as I saw, not concrete buildings like the monastery had, but straw roofs and makeshift buildings. This felt like the most peaceful place on earth.

As I reflect on that experience—when I walked the grounds, talked to the pastors, and prayed for them—I couldn’t help but feel like my future was going to be somewhat tied to the encouraging, training, and equipping of pastors.

The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few

When I read a particular book on missions, I couldn’t believe these three statistics that were outlined in the opening pages:

  • “In the USA there is one trained Christian worker for every 235 people. Once you leave the USA, that drops to one trained Christian worker for every 450,000 people.”
  • “An estimated 85 percent of the pastors around the world have no theological education or pastoral training.”
  • “Over 90 percent of all our tools for evangelism, discipleship, and leadership training has been produced for highly literate people.”

I know it sounds incredulous, but I believe it. Jesus said it himself, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest” (Matt 9:37-38).

The need is great, not just for harvest workers, but for harvest workers that are trained to have “minds for God, hearts for truth, and hands that are skilled for the task.”

What are you going to do about it?

 

100 Episodes on our Church Planting and Multisite Podcast

October 25, 2016 By Daniel Im

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Recently, Ed Stetzer, Todd Adkins, and I celebrated our 100th episode on the NewChurches.com Q&A Podcast. It’s been such a joy to dream up and implement this idea of a podcast that answered real life church planting, multisite, and pastoral leadership questions.

Our heart is to serve the church in her mission of making disciples by helping her multiply. That’s what this podcast is all about. As a result, twice a week, we answer listener submitted questions.

Here are the questions from our top 5 most downloaded episodes:

  • Episode 1: As a young church planter, what are some blind spots that I need to be aware of?
  • Episode 3: In a context with so few believers, what strategies would you recommend for church planters to expand their network in order to raise financial support?
  • Episode 11: The growth is slow in my church. What are the growth barriers in church planting?
  • Episode 59: On launch day, what would you recommend to preach on? What would be your first series?
  • Episode 61: What are the differences in gifts and temperaments for someone who will revitalize a church vs someone who will plant a new church?

More than any other topic we covered, bivocational ministry was definitely the one with the most questions! This is because I believe it’s a trend for the future of church planting, as well as a topic with little to few resources out there.

[Read more…] about 100 Episodes on our Church Planting and Multisite Podcast

Why Your Church Needs to Multiply

October 18, 2016 By Daniel Im

After the disciples received the Great Commission before Jesus’ ascension, they began to preach the gospel, first in Jerusalem and eventually expanding into other cultures. The book of Acts details early efforts to obey Jesus’ command. The letters of the New Testament give us an inside view of the establishment of Christianity in new territory. It may seem obvious to us now, but we should continue to contemplate the fact that everywhere Christians have gone to share the gospel churches were formed.

Church planting should not end with the establishment of one church. The process can repeat itself when a new church matures to the point of becoming a sponsoring church. The kingdom is best advanced through multiplication and not just addition. Reproduction is in the biblical DNA of churches.

Church planting should not end with the establishment of one church.

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Percentage of Churches that Multiply

In Viral Churches, Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird shared research from an interview of senior pastors in various denominations in the United States. In that research project, they discovered that 28% of those they surveyed indicated that they had directly participated in helping a new church. While that number may sound good, upon further investigation, they discovered that only 12% of that 28% were actually churches that acted as a mother church or accepted direct financial responsibility for a new church as a primary sponsor.
[Read more…] about Why Your Church Needs to Multiply

How Do You Find Launch Team Members?

October 11, 2016 By Daniel Im

launch-team

The process of gathering a launch team is not an easy task. With the right training almost anyone can plan the launch, mail appropriate advertising, and prepare for people to come on the launch day. But molding an effective launch team is another story. There are several ways to find such people committed to starting a new church with you.

1. Recruit Members from the Sponsor Church

One possible source for launch team members is a sponsoring church, which can appeal for volunteer families (sometimes called “extension members”). Bob Roberts, pastor of Northwood Church and founder of GlocalNet, has started over 180 churches out of his church (and many more in partnership with GlocalNet). Their local church is directly involved in training, mentoring, and coaching twenty-five church planters each year. In several cases, he has sent out members to start these new churches. Bob explains:

When we sponsor a daughter church, each church is different. Generally for a new plant, sending out three to eight families from our church is the most. We sometimes send staff as well. We don’t recruit this much because we have found that core groups from established churches can slow a plant down. A planter will start a small group and multiply it while being an intern at Northwood. If they can’t do that, they can’t plant a church. I give them a 100 percent fishing license with those people.

This presents both positives and negatives. A strong positive is that the planter has a launch team almost overnight, and the length of start-up time decreases considerably. The church can begin services while developing one-on-one relationships. In addition, the planter usually finds that these volunteer families are solid believers who can assist immediately in the development process.

On the negative side, not all of these people come from strong churches like Northwood Church! These “experienced” believers may have strong feelings about the form of worship, leadership style, and other matters. Such convictions, if different from the vision of the church planter, can create significant conflicts in the early development of the congregation. These conflicts may quickly put at risk the continuation of financial support from the sponsoring church. We recommend using this recruiting method for launch team development only if the sponsoring congregation is highly similar in philosophy and style to the new church and the planter and the context of the new start are similar to the context of the sponsoring church.

2. Develop a SWAT Team

In settings where extension members are unavailable or their use would be unwise, several other means for recruitment are possible. One alternative has been termed a SWAT team, an acronym for Servants, Willing and Temporary. SWAT team members commit themselves to the new church for a short time, usually six months. These volunteers staff the nursery, teach small groups, serve on set-up teams, or fill other roles in the first months following the launch.

[Read more…] about How Do You Find Launch Team Members?

Seismic Shifts and a Missional Response

October 4, 2016 By Daniel Im

seismic-shift

There have been two seismic shifts in the church and culture in the English-speaking Western world over the past few decades. The first shift is predominantly a good one, while the second shift has mixed reactions.

Seismic Shift #1: An Increased Focus on Church Planting

Recently, I came across a tweet from my friend, Jeff Christopherson, who leads the North American Mission Board’s Send Network.

jeff-christopherson-tweet

I love this! In the Southern Baptist Convention, church plants baptize almost four times the number of people than existing established churches! I agree with the hashtag, #plantingworks.

Statistics like this are one of the reasons that denominations are placing a greater emphasis on church planting. The dynamic long-term growth of many church plants has helped as well. Consider Life Church with Craig Groeschel, Saddleback with Rick Warren, and Redeemer Presbyterian with Tim Keller, among many others. Compare that to a few decades ago, when church planting was on the periphery and seen as a ‘suspicious activity’ to most.

Seismic Shift #2: The Church Moving to the Periphery

[Read more…] about Seismic Shifts and a Missional Response

My Seminars for Exponential West 2016

October 3, 2016 By Daniel Im

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I’m excited to be speaking this week at Exponential West 2016!

If you are at the conference, I’d love for you to join me at one of my seminars. If not, then be sure to tune into the livestream that we at NewChurches.com are hosting for Exponential.

Thirty Network Pre-Conference: Initiative and Vision

  • The Thirty Network believes that Asian American pastors have something valuable and unique to contribute to the Church with the very essence of who they are and who God has created them to be at this time in this generation. The Thirty seeks to facilitate conversations, provide resources, and make connections that will actively strengthen the mainstream evangelical church. I will be speaking at their pre-conference at Exponential West on the topic of Initiative and Vision.
  • Time: Tuesday, 9:30-12:30pm
  • Location: Port Mariners Kids room #237

Workshop Session 1: Using Residency Programs to Develop Leaders that Multiply

  • Learn about five different types of residency programs, the spectrums that each are built on, and how to start one in your church. Are your residents fully funded? Are they full-time? Do you pursue partnership with a seminary? These questions and more will be answered in this workshop so that you can develop homegrown leaders in your church that multiply.
  • Time: Tuesday, 2:30-3:30pm
  • Location: Life Development Building – Room 203

Workshop Session 2: How to Create a City Multiplication Movement

  • Learn how to create a church multiplication movement in your city. Whether you’re a church planter, a staff member, a campus pastor, a lead pastor, or a denominational leader, you will glean insights to help you cultivate a multiplication movement in your city. When this session is done, you’ll leave with a strategy to employ in your city to see multiplication happen.
  • Time: Wednesday, 8:45-9:45am
  • Location: Life Development Building – Room 203

[Read more…] about My Seminars for Exponential West 2016

Campus Pastor Skill #4: How to Lead Up

September 20, 2016 By Daniel Im

looking up

Campus pastors who never lead up will always hit a ceiling in their development.

