Launch

Starting a New Church from Scratch

Kerrick Thomas and Nelson Searcy

• Publisher: Baker Books
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781493406845
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Church

Starting a church from scratch? Start here! Launch offers specific strategies for beginning a church with no members, no money, and no staff. Readers get clear, practical how-to strategies for quickly raising funds, creating a team, planning services, effective evangelism, and rapidly developing a growing membership. Specific advice is included for reaching that often difficult-to-target demographic, the 20- to 40-year-old. Now thoroughly revised and expanded to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of church planting.

Section 1
Foundation

According to Catholic Church teaching, there are seven deadly sins. Since I’m not Catholic, I have no idea what these sins are. However, I am a church planter, and in church planting there are three deadly sins:

1. Lack of calling
2. Lack of strategy
3. Lack of funds

These three deadly sins will ensure that a church plant fails and fails fast. Among evangelical Christians, the statistics for new church failure are overwhelming. The reality is so bad that it has become the dirty little secret among church types. Jehovah’s Witnesses have a better success rate than we do.

The first four chapters (Section 1) of this book deal with the foundational issues of effectively starting a church from scratch. I’ve tried to make some of the boring stuff exciting and some of the hard stuff easier to understand. Forgive me if I sometimes get it the other way around. I’ll also try not to offend any other religious groups from here on out.

1
Starting the Journey . . . from Scratch

I know how it feels to want to start a church. I’ve been there, wrestling with the fear, the excitement, and the sheer awe that God may have actually called me to such a task. When I was thirty years old, God began to stir this desire in my heart—the desire to start a church from scratch. Church planting in general was not a new idea for me, but the concept of God calling me to plant a church caught me off guard.

Throughout my twenties, I had worked closely with many church planters. While I was pursuing a graduate degree at Duke University, I had been part of a church-planting team in Apex, North Carolina. After graduation, I had worked extensively with church planters through the outreach of a megachurch on the West Coast. Church planting was familiar territory for me, but I had never experienced a firsthand call to start a church—until one mild October afternoon in central Florida.

My friend Jason and I had just wrapped up an event with some local pastors and were headed to the airport. I was flying home to Southern California and he was on his way back to North Carolina. To this day, the conversation that took place in that tiny rental car is branded on my mind.

At first, we were just chitchatting; talking about what God was up to in our lives. Jason, who was in the music business, told me that he and his band were in production on their next album. Then he asked what was going on with me. Hedging, I named a few things that were keeping me busy. I knew I needed to tell him what had been stirring in my heart. After a minute of silent personal battle, I confessed that I thought God was calling me to start a church. He chuckled and said, “Nelson, every time we go somewhere you talk about starting a church—whether it’s Florida, Seattle, or Timbuktu.”

I had to admit he was right. I loved church planters and felt a strong connection with them regardless of what city we were in. But something else was going on here. “No,” I said, “this time it’s different. I think God may be calling me to start a church in New York City.”

Whew, I had finally said it out loud. Now, someone else I trusted could help me discern God’s leading. Jason and I committed to do two things based on what I was feeling: (1) pray about the decision over the next couple of months, and (2) not say a word to our wives—not something I would recommend, but it seemed right to us at the time. (By the way, remember Jason. You’ll run into him again in a later chapter.)

The next few weeks were a whirlwind. God was working in my life and I knew it. I just wasn’t sure what he was doing. I prayed, studied the Bible, read a few books on church planting, and wrote furiously in my journal—all in secret. I didn’t say a word about starting a church to my wife, Kelley. It wasn’t that I was afraid to tell her—we have a great marriage and communicate well—I just needed to make sure that this call was truly from God before I said anything about it. In our marriage and ministry together, we had already moved from the East Coast to the West Coast, and I knew enough not to propose moving back across the country until I knew that God was the one behind the idea.

The next month, on Thanksgiving afternoon, Kelley and I were at home watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and waiting to meet some friends for dinner. She turned to me, out of the blue, and asked an unusual question: “Where do you think we will end up after California?” I still wasn’t sure there was an “after California” in our future. We loved our church. We had good friends, great jobs, and a house that fit us perfectly. From all outward appearances, we were settled. But given the stirring that I couldn’t shake about New York, I hesitantly turned the question back on her. “I . . . I’m not sure,” I stammered. “Where do you think we’ll end up?” The next words out of her mouth shook me to the core. She said, “I’ve been thinking a lot about New York City lately.”

Don’t you love it when God shows himself in a powerful way? We had never talked about New York before; never even considered the possibility of living there. Yet unbeknownst to us, God was diligently sending each of us the same message about following him into a new journey.

During the next hour or so before dinner, we tried to wrap our minds around what ministry in New York might be like. I poured my heart out about the leading I had been sensing. We could hardly get through dinner that night because we were so anxious to get back home and keep talking over the possibilities. After dinner, I showed Kelley parts of my journal and outlined some ideas on what starting a church might look like. We wrapped up our Thanksgiving Day with a commitment to pray about this calling for fifty days.

Approximately fifty days later, on Valentine’s Day weekend, Kelley and I flew to New York City. We landed on one of the coldest days in a decade. Not exactly the warm reception our Southern California temperaments were hoping for. Nonetheless, with two other couples, we prayer-walked around New York City, took in some incredible restaurants, and questioned whether or not God was actually calling us to be part of this one-of-a-kind city.

At the end of a spectacular (and confirming) weekend, we knelt on the floor of our Manhattan hotel room and said yes to God’s call to move across the country and start a brand-new church. That night, echoes of Sinatra lulled us to sleep: “I want to be a part of it, New York, New York.” We were about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. We were one hundred percent sure we were making the right decision—until our plane landed back in Los Angeles the next day.

With the California sun came a host of doubts: How can we possibly make this happen? Are we crazy to even try? What about selling our house? Our cars? How can I leave my job? What about Kelley’s job? Throughout the onslaught, we kept reminding ourselves of God’s calling and his many confirmations.

Staying true to my strategic nature, I put together a “Move to NYC” plan that would have us settled on the East Coast in about twelve months. But, as he often does, God had another timeline. In just five short months, God miraculously brought everything together and sent us on our way. We sold our house, resigned from our jobs, said good-bye to our friends, and headed east.

We arrived in New York City in late July on one of the hottest days on record, as irony would have it. We had no money for our new church, nowhere to meet, and we were the only members. The realities of starting a church from scratch in a new city were about to hit us squarely between the eyes.

In an effort to make Manhattan feel like home, we decided to focus first on getting settled in our new Upper West Side apartment. I stuck with the project for about twenty-four hours before leaving Kelley with piles of unpacked boxes and hopping a plane to start raising funds for the new church. I couldn’t wait. We had secured enough money to move across the country and I had a forthcoming salary from a job in the city (I worked bi-vocationally for the first two and a half years), but we didn’t have a single dime for the church. So my fund-raising quest began.

There’s a rumor circulating among church planters that Texas churches have a lot of money they’d like to part with, so I lined up appointments with a dozen or so Texas churches and headed south. I struck out with ten of the churches I met with, but two heard me out. Both of them eventually became key partners in our work.

Back in New York, Kelley and I made a decision to get serious about meeting people in the city and preparing for our first service. When you decide to meet people, you will—and one of the first people I met was Kerrick Thomas. He and his wife had moved to New York about the same time we had and were planning to start a church in the East Village. To make a long story short, we began working together the following January. (You’ll get the long version a little later on.)

Our brand-new church held its first monthly service in September. We continued with monthly services until the following February. God blessed each one tremendously. For all you number crunchers, here is what the attendance for our six monthly services looked like:

The Journey Monthly Worship Service Attendance

Month	Attendance	Notes
September	98	First monthly service. Attracted a crowd, but only 13 real prospects.
October	35	Second monthly service.
November	42	Third monthly service.
December	55	Fourth monthly service.
January	63	Fifth monthly service.
February	67	Final monthly service.

In March, on Easter Sunday, we launched weekly services with one hundred and ten people in attendance. The Journey Church was under way! I’d like to tell you that our growth trend was straight up for the rest of that year—but it wasn’t. For example, the Sunday after Easter, only fifty-five people showed up. That’s when we learned firsthand that everyone who comes to church on Easter Sunday doesn’t necessarily come back the following week. (For more on our specific growth numbers, see Appendix A.)

As God was growing The Journey, he was also growing us. He was slowly preparing us for the long-term plans he had for our church—plans that we are still discovering each and every day. Since those first months, God has continued to give Kelley and me confirmation points along the way. We stand in disbelief and in awe of all that he is doing through The Journey.

Since our beginning on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, we have used the same strategy to launch churches around New York City. Currently, we have multiple locations in Manhattan, plus churches in the outer boroughs. We’ve also launched The Journey Church in Boca Raton, Florida, and have plans to expand to other major metropolitan cities in the future.

The far-reaching effects of the Launch strategy are immensely humbling. Denominations are using it to train their leaders before sending them out to plant churches. Many active churches around the country are now using the strategy to start multi-site locations (something I’ll discuss more in the pages ahead). I have had the opportunity to train thousands of pastors and have helped countless churches launch with two hundred, three hundred, and even six hundred people in attendance on their first Sunday. (For more information on my personal coaching, visit www.ChurchFromScratch.com.)

When Kelley and I think back to that Thanksgiving Day in California, we can do nothing but praise God for guiding us into his will. Of course, there have been tests and trials—there always will be. But seeing God work through the difficulties is part of what makes church planting so rewarding.

Launching Large

As we prepare to work through the strategy and principles that have helped The Journey and other churches across the country launch successfully, I want to make sure you understand the overarching goal of what you are about to read:

The goal of Launch is to help you start a church from scratch that will reach as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

In other words, my goal is to provide you with everything you need to launch large. This underlying premise of launching large will guide all of our ensuing discussions.

Launching large is the ability of a new church to reach as many people as possible within the first six to eight months of existence. It’s about discovering and fulfilling potential. Of course, large is a relative term. Church is local, and the concept of launching large will look different for different church planters in different environments. Areas that are receptive to the gospel usually lend themselves to a larger launch than unchurched areas. But I have also seen the reverse hold true. Don’t get too caught up in the numbers. Instead, focus on the unique potential of your area as you allow the concept of launching large to sink in.

At the same time, don’t dismiss the numbers. Numbers serve an important purpose in that they repre...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface to the Revised and Expanded Edition
• Preface to the First Edition
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Section 1: Foundation
• Section 2: Formation
• Section 3: Implementation
• Postscript
• Appendix A: Average Monthly Attendance for The Journey’s First Twelve Months
• Appendix B: Sample Partners Meeting Agenda
• Appendix C: Recommended Leadership Resources
• Notes
• About the Authors
• Back Ads
• Back Cover