The Church Planting Team in the ‘Shared Ministry’ Phase
This is the phase that you really want to get to in order to be ready to launch your Sunday meeting, and it is notable that in the Corinthian example mentioned above, Paul held back on his pace a bit until he had a team in this phase. Whereas his initial practice had been just to reason in the synagogue on the Sabbath , once Silas and Timothy arrived to join him, we are told that Paul was then ‘occupied with the word’ and he found a public venue (the house next door to the synagogue) and got a meeting started that resulted in lots of the Corinthians believing and being baptised.
What made the difference here was the team. Although there had been other people with Paul prior to the arrival of Silas and Timothy in Corinth, it seems that there was something different about these people. They were more than simply warm bodies on seats (and warm bodies on seats are actually very important in a church plant). They were Paul’s people – leaders in their own right and co-workers who could share the load of ministry with Paul.
At CCM, we are trying to plant a bunch of churches in Manchester, and in the latest church plant in Manchester City Centre, we have recently reached this phase. The plant started as one of many twinkles in the eye of Colin Baron, and Colin found a couple of students who were able to run a midweek meeting in a coffee shop for a few months and allow something to develop. After a while of meeting midweek in this way, it was time to bring in some leadership to help move the plant forward and I was asked to take on this role. Alongside me I have Alastair who is one of the students who ran the original meeting who has a hunger to grow in leadership and learn, and Abi who is taking a year out to help us get the church going. Having people other than myself who have emotional ownership of the church plant, some time availability to throw at it and the capacity to get stuff done is a game-changer and means that we can push the accelerator towards a public launch early in the new year, just as the arrival on Silas and Timothy in Corinth made all the difference for Paul.
As you look to reach this phase, what you are trying to do is to identify those co-workers who can share the load of ministry with you. These may be people within the group that has already formed, or others from outside who are up for getting involved. You then want to invest in these people heavily. It is important that they are given space to take responsibility in the plant, and also that they are given lots of coaching input and space to discuss issues and ensure that you are pulling in the same direction (they way Jesus worked with the twelve as he sent them out is a good starting point in how you do this). Having these people working among you is a big positive for building your wider team and it is now not only the influence and personality of the main leader but also these others that people will gather to. Having this kind of team makes it a lot easier to then grow out your core group and launch your public meetings.
