The purpose of the strategy paper is to lay out a plan which your team will follow for seeing a cluster of reproducing churches established in the foreseeable future in your location. The strategy should not be seen as unchangeable. Indeed, as you progress in your attempt to plant the church , you will learn things that will cause you to adjust your strategy. It would be good to review your strategy paper every year or so to update it and to keep your team informed as to the present strategy.

The strategy should have steps along the way so that the actual progress toward the goal can be measured.

A general outline giving some stages in planting the church, as well as a few steps for each stage is given the end of this paper. It is given to aid you, and you need not feel obligated to use any of it. The important this is to think for your ultimate target backwards to where you are and envision specific steps which will allow you to achieve that goal.

Below are some questions which are designed to get you to think more thoroughly about your approach. It includes questions on background as well as team issues which you may answer in a tentative fashion. Likely you will want to revise this after a year or so in the work.

A copy of your strategy paper will remain on file with the FCPT field director so as your monthly reports are sent in, your progress can be tracked. Your copy may be lengthy, but we ask that you keep the strategy which will be on file with FCPT to 4 or 5 pages. With this in mind, you may limit your FCPT draft to #1, 2, 5, & 10 below. Please keep FCPT updated as your strategy is adjusted. Also be aware that FCPT exists to help you overcome obstacles to your progress through coaching and mentoring help. Keep this in mind as you answer #5, 6, & 9 below.

1. What is the scope of your target? Are you pinpointing a social class or stratum, a people group, a language group, a profession, a city, a country?

2. What is your mission? Summarize it succinctly as possible. Is your goal a single church? A reproducing church? A people movement? A cell church? A house church cluster? Reproducing church planting teams?

3. What has already happened among your target group? Are others working there? If so, what is your relationship with them? Is there radio or media efforts? What will be you relationship to the already existing churches in the area?

4. What specific barriers do you envision will need to be overcome? What are your initial plans for doing so?

5. What other help is available to you to achieve the mission? Make a list of books that bear on you plan, other people outside who could be of help to you (i.e. coaches, mentors, people from your home church, etc.). Remember that the other members of your team may help here. When new members come on, enlist their help to add to this list.

Evaluating Your Team In Light Of The Strategy

6. What resources has God given to you in your teammates? What are their strengths and weaknesses? What are the ways you use to asses them? How could God use them to accomplish the mission? Are they conscious of their place in God's plan? Are they content in it?

7. How could God use you to help develop them? What underdeveloped gifts and abilities do you see potentially in them? What might prevent these from blossoming? What responsibilities will each have in team life? In the work?

8. What is your role in the work? On the team? What do you need to help you complete that role? How is your wife a provision of God in this?

9. What is your team missing to accomplish the task? How will you make do until God's provision is either sent or becomes evident?

10. Outline the stages you would envision for the process of achieving your mission from entry of the team to existing (mission accomplished). Try to distinguish stages and the steps within the stages. (See strategy summary which follows) Develop an expanded list of activities for the first couple of stages. As you achieve these stages, repeat it for the next couple of stages. Keep a log of how effective these activities were as you may be called on to help out other teams in the future.

We are the church's investment in the extension of the Kingdom. We need to keep this in mind and not become content with no progress year in and year out. In the event of the lack of progress, we encourage you to first review your strategy with a view toward revising the specific activities within the stage at which you are struck. FCPT is available to help.

The following is a summary of the stages for planting a network of reproducing house churches. Within each stage are a few steps which will help you get started. Each step will require fleshing out as you progress in your understanding of church planting. A more complete list of activities is available in the Church Planters Checklist (Appendix 7).

1. Team development: Getting to the field, recruiting a team, developing a vital team life while on the field.

2. Language and culture: Learning these in such a way as to live productively in the culture, and helping the team to do so. (Language learning may not be necessary unless you will be working with a particular cross-cultural group, none-the-less, you will have to learn about the culture of the people you target.)

3. Evangelism: Develop redemptive relationships and friendships ultimately leading to sharing the Gospel and seeing someone obediently follow Christ in baptism.

1. Finding a key man or woman (man/woman of peace) around whom a group of people can be gathered.

2. Disciple this seeker/believer to live out Christ's life before his/her family and friends, sharing the Good News with them. Enable this person to study the Bible, understanding God's plan for the church, praying for the church to be established here.

3. The seeker/believer gathers family/friends to explore the Good News together through hearing & studying Bible stories. Some of these commit to Christ and desire to see a community established.

1. 2 or 3 believers decide to follow Christ in community. They begin to meet regularly, learn how to love one another, celebrate the Lord's Table.

2. Leaders begin to develop as they evangelize, baptize, and disciple new ones into the community. These leaders set the pace in godliness, in the home and in the community.

3. Peacemaking skills exercised in the community to resolve conflicts and maintain relationships.

4. Most of the church planters withdraw to start a new gathering, the remaining church planter takes a lower profile focusing on training the leaders.

1. Community focuses energies on reproducing a new community.

2. New leaders formally recognized. Learn to function as a team.

3. New leaders trained in home and church looking for character development. Lead meetings. Shepherd the community. Refine peacemaking skills. They take the initiative in developing new leaders.

4. Reproduction begins. New meeting started. Leaders of the different groups network (FOB).

1. Vision for reproducing new churches motivates church life.

2. Leaders ordained. They, in turn, recognize new emerging leaders (shepherding deacons) of new congregations and take responsibility for their development.

3. Church planter redefines relationship to leaders as a resource person. Seeing new churches started without the church planter.

4. Elders, possibly with church planter, lay hands on new elders in the newer community.