Church Planting

Central District, Evangelical Free Church of America

	Jesus Christ said, "I will build my church" Matthew 16:18 kjv

Plant

The “Project” becomes an “EFC Plant” when the Proposal is approved by the Church Planting and the District Boards.

Core Group Planning
This stage of the process takes up to 6 months and tasks are sequential. The Church Planting Missionary (CPM) meets with the core group every week and guides them through all the, preliminary planning, paperwork, and tasks necessary to establish the church and prepare for public worship. The CPM also involves the group in ongoing discipleship and leadership training.

Core group planning can be broken down into several distinct efforts.
• Business Basics
• Foundations of Church
• Structure of Church
• Preparation for Public Worship
• Forming Congregation

Congregational Planning (approximately 6 months)
During the second part of the “Plant” stage, core group members and new members will have formed a congregation and elected leadership. At that point the new leadership will begin making the decisions regarding the church plant and the congregation will affirm or overrule their recommendations, and vote on other issues.

Core Group Planning

Business Basics

Proposal submitted and approved
Committed core group members sign a letter of intent to be presented to the District Superintendent. Churches that may assist in sponsoring the new plant submit an agreement describing the partnership (level of assistance) between themselves, the core group, CPM, and the Central District.

The proposal is initiated during the “project” phase with the letter of intent. It is completed by a description of the project. Once approved, the “project” becomes a “plant.”

Establish the Basics
The core group must obtain a Post Office Box for a legal church address. Once the potential church has an address, the CPM will apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS. When the EIN is secured the core group should open a checking account at a local bank; the Chairman and Treasurer from the core group should sign the Certificate.

Establish Tax-exempt Status
Once the basics are established, the CPM applies to the EFCA National Business Affairs office for tax-exempt status on behalf of the core group. This will allow the core group to receive offerings as a non-profit group under the umbrella of the Central District EFCA.

This tax-exempt status is good for only one year. During that time, it is expected that the church plant will affiliate with the district and incorporate. If this does not happen within a one-year time frame, the church plant needs to apply for a tax-exempt extension.

Communications Established
The approved church plant contacts the EFCA Business Affairs office and begin receiving EFCA mailings. This will inform them about National and District activities and help them become a part of the EFCA family.

Confirm Insurance
Evaluate where the “plant” is in terms of public ministry and advance to the next step in the “liability insurance procedures.” Insurance liability is different depending upon the phase of the church planting process you are in. In the beginning the core group is under the umbrella of the Central District Insurance. Eventually the new church is totally responsible for insuring itself. top of page

Foundations of Church

Philosophy of Ministry
The core group must determine the functions and purpose of their church plant. The core group then plans the ministries that will help fulfill the purposes of the church.

Mission Statement
The Mission Statement will become the overall goal and focus of the church. Ideally the mission statement should be written in 10 words or less. It may take several weeks for the core group to simplify their ideas into one main goal.

Values Statement
The core group takes the time to identify some of the attitudes and values that they will use to guide the church body as it grows. For example, the church may decide to emphasize internal spiritual and emotional growth over external appearance; to remain open to and even seek change instead of becoming restricted by tradition; to seek out the needs of people in the congregation and community and only operate ministries that meet those needs.

Vision Statement
The core group develops a vision of how they see the church fitting into the community. This is usually a group of statements about how the church will work beyond serving the membership and assist in establishing when, why, and how it will reach out to the un-churched in the community. This statement also helps the group express where they see the church in 3, 5, and 10 years down the road regarding growth, ministry, etc.

Name of Church
The name of the church will serve as identification. However the name may contain words that represent some aspect of the mission statement such as Grace EFC, Harvest EFC, or Faith EFC. Other churches choose to identify by location like Johnston EFC and Valley EFC. The name is up to the individual core group. top of page

Structure of Church

Interim leadership selected from core group
Untill the church has opened for public worship and held a charter membership meeting interim leadership must be determined from within the core group. The group may select short-term officers based upon the gifts and abilities of core group members. Usually this will include a Chair, Co-Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer, and Deacon.

Ministry Structure is created to address the operation of the church plant.

Constitution & By-laws
The Constitution and By-Laws: Articles of Incorporation are written and filed with the individual state with a copy sent to the District Office. The CPM will have the necessary forms and sample by-laws. He will encourage the core group to make sure the church is allowed as much flexibility as possible.

For More Information:
Link to "Sample Constitution"
"Basics of By-Laws" (contact church planter or main office of District)

Finances
Following the implementation of the basic business set-up a working budget should be established to cover initial costs of ministry set-up. Resources can then be purchased as the need for them arises.

Ministries & Ministry leaders
Core group members determine what ministries are essential for the launch of the church. The group works together with the CPM to identify the leaders and teams needed to accomplish these ministries. Spiritual gifts inventories are conducted and assignments of people to specific tasks are completed.

Worship Service Style and Format
The core group will determine if the worship service will be conservative and traditional, contemporary, or somewhere in between. The format for the church service will be developed following the style.

Ministry Schedule
A schedule for established, regular ministry activities should be determined and the core group members commit to maintain the schedule. It is important that everybody works together helping in the nursery, setting up and breaking down for worship, cleaning rental facilities. top of page

Preparation for Public Worship

Secure Meeting Facilities
The core group may form a team or committee to secure meeting facilities. Past church plants have met in theatres, schools, community centers, club facilities and even warehouses. The CPM will assist in suggesting and negotiating reasonable rental fees.

For example: churches meeting in schools may negotiate fees based upon how many rooms used for Sunday School classes, use of the auditorium or gym for worship, and how often during the week the space is needed.

Public Relations and Advertising
From a public relations standpoint it is wise to submit small articles or public notices to the local paper while the church is being organized. The articles should clearly present the philosophy, image, and worship style of the church. Particularly in small communities these articles eliminate speculation and rumors about the intent of the group.

Six to eight weeks before the first worship service the CPM will encourage the core group to begin advertising in the newspaper and submit press releases to local radio stations. Some groups place posters around their communities at banks, grocery stores, and other public gathering places. Other groups have delivered post cards door to door in their neighborhoods.

Any advertising should present the philosophy, image, and worship style of the church. Advertising should continue for several months after the first worship service. Core groups should make sure the church schedule is regularly listed in the local paper.

Hold Public Worship Services
The CPM prepares the core group for the public worship services. Everybody will need to work together to make the public services warm, safe and friendly. Even the children may help greet people or hand out bulletins. It will be amazing how quickly the new attendees will get involved once the public worship begins.

First time worship services from past church plants have had anywhere from 10 to 100 visitors. The size of the community, preliminary public relations and advertising can affect these numbers. top of page

Forming Congregation

Charter Membership Meeting
Core group members will have shared their testimonies with each other early in the planning process. Many visitors become regular attendees and eventually indicate that they want to join the church.

The core group leadership will provide the potential members with a packet of information to make sure that they understand the 12-Point Statement of Faith, mission, values, vision, and membership requirements of the church. The potential members will meet with the leadership, share their testimony, and express why they wish to join the church. It there is no conflict with church beliefs or policy, the leadership will make a recommendation to approve them for membership. The core group will affirm the decision.

The CPM will set a date for a charter membership meeting. All core group members and those regular attendees who have completed the membership process will qualify to sign the charter membership paperwork and become official members of the new church.

Election of Leadership by Members
Following the charter membership meeting, the interim leadership will be replaced by new leaders nominated from and elected by the members of the new congregation. The nomination process for church leadership may take several meetings.

The CPM will help the congregation prepare for nominating its first elected leaders according to the process established in the By-Laws. Suggested guidelines and principles for Elders and leadership will be provided. Members will nominate qualifying individuals and the congregation will hold a meeting to vote in the official leadership for the new church.

Dissolution of Core Group
Once the new leadership has been voted in, the core group's purpose is accomplished and the group will be dissolved. The new members need to take ownership and become involved in ministry. The core group members need to let others take over some of the tasks and refocus to serve in a ministry that best uses their gifts and abilities. top of page

Congregational Planning

This stage of the process takes up to 6 months.

The CPM continues to conduct the Sunday Worship service, meets with the church plant elected leadership regularly, and guides them through the remaining planning, paperwork, and tasks necessary to secure a pastor and become a member church of the Central District.

The CPM also assists the church plant in establishing ongoing opportunities in Christian education and discipleship training for members and regular attendees.

Determine and Approve Budget
A team or committee will be formed from leadership to work out a budget that will allow the church to carry out their ministry in an accountable manner. The budget will be presented to the congregation for approval at a congregational meeting.

Evaluation of Ministries
Essential Ministries - The ministries that will accomplish outreach and discipleship should be planned and developed. These should be initiated in place of the core group meetings.

Evaluation and communication must be accomplished so that the body continues to be unified in its mission and vision. Each ministry, ministry team, and leaders should write an action plan that includes their mission and how it relates to the mission and vision of the church; goals and objectives; requirements for workers; supplies needed; organizational structures; and other criteria. A sample titled, "Children's Ministry Goals" is included with the Addendums.

* Membership classes should be started and an invitation given to those attending public worship to consider membership in the new church.

Pastoral Search Initiated
A search team should be selected that will survey the congregation; create a profile of the church and the kind of pastor desired. They will seek potential candidate resumes in cooperation with the Central District staff; check references and do interviews; listen to sermon tapes; do face to face interviews. They will also work with the Leadership Team to create a pastoral financial package, determine the criteria for calling a pastor and make plans for potential pastors to candidate.

Application for Central District Membership
The Central District has a goal of moving through the process of Project to Plant to New Church in 12-18 months. If it is necessary to extend this period of time, permission must be granted from the District Church Planting Board.

At the conclusion of the Planting stage and prior to the Central District Annual Conference, the CPM must make application to the Planting Board for the church to become a member church of the Central District. The approved application is forwarded to the Central District Board of Directors for recommendation to the Annual Conference.

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Phone: (515)432-9175

Central District, EFCA
PO Box 607
Boone, IA 50036

mail toE-mail: office@efcacentral.org