Suggested Guidelines and Expectations in Bringing a Church Plant to Maturity
by George Lings
(Published in Breaking New Ground 1994)
Stage One : Beginning from a small group - to form a small congregation
This will also act as Guidance for all Pioneer Plants
Aim and Purpose
The characteristic of this stage is for a church plant to grow, through evangelistic contacts, from a small mission team, normally less than seven people, to forming a larger group and then a small congregation. In this context, loose definitions suggest that small groups which enlarge turn into small congregations at about twenty adult members. Normally planters would regard the life of the small group as part of the pregnancy phase and it is the start of regular frequent public worship that marks the birth of the plant. A small congregation is here defined as being between 20 - 50 A.S.A. (Average Sunday Attendance) This stage will be vulnerable and lack stability through the influx of new people and the demands of their pastoral needs.
A) Leadership
1. It is essential that authorised leader of the plant possess pioneering evangelistic gifts and is able to train others to share this ministry.
2. A prime task in this stage is for the entire team to build contacts and friendships with those outside the group.
3. Equally important is the discovery and enabling of gifts in ministry that will enable a congregation to function effectively once it has begun. But gifts without teamwork are a recipe for explosive anarchy. Building team relationships in the embryonic church is a primary task.
4. Before the launch of public worship, it is vital to have designated leaders of the following in place; children's work, a worship team, house groups and nurture groups.
B) Buildings and Worship
1. At the stage of the plant being a group, it will probably meet in a house or a rented room of a secular building. The size of venue should allow room for numerical growth without having such empty space as intimidates.
2. Throughout the life of the plant, at all three stages, its worship should be governed by the holding together the tension between culturally attuned worship and Anglican principles ( i.e. structure, flow, reading the word, use of common texts known by heart, responsive prayer, an instinct for dignity and economy of words, inclusion of material that balances the local presence and catholicity of the church.) cf CHP Report: "Patterns of Worship" p5
3. What works in worship, in the intimacy of the small group, will need to change for the needs of a small congregation, especially one attended by seekers. This will govern music curriculum, physical layout, participation from the floor and styles of leadership.
C) Government, Administration and Finance
1. A bridge between the "group" and "congregation" stages can be built by forming two groups, but this should only be done if the quality of leadership of, and common purpose for, both groups can be assured.
2. Formal governmental structures such as District councils are usually unhelpful at this stage. The plant is still embryonic or childlike, the membership not stable and in some disadvantaged cultures a hierarchical model is alienating. But generous representation on the parent PCC is advisable.
3. Financial obligations to the Parish and Diocese should be kept minimal at this stage, and it to be expected that the Plant will be a net receiver within the budget of the planting Parish, but not on an indefinite basis.
D) Pace
1. It may take one to five years to achieve all the tasks towards the establishment of a small congregation, depending on resources and receptivity in the area. This should be taken into account in planning a review process.
2. If after 2-3 years the group is not becoming a small congregation, the viablity of the venture and suitability of the leadership should be searchingly questioned by the parent church leadership and/or the Diocese.
Stage Two: The first five years of a new or small congregation of 20+
This will act as guidance for new Progression Plants of all types
Aim and Purpose
The characteristic of this stage is the progress from the official launch of a small, dependent congregation (20-50), to the formation of a church with clear self-identity and some autonomy, expressed in District, Team or Conventional District status. The expectation of numerical growth should be to between 60 to 100 USA, with attendant growth in Christian maturity.
A) Leadership
1. The authorised leader needs to have evangelistic gifts, and the ability to train others in this ministry, at least for the first five years or until the A.S.A. regularly exceeds 50.
2. By the end of this period, if the leader is a stipendiary curate he/she, or his successor, should be designated a Team Vicar to ensure greater future continuity of leadership. Where the plant begins lay led, either exploration of LNSM ministry or the possible appointment of stipendiary clergy should occur. Full sacramental life, without use of imported clergy, is a characteristic of the maturing congregation.
3. The task of the congregation is to break through the small church barrier of 50. This will be helped through continued evangelisation, by keeping proliferation of church organisations to a minimum, evolving worship suitable to a larger group and allowing wider leadership than "the pastor" or the dominant family to develop.
4. Training members to lead will be crucial to growth in maturity. Forms of tutored distance learning could be explored, for to evangelize and also to train is a heavy burden on the one Leader.
5. New people who join the plant after its start must be reminded of the founding vision and missionary identity of the congregation. Otherwise the danger of institutionalising the plant will set in or of it being dominated by reacting to internal pastoral needs.
6. Congregational life needs to be kept as slim as possible. Attendance at only public worship and house groups leaves members time and space for building relationships with non-church people.
7. As with stage one, before the launch of public worship, it is a prerequisite to have designated leaders of the following in place; children's work, a worship team, house groups and nurture groups.
B) Buildings and Worship
1. It is preferable that the building used for worship be rented, not owned, as numerical growth is a high priority and may force a change of venue. Also costs of ownership and maintenance will be damaging to a small congregation's purse and mentality. The exceptions will be in New Towns or large private housing developments where the cultural expectation and provision of diocesan finance may make a church building possible without the attendant drain on the local church.
2. Worship will be set by the same cultural and Anglican considerations as for stage one. Flexibility in worship for cultural reasons can be legally granted through the Bishop's discretionary power under Canons B 11 and 11A)
3. What works in worship for 20 will need to be adapted to fit for over 50 people. The drive for intimacy and corporate identity should respect proper needs for privacy and anonymity and leave space for the transcendant.
C) Administration, Government and Finance
1. the plant should aim by the end of five years to be financially self-sufficient for all running expenses. including up to the equivalent of half the cost of a stipend.
2. In this period the plant should be assessed for diocesan quota calculated through some previously agreed form of relief. For example, assessment could from the attendance figures collected for two years previously, as a high proportion of attenders will be fringe people whose purses are by no means yet converted.