Think about the team that you lead. When in a meeting or working on a project, how do you feel when everyone always agrees with you and never offers another suggestion? Or, how about when someone disagrees with you or offers a better idea? How do you feel then?

Refusing to lead up can either be seen as a lack of competence or a lack of care.

When you always seem to agree with those who are leading you, this is often viewed as a lack of knowledge or skill. After all, there’s no way that your boss can be more competent than you in every area, especially if you’re hired to be a specialist in a particular area. For example, how would you feel if you always knew more about children’s ministry than your children’s director? It’s one thing if you were more of an expert in their area when they started on your staff (this is referring to S1 in Situational Leadership, as we addressed in the previous post), but you wouldn’t want them to stay there.

In addition, repeated silence or unconditional agreement is typically interpreted as a lack of initiative or a lack of care. After all, if you truly cared about the project or the task at hand, wouldn’t you have been thinking about it, researching it, and trying to bring your best ideas to the table?

Now don’t misinterpret me. I’m not saying that you always need to have something to say, nor that you should play the devil’s advocate. There’s definitely a balance needed here, but what’s not an option is repeated silence.

When you do speak out and try to lead up, this can either be seen as a challenge to authority, or allegiance to the organization.

Let me explain. If those leading you are authoritarian and have big egos, they typically see ideas other than theirs as sub-par, and as a result, a challenge to their authority. When team members speak up, leaders like those are typically thinking, “How dare you say something other than yes? Do you really think you’re better at this than I am?” Or, if the presented idea is actually better than theirs, they will probably find a way to minimize it, and then secretly implement it, while taking all the credit. If that’s how the leadership is at your church, then consider asking the Lord for an opportunity to leave. This is not a healthy environment to be in.

What if your idea is taken into account? What if your idea is actually better than the leader’s? And then, what if your idea is actually the one that gets implemented? In a healthy organization or church, this wouldn’t be seen as a challenge to authority; instead, it would be seen as allegiance to the organization. The fact that you brought a good idea demonstrates that you are all-in, and want everyone on the team to succeed.

When you present a better idea, alternative solution, or even initiate a brand new idea, you need to think about the way you present it, as much as the content of it.

After all, the fate of your idea, and the fate of your future in the church, ultimately depends on your level of emotional intelligence, how you present the idea, and the amount of relational capital and trust that you have built with others. This reminds me of that often repeated phrase in relationships, “It’s not what you said, it’s how you said it!”

So instead of saying, “No, I don’t like that. I have a better idea. Listen up!” Next time you have a better solution than the one that the lead pastor presents, try saying something like this. “I love __________ (find an aspect of the leader’s idea that you appreciate). What do you think if we did this as well? __________ (present your idea).” Or, if your idea is completely different than what has already been presented, then try this, “I have an idea that’s pretty different than what’s been suggested, but I think it might work, or at least aspects of it. Do you guys want to hear it?”

Leading up can either be seen as a challenge to authority, or allegiance to the organization.

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When you lead up, you are demonstrating your leadership capacity and competency, while also declaring your your love and allegiance to the vision and mission that your church is trying to accomplish.

Here are four areas that campus pastors NEED to lead up in:

1. Preaching

Effective multisite churches coordinate preaching across their campuses. If you consider yourself a multisite church, but aren’t doing this, then you’re missing out. More than a common budget and a vision statement, it’s coordinated preaching that keeps multisite churches together and in unison. Whether you do this via video, or with a live teaching team, it’s important that every campus is hearing the same core set of points on a weekly basis. There is definitely room for Campus Sundays where the campus pastors are preaching unique messages to their campuses, but this is more of an exception than the norm.

[Read more…] about Campus Pastor Skill #4: How to Lead Up

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