CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Reallocating Resources

Reallocating Resources
If two church planters start gathering meetings, one should move on early in the covenanting stage. By moving on, we mean absenting himself from the community meetings, and transferring his discipleship chain to someone in the new congregation. We believe at least two men should jointly oversee the new church. Once one church planter leaves, a new second man needs to take the place of the leaving church planter. This second man is trained to help the remaining church planter and become an elder. In a short time, he will be expected to begin mentoring another man from his discipleship chain to join him in the leadership team. Thus the pattern of reproduction is already in place early in the covenanting stage. When these two new leaders are functioning together, the remaining church planter heading up the work moves on as well (See Withdrawal of church planters and interaction between churches and teams; Stage 3, Chapter 19). Some, fearing for the fragility of the work, will want to keep both church planters in the group. But our experience has shown us that the longer two church planters remain on the scene, the longer it takes for these patterns of reproducing leaders to be set up. Better to teach the fledgling group to look to the Lord rather than to church planters.

This reallocation of resources can be a painful time for the group as well as the church planters. The group needs to be prepared for it so that they don't feel abandoned. The pattern of New Testament church leadership (leaders coming from among the congregations) needs to be affirmed, as do the emerging leaders.

The church planter left behind is considered the one "heading up the work" and the one who leaves is considered a "gatherer". Who stays and who goes is decided by who is in the best position to develop discipleship chains for strong leadership. This usually depends on the relationships which have been developed, rather than giftedness of the church planter. We often find that the church planter with strong evangelistic gifts may have to stay behind to develop the emerging leaders rather than the church planter with strong discipleship gifts. We avoid traumatizing relationships as much as possible since it is usually in the covenanting stage when the sharpest spiritual attacks occur. Often this stage is the watershed for new leaders; they must decide if they are going to suffer for the Lord, or compromise for the sake of comfort. We need strong friendships to carry us over the watershed.

The "gatherer" church planter who leaves will begin new gathering meetings. He may focus on trying to penetrate the social circle of a new convert, working closely with that person and beginning a new discipleship chain with him (See "Man of Peace"; Stage 1, Chapter 7-9). Or he might penetrate a whole new community by himself doing grass roots evangelism. The gatherer will absent himself from the community meeting, only visiting occasionally to ask for prayer and give reports. When he starts another church, they will network together to form a fellowship (see the section IV Cycle #1 later in this manual). Relationships between the churches need to be strong at least on the leadership level. This is especially true in closed countries where congregations are unable to meet together. Networking brings strength and stability to the house churches. In closed countries it may only be the leaders who network but this will bring stability to the work.

If the gathering church planter has a family, he may find it healthier for the family to remain behind in the original group while he moves on. When a new group enters into the covenant stage, we find this is a good time for the family to rejoin the church planter. Of course this will depend on the situation, the gifts of the wife, the stage of family life, etc. We pray always to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.

Termination of the Covenanting Stage
The covenanting stage closes when the group signs the covenant. This a joyous occasion with feasting and worship. Some may still feel uneasy about entering into covenant, and need to be encouraged to go before the Lord and seek His will. They should not be made to feel guilty nor pressured or resentment will result. Let the pressure come from the Holy Spirit. We have found that there will usually be one or two who draw back at this point. Usually they covenant within a few weeks, but in some cases they turn away, unable to take the final step. When this happens there is, of course, sorrow on the part of the group, which prays for the restoration of these folks.

Key Principles

1. Leadership should always be done in teams.

2. One of the two church planters needs to leave at this stage since the overwhelming focus of the next stage is leadership development.

3. Leaders need to learn by doing, so the church planter is forced to pick new leaders as the other church planter leaves.

4. Leadership in teams must be modeled by doing it. Plural eldership will need to be modeled more than taught, especially where this is foreign to the culture (in my experience it seems to be foreign to most!).

Questions for further discussion

1. What is the danger of the church planter remaining in a church too long?

2. What would be some evidences that this has occurred?

3. What would be the consequences of the church planter remaining as the solo leader?