At ELI, our mission is to mobilize leaders to start and grow new churches out of the culture – a unique set of principles and processes for making disciples and forming a new church out of them. The goal of this document is to provide a brief introduction to these ideas.
Build Relationships
The first thing you must do to start a church out of the culture is build relationships – it’s imperative. Incarnational ministry has become one of the many labels in the 21st century American church – it’s one an out of the culture church would wear proudly because incarnational ministry demands relationship. The first thing a leader or group of people must do if they hope to make disciples in postmodern, post-Christian people groups is build relationships. These are not casual relationships; these are real, share life with one another kinds of friendships.
In their extremely valuable book, I Once was Lost, Don Everts and Doug Schaupp identify 5 thresholds postmoderns must cross to find faith. The first, “know a Christian they trust,” speaks directly to the need for genuine friendships. Church Planters and their teams must pour themselves into people in their neighborhood, at the coffee shop, at work, on their teams or in their clubs. Where they find open doors, they must forge friendships by opening their homes and intentionally and regularly doing life with the people they meet. If your friends are not becoming the church you’re starting, something is very wrong.
Gather People in Groups and Form Community
In the process of starting new churches out of the culture we have learned that relationships must become networks, not hubs.
Hubs are centered around one person. That person may, through those relationships, have the opportunity to lead people to faith but they won’t become a community. Community is essential for growth. Leaders must intentionally invite their friends into community – into relationships with one another. In most out of the culture churches community is formed in some type of small group. These may be seeker small groups, Bible studies, serving teams, or simply intentional affinity groups. These newly formed communities create the exponential momentum needed for effective evangelism and discipleship leading to the formation of a new church.
Serve People in Love
Serving is simply an authentic expression of Jesus’ love for others. It is a vital step in the process of starting a new church out of the culture. Serving open handedly communicates to others that you are here for them, not yourself. In a cause minded post-modern culture serving is also an attractive aspect of community. It often becomes a way to reach out and draw in at the same time. Consistent serving also establishes an important element of DNA – the church is what we do for others not what is done for us.
This commitment to serve takes a variety of forms. Some new churches have formed separate nonprofits to facilitate community engagement. One ELI church has set aside the first Sunday of every month to serve the community – in place of a worship/teaching gathering. Others have integrated regular serving into their small groups structure and schedule. There is no single right answer – except that serving must be an integral part of the life of the community from the very beginning.
Lead People to Faith
The natural outcome of building relationships, forming community and serving people in love is people coming to faith in Jesus. This may happen sooner – from just building a relationship – it must begin to happen here. In fact, if it doesn’t begin to happen here, it is unlikely that what follows in the process will cause it to happen. Developing leaders is the key that enables the process that has begun to multiply, but it isn’t likely to catalyze something that isn’t already happening. Beginning a service, by itself, is not likely to cause postmodern, post-Christian people to come to faith – primarily because they won’t come unless someone they trust invites them. An out of the culture church is one that leads people to faith and makes disciples in the context of relationships and community. Until this begins to happen regularly, there is little value in moving forward in the process.
Help People Grow
Jesus told us to, “make disciples.” Becoming a disciple is a process of transformation. How does this happen? It is amazing how many church leaders have no idea – they have no theory or practice of change. They are simply doing church. An out of the culture church is not doing church – it is making disciples. Though this list is not exhaustive, discipleship requires creating a culture that is:
Intentional – change is actively pursued
Relational – authentic community is the norm
Spirit-led – God is seen as actively engaged in the daily lives of believers
Mission-driven – people cannot become who God intended apart from missional engagement
Just like the serving step, there is no one size fits all program. Out of the culture churches are contextualized and thus each must discover the keys to growth among their people in their context.
Equip and Train Leaders
This step may in fact be simultaneous to all of the above – it all depends on who you start with. If a church planter is working alone, they will need to complete all of the prior steps before they will have any leaders to train. This may at times be necessary, but it is a very slow way to start a church.
We have found the most effective process has been to form a missional core – a group of 15-25 people who are on mission together to make disciples and form a new church out of them. Members of the missional core must be:
- Growing Christ-followers
- Intentionally building relationships with unbelievers
- Leading or serving in the newly formed church
- Giving sacrificially to the cause
As such, they need to be equipped and trained to be effective in their endeavors. This commitment to train and reproduce leaders is another critical component of DNA that must be instilled from conception.
Begin Public Worship
If you’re still reading, you may be wondering if public worship gatherings are even part of the plan. The answer is yes – only when all of the prior steps are implemented and functioning well. Public worship is important, but it is not the church, it’s the visible birth of something that started months before. Premature babies have a rough start in life – some don’t survive. One of the most common failures of a new church is simply starting public worship services to soon. A tangible goal of this process is to see a minimum of 100 adults gathering for services that are already part of a community, where many of them have come to faith and are growing while actively serving one another under capable and adequate leadership.
Keep Working the Process
Finally, it is important to understand that these are steps in a continual process. In the first go around, you may do them in sequence. Once you start, you don’t stop. Building relationships isn’t a strategy for starting a church – it’s a lifestyle. Forming groups and community isn’t a program – it’s a culture. Equipping and training leaders isn’t a quarterly class – it’s the way you do ministry. Leading people to faith isn’t a random outcome – it’s your lifeblood. A leader must, therefore, create a culture in which each of these activities is a norm.