Priorities in Fast-Growing Church Plants

Church plants that grow faster are also intentional about their outreach priorities. For example, 80 percent of fast-growing churches put 10 percent of their budgets toward outreach and evangelism compared to 42 percent of struggling churches committing this percentage. Fast-growing churches also use more contemporary worship styles that are more culturally relevant to the unchurched people they are trying to reach.

Other significant findings that differentiate fast-growing church plants from struggling church plants during the 3-year period following launch include:

1. Only 9 percent of fast-growing church planters are given salary support past 4 years; 44 percent of struggling church planters are supported past 3 years.
2. 63 percent of fast-growing church planters raise additional funding for the church plant. Only 23 percent of struggling church planters raise additional funding.
3. Planters leading fast-growing church plants are given more freedom to cast their own vision, choose their own target audience, and they have more freedom in the spending of finances.
4. Fast-growing church plants have multiple paid staff. Two paid staff members was a majority among the church plants.
5. A majority of fast-growing church plants utilize two or more volunteer staff as part of the church planting team prior to public launch.
6. Fast-growing church plants utilize more seed families than struggling church plants.
7. Fast-growing church plants use both preview services and small groups to build the initial core group.
8. Fast-growing church plants that use preview services used three or more of these services prior to public launch. A large contingent of these churches use over five.
9. Fast-growing church plants have children and teen ministries in place at time of launch and offer at least three ministry opportunities to first-time attendees.
10. 57 percent of fast-growing church plants teach financial stewardship during the first 6 months from public launch. By contrast only 40 percent of struggling church plants teach financial stewardship.

ED STETZER, Alpharetta, Georgia, is missiologist and senior director of the Center for Missional Research at the North American Mission Board, Southern Baptist Convention. From “Improving the Health and Survivability of New Churches,” Leadership Network. Used with permission.