Planting Space

contributed by Doug Foltz, Project Manager
Last week I had a great conversation with a church planter I’m working with, Jake Nelson. Here’s what he said in his blog:
You can plan for months for a big event that might draw a few people, or with no preparation at all we can paint pumpkins and use [...]

Want to establish visibility and presence in a community that meets real needs and creates a buzz, whetting the appetite and causing people to ask for more? Passion for Planting and Compassion by Design just released a “Community Targeting” tool to help church planters take the first important step toward this by establishing a [...]

In case you haven’t heard, the Exponential Conference website has been updated with the speaker lineup. There are currently 34 speakers including Andy Stanley, Alan Hirsch, and Tim Keller to name just a few. Register early to get the best rate!
newchurches news

Our last few blogs have focused on the benefits of doing a community needs assessment. At New Life Christian Church a new community based organization, Passion 4 Community, was birthed as a way to directly address the needs discovered from the assessment. Passion 4 Community is its own entity, [...]

Once you complete the surveys you need to figure out your next steps. You can begin by asking your team what “aha moments” they had. Compare what you learned with what skills, gifts, passions, or resources you have at your disposal.
If you think you have an area where you can meet a need, [...]

When New Life Christian Church did our needs assessment we were able to conduct over 200 interviews. These interviews were with school principals, police, politicians, community association leaders, all the people who are involved in making our community what it is. We were shocked about the access we were given. The reality [...]

So once you decide you decide you want to do a Needs Assessment to understand the needs of your community, you will begin by preparing for a community survey.
You’ll start by studying the process. Consider starting by attending a free conference call to learn more. Find some training. Get some coaching. [...]

I’ve been speaking with Dave Mills of Compassion by Design a lot lately. He helps church plants, and others, assess and meet the real needs of their communities. He has convinced me that a “Community Needs Assessment” should be one of our “non-negotiables” for church planters to do prior to launch. This [...]

Let me go out on a limb and really put it out there for you…
In our experience it takes about $1,000 to draw one person to your new church.
This is by no means statistically proven… this is not a hard and fast rule… this is no promise, guarantee* or in any way intended to [...]

So yesterday I shared that God can, and does in fact, bring different numbers to different church plants. This is very true. We’ve worked with plants that launch with less than 100 people at launch, and plants that launch well over 500 people. I can’t tell you how many people God is [...]