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CHAPTER 6 – ROOTS
GATHERING THE LAUNCH TEAM
Root Development
The First-Stage of the 4-Stage Launch
“Launch-Team Development”
Theme: You need to build a strong launch team of 30+ people
Objective: After the foundational theological, spiritual, demographic and
personal material, we begin the practical stages with Stage One of a
Church Plant.
Look at ‘Growth Marks” (and note the pages at the end of the chapter)
Root Development: Finding & Developing the Launch Team
Start date_________ Check when achieved: (usually takes 3-4 months)
“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he
who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes
things grow.” 1 Corinthians 3:6-7
The Metaphor It starts with good roots
God has provided a healthy environment with fertile soil (your mission field),
and good seed (the Biblical foundation, core values, and God-given
passion) to plant a new church…so what’s next?
It’s time to plant the seed in the soil. At this point you must place your Godgiven vision for this new church into the soil, into your missional context,
where this new church will begin to grow.
The first thing a seed will do as it placed in the soil is to begin to develop a
strong root system.
First the roots develop and then the branches, leaves and eventually the fruit.
In planting churches, you develop a launch team and then the rest of the
pieces develop in the proper time frame. God is always a God of order. It
is not only Biblical to plan and develop a strategy to reach people for
Christ, it is smart. Planting churches this way will reduce the failure rate…
A Good Root System provides for:
Stability
Absorption
Movement
Stories from planters:
1. You will know how to find
and build a strong launch team
What does a strong root system look like?
-What is a “Launch Team?”
-The Mission Team
-Constantly Growing
-Provides Ministry “Muscle”
-It’s hard work
-The Benefits of a Strong Launch Team
-The Gifted Believers Needed on the Launch Team
1. You will know how to find
and build a strong launch team
-Doing Evangelism from the Start
“The first 100 may well determine the next 300…
If your new church is going to have 10% conversion growth in the first
100, it will have 10% conversion growth at 300 and I would add that
that number will drop more and more over the life of the church. If
you have 70% conversion growth in the first 100, then you will have
70% conversion growth at 300.” Evangelism must be an integral part
from the very beginning of the new church. Growing the launch team
through evangelism will help produce healthy roots for the new plant
and create a culture of conversion.” Gary Rohrmayer
It usually takes 3-4 months to do well
TEAM APPLICATION
•Pray, Pray, Pray
•Parenting Churches
•Partnering Churches and Strategic
Networks
•Gathering Events
•Personal Evangelism
•Gathering Strategies for the Planter
2. Strategies for Building a Launch Team
Gathering Strategies for the Launch Team
• New Networks
•Each Launch Team member take Invite cards to give to 10
friends + prayer/care/share
•On-line Invites, Face-book, etc.
•Gathering Events
•Vision Desserts
•Bar-b-ques, open houses, neighborhood gatherings
•Servant Evangelism
•What needs exist in your community that this growing launch
team can begin to address?
•TEAM APPLICATON: Brainstorm 3-5 creative ideas your launch
team might utilize to Gather?
3. The ideal mix for the Launch Team
(Growing Healthy Roots)
A Word about “Agenda Harmony”
Jesus said, “Every Kingdom divided against itself will be
ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will
not stand.” Matthew 12:25
-Non-negotiable DNA, Mission and Vision
-Avoid “vision collision”
-Out-counseling
Jesus also said, “He who is not with me is against me, and he
who does not gather with me scatters.”
Matthew 12:30
The Make-up of the
Launch Team
•1/3 Committed
Christians
•1/3 Have said
yes to Christ, but
have never had an
authentic
relationship with
Him
•1/3 Brand New
Believers or those
on the journey.
3 Kinds of
“Highly” People
•Highly Needy
•Highly MissionMinded
•Highly Controlling
The Problem: they
all look alike at the
first!
3 Key
Activities:
-Gathering
-Connecting
-Building
TEAM APPLICATION:
4. Scheduling Launch Team Development
Watering and Fertilizing the Roots
As the launch team is growing it will be important that there is a focus on
developing a sense of community. The best way to accomplish that goal
is to gather the whole group on a regular basis.
“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but
let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day
approaching.” Hebrews 10:25
-
Suggested Schedule
Where to meet
Visiting other churches and church plants on Sundays
What to do during your Launch Team Meeting
What to do between Launch Team meetings
Length of Time for this Stage
The Rhythm and Time-line
What to study/teach
TEAM APPLICATON
Benchmarks and Time Frames
•A Typical Launch Team Development stage will be 3-4
months.
•The Conventional wisdom is to have at least 30 adults
before transitioning to the next stage of development.
•TIMELINE