Purpose

The purpose of this book is to share our experience in how the Fellowship of Church Planters have built and used teams of church planters. At this writing I am presently working with Frontiers, who use teams in working in the Muslim world. I have learned much in addition to what I have learned from the Fellowship of Church Planters. Thus the experiences contained herein are derived both from the experience in Rhode Island and presently in taking those things and applying them more broadly to church planting in the Muslim world with Frontiers. I continue to plant churches in the UK where I have been based since 1995 with Frontiers International Headquarters. I continue to learn by doing, learning more from my mistakes than my successes, but each time I fail, learning from these.

Building Effective Church Planting Teams is meant to complement the Manual on House Church Planting in Networks, where we focused on how to plant networks of reproducing churches. In this book we will share how we have formed effective teams, and how these have reproduced to spawn networks of cooperating teams for more effective church planting. Our hope is that it will help those who have been called to form teams of church planters; also those who will eventually become mentors of networks of teams which are spawned as teams reproduce.

I have been involved in planting churches for over twenty years. My goal has always been to plant churches which will reproduce and plant new congregations without the direct aid of a church planter. Over the 20 years, I have evolved from a solo pastor to being part of a leadership team of elders, and then from being a solo church planter to becoming a part of a church planting team. I became a team leader of a single team, saw that team reproduce new teams and served as a mentor to those new team leaders, eventually becoming a member of one of the teams. Over the past few years the Lord has led me into mentoring relationship with team leaders planting churches cross-culturally with Frontiers. This manual contains many of the papers I have written to meet the varied situations myself and these team leaders have encountered. My hope is that in sharing them in this way you can learn from our experiences and better serve those whom you are training whether serving as a team leader or a mentor.

Background

As I have looked at the Apostle Paul's band of church planters it seemed to me there were two things being accomplished: churches were being planted and church planters were being trained. Some of these church planters went off with their own bands and planted churches in other regions. Paul describes himself as a "wise master builder" (I Cor. 3:10). He laid a foundation wherever he planted a church. But it is quite evident as a master craftsman he also trained other builders. His letters to Titus and Timothy live as testimony to his ongoing mentoring of church planters who were trained by him. In this sense there was a reproductive component not only to get churches to reproduce but also teams to reproduce.

I believe God is still calling "wise master builders" to serve not only in planting the church, but also as mentors to younger teams of church planters. It is with this in mind that I humbly share what I have learned over the years. Hopefully the ideas contained herein will continue grow as I grow in the future, since we never master a craft, but must constantly be learning. May God grant us the humility to be learners together.

The first section of the handbook are foundations principles for teams. The second section is addressed to church planters who are forming teams and will likely become the leaders of those teams. These chapters and the corresponding appendices are designed to help the team leader have clear goals and values which will lead to teams which are effective in sustaining themselves over the long haul as well as planting reproducing churches. The third section focuses on the task of reproducing teams and how some team leaders will be called to become mentors of these new team leaders. Note the emphasis on reproduction which arises naturally from reproducing churches which are sending out church planters in teams. New teams and team leaders emerge from these reproducing teams, ultimately leading to loose networks of cooperating teams.

The following page defines a few terms which will be used throughout this book.

Summary of Key Terms

Church Planter: A person usually sent by a church to work with a church planting team to plant churches. Church Planters can be men or women, single or married. One spouse could be on the team having been called by God as a church planter and the other not.

Church Planting Team: A group of people usually associated by covenant (See appendix 2) who are functioning together in order to plant a church. For us teams are like a basketball team where all the members are pooling their abilities and working in a coordinated effort to see a cluster of reproducing churches. They are not like a track team where each one does his or her own thing hoping that of all the individuals laboring in different fields with little cooperation, one or two churches might be planted.

Team Leader: This is normally a man who is designated by the team as someone who makes sure the team stays focused on the task. He also makes sure the team is working in a smooth, coordinated manner. He is not the "boss", since God will usually reveal His will to and through the entire team. But he is the one responsible to make sure that the team members are receiving appropriate training and shepherding so that the team is functioning at its maximum capability. The team leader is also the one through whom the team will network with other teams and a mentor.

Mentor: A mentor is a seasoned church planter who has experience in working within a church planting team which has planted churches which reproduce. He has likely served as a team leader of a church planting team training younger church planters in the various skills one needs to successfully plant reproducing churches. As he has grown in his skills he will spawn other teams which have team leaders who will network with him for guidance and encouragement. Other team leaders outside his immediate fellowship may begin looking to him as well.

Although normally starting as a team leader, as his team reproduces and other team leaders seek his help, his responsibilities to other teams will often preclude him from continuing to serve as a team leader. A mentor may often function on a team under a team leader he has trained. The mentor will serve as a resource to that team as well as keep his tools sharp when not traveling by participating in the effort with that team. A mentor will normally be fully supported so that he is free to travel.

Worksheet

1. How would you identify yourself: as a CP? a TL? a Mentor? an Elder? You may need help in clarifying your call if you have not already. (see chapter 4 on CALLING)

2. Do you have a mentor? Who is your mentor? What kind of discipleship material are you going over?

3. If you are a team leader, have you written a team covenant? A Strategy Paper? (See appendix 2)

4. How big a team do you think you need to be effective? What kind of gifts will you need on the team to balance yours? What will be your strategy for recruiting? For planting the church?