So Many Things To Do. So Little Time!
A Checklist and Timeline for Launching a New Campus
For church leaders, there can be a fine line between the sense of urgency to accomplish Kingdom work and fully trusting that God has everything under control. When you have a vision for sending out workers for the harvest –through church planting, multisiting, or any combination of the two– before long you often find a strong sense of “So Many Things To Do. So Little Time!”
Indeed, launching new campuses and taking new ground for The Kingdom can become pretty complicated pretty quickly. Adding order to the mounting chaos is critical to progress and success. In fact, the greater the degree of preparation, the greater the degree of success. It was Paul Bear Bryant who said, “It’s not the will to win that matters – everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.”
Tell me what to do and when to do it…
Having a great vision to reach the lost in your community does not make your church great or effective! [Pause to re-read that sentence again] Vision without a strategy is only a good idea! Expert consultants across all industries understand that a checklist and timeline build clarity and confidence into a vision. Churches are not the exception. Consultants, coaches, and experts involved in strategic multisiting will tell you that the absolute #1 take-away for the leadership team is the To Do List and Timeline. After all, a vision needs a strategy. And a strategy needs execution.
Since the soft launch, Mapping Your Multisite Journey has resonated with churches of all sizes and stripes because it helps to clearly order the steps to growth. In some cases, there has been an audible exhale of relief as a visual roadmap of the leaders’ own internal processes and systems becomes clear. The path to ensure that the desired outcomes (Vision) become reality becomes apparent.
Every church leadership team is differently gifted. Frankly, the good ones know that they will never perfect their organizational systems and processes – mostly because the dynamics continue to change and there are always a pieces that needs to be adjusted. The only constant is change. Churches who are by most Kingdom measures successful, can identify the Champion of the vision and, perhaps if different, the implementor. The Vision Champion needs to be diligent in monitoring systems and processes.
While not exhaustive in detail, this checklist offers a high-view of the planning process in three phases.
Phase One: Internal Planning – Asking and answering all of the vital questions that help assess your church’s readiness to launch a new expression of themselves. Most churches successful in launching new campuses have found professional consultants/coaches to be helpful in asking the right questions and getting the real answers…. all agreed… nailed down…. In writing!
“What is God really doing in our church?” Or “Why is God blessing our socks off?”
“What is our best expression (outreach ministry) of what God is doing among us?”
“Might he want us to be reaching lost people in another community the same way?”
“Where might that community be?”
“What might be some of the costs involved (financial & human capital)?”
“How can we impart this kind of vision to our congregation?”
“What do we need to do to our organizational structure to be an Acts 2:42 going and reaching church?”
“What do we need to do physically to prepare for this kind of growth?”
Phase Two: Internal Prep – With your vision and strategy in place, and leadership team all on the same page, make preparations for the launch stage. KNOWING what God is asking you to do, is not the same as knowing HOW and WHERE. Ask and answer the next groups of questions:
“What specific community/neighborhood should we go to?”
“What site-specific staff will we need to bring on board?”
“What outreach are/can we be doing in that community before we land?”
“Are we willing to tithe our very best leaders and members to reach the lost over there?”
“What are the goals – by what measure will we call this new expression successful?
“What type of facility will allow our church to be good stewards, quick, and highly effective?”
“Who will we SEND and who will GO?”
Phase Three: Launch – This phase is a lot less about questions and answers, and more about execution and faithfulness. You are now ready for the final steps to launch your new campus. Keep in mind, many of the items above may be wrapping up during this stage as well. If your church wants to launch new campuses in portable facilities with excellence, Portable Church Industries can take a lot of activity in this last phase off your plate. PCI’s expertise includes designing and building an efficient system so your volunteers can thrive at the new campus. While we focus on the equipment details, you are free to cultivate your ministry teams and prepare the community for your launch day. Starting a campus with a strong team and efficient system builds a firm foundation for future phases.
Over the past 20-30 years, churches and church leaders have participated in a movement to take the church back to the people by creating new churches in neighborhoods and communities – launching new expressions of themselves, allowing new people to hear and respond to the Gospel. Multisiting is not going away – but it will certainly endure creative iterations that hopefully will result in more churches winning more lost people to the hope of Christ in more communities. The only thing required will be more effective churches – are you one of them?
Download the checklist version of our free Multisite Timeline Here. We hope this new tool brings order to the chaos for your team and helps you succeed in Kingdom growth!
Jeffrey Beachum, Multiplication Specialist – Portable Church Industries
