1   \   Casting Vision

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• Begin sharing your heart and dream with the church board (Preparing the board)

Preparing the governing body of a church should not be a quick process. A pastor should begin finding ways to build the heart and idea into the governing body of a church.  They need the opportunity to catch God’s heart for how God can use their church to expand the Kingdom in exponential ways.

• Start telling stories about church plants or church planters 

There is no better way for people to catch a vision for a spiritual principle than telling a story. This is why Jesus used them so much in His teaching. Finding ways to include testimonies of church plants and church planters regularly in sermons and teaching will create a culture that embraces and champions church planting. This helps to instill a DNA and culture of church reproduction.

• Feature church plants/planters

Make church plants and church planters the heros of your church. Play videos from church planters, put church planter on your churches pray list, and have them come in regularly to share what they are doing.

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2   \   Begin Sewing

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• Start giving to Church plants

Put church planting in your mission’s budget. You can give to church planting through MVP, or give directly to other church planters that are raising support. Allow the people within your church to see that the church gives to church plants/planters or create the ability for them to give directly.

• Start saving for church plants

Start an account or a line item for church planting in the budget, and set an amount to give to it faithfully. Create guidelines for how and when that money is spent.

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3   \   Growing Leaders (HIGH PRIORITY)

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• Start a ministry mentorship program

Create a ministry mentorship program that is built to mentor and train people in ministry. It does not have to be complex. Meet with a hand selected group, and share with them in each meeting leadership skills, ministry task how to’s, and ministry skills. Give the group ministry opportunities and coaching.

• Develop small groups (have small group leaders raise up other small group leaders)

Small groups are essentially micro churches or at least have elements of the church built into them. Getting people to lead small groups gives them an opportunity to gather people, teach the word, spiritually care for others and raise other leaders within the group. Helping small group leaders raise up new leaders gives group leaders the mindset for multiplication and leadership development. These skills are imperative in church planting.

• Start an INSTE class

INSTE can be a great tool in developing and preparing church planters within a church. INSTE helps prepare students and leaders to receive their Open Bible credentials, gives them opportunities to form groups and gather people and gives them a biblical foundation to teach and preach from. This class can be coupled with a ministry mentorship program.

• Encourage qualified people within the church to get credentialed

People that have a call for ministry and some biblical training can be encouraged to get their Open Bible credentials. This helps prepare potential church planters to receive support, training and endorsement from Open Bible East and the R.A.M. Network 

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4   \   Planning

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• Lead the board to a decision to plant/mother a church within a certain time period

Set a goal with the church governance. The goal should be mixed with God sized faith yet coupled with realistic wisdom. If it is not stretching, then it leaves no room for God, but if it is unrealistic, it leaves no room for people. 

• Get people praying- Keep prayer people and prayer teams regularly updated

Every opportunity to have your church praying into church planting is a win for the Kingdom and the church. Getting people praying with specifics for church planting will help infuse your church people with a passion to see churches multiplied and being planted.

• Develop a proposal with a timeline and milestones to planting a daughter church

This will become the mothering churches key document to capture the vision and plan for the pathway forward. This document should NOT be set in stone but serves as a declared plan and pathway forward that is adjustable when needed.  

• Determine the support and relationship the new church can expect from the mother church

Figure out how involved the mother church will be in the life and growth of the daughter church. Just like parenting, the goal is that the children become independent from their parents. With parenting children, this can be somewhat natural, but with church planting, it is not as intuitive. Having  defined expectations on the relationship between the mother and daughter church will be essential to a healthy relationship between the leadership of both churches.

• Identify a geography or people group to plant in

Through a process of prayer and seeking God, begin identifying geographical locations or people groups that God leads your church to explore planting in. There can be just one or two spots or several that God leads your church to.

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5   \   Casting Vision

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• Begin regularly praying in the geographical area or among the people group

As God highlights one or two key areas or peoples, begin to rally people to pray. Host prayer meetings within the location or peoples. Send people to do prayer walks. Create visuals to post or place in your church to inspire people to pray. Prayer will not only create an open door to reach the people, but it will stir the people of your church to reach the peoples they are praying for. 

• Host an outreach or event in the geographical area or among the people group

Begin making a tangible presence, and build relationships within the area or people God is highlighting. Outreaches do not have to necessarily be large in scale. Being able to create relationships and a church presence can both spiritually and practically prepare the way for a church plant. This will become helpful in Phase Six, building a launch team.

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6   \   Casting Vision

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• Identify a qualified and called church planter

Identifying the right church planter is the single most difficult part of planting churches. This is why Phase Three is so important. There are people within churches all across the world that have the character building block to plant churches but simply have not been developed or challenged in the necessary areas to plant churches. R.A.M. Network can help assess potential church planters to verify the call and the readiness of a person to plant. This will help in identifying what needs to be worked on in preparation for a particular potential church planter. A person might not be ready now… but has what it takes. What can be done to help prepare them? 

• Begin assigning the potential church planter to lead prayer events and outreaches  

Once the church planter is identified, it is good to begin handing over the responsibility of driving, leading and organizing the church planting effort. The mother church begins to transition into the coaching and guiding role to help the church planter get off the ground. 

• Church planter proposal

The church planter in conjunction with the mother church will need to craft a proposal for the specific strategy and plan to plant the daughter church. This proposal should be a working model open for adjustments along the way and guided by the mothering churches leadership. A good working relationship between the planter and mother church is paramount for a successful and healthy church plant. 

• Allow the church planter to build a launch team

The church planter should begin building a launch team. The team should be a mix of people sent from the mother church as well as people outside the mother church and ideally from the area or people the church is being planted in. Parenting always requires some sacrifice, but the blessings outweigh the price. A strong biblical principle is at play here… give and it shall be given pressed down and overflowing. Ultimately, we cannot outgive God!  What we sow… we will also reap! 

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7   \   Casting Vision

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Have a commissioning service to publicly commission and send the church planter and the team out to plant

Send the launch team out with a celebration and commissioning service allowing the mother church to pray for and commission the new church and launch team. 

• Keep the vision current and fresh between the mother and daughter church

Regular communication and fellowship between the leaders of the churches is key to health and vitality.  Keep the stories rolling between the churches. Find creative ways to foster working together, fellowship and celebration. A win for the church plant is a win for the mother church! 

• Ongoing oversight helps the process become and stay healthy

The mother church has a vested interest in the health and growth of the church plant. Parents do not give birth then cut the cord and walk away. No, they stay connected and help in the process of growth and development. Along with that, parents often look to their parents for wisdom and guidance in raising healthy productive children. The R.A.M. network thru Open Bible East is here to help take an active role in assisting the mother church in leading the new church plant to growth and health. A healthy church plant is a win for the mother church, a win for the region, and especially a win for the kingdom. 

• Enjoy the growing pains knowing that health and growth is the goal being achieved

Everything that grows has growing pains that have to be worked through. Celebrating the process keeps the goal in mind and helps to maintain close relationships. 

• Enjoy and celebrate the wins big and small

Growth sometimes seems slow, but at other times hits what are called growth spurts. Find creative ways to celebrate all of them. We must tell the stories both locally and regionally to help change the culture from surviving to thriving. This is fulfilling the great commission because this is what a church multiplication movement looks like! Would you consider joining the movement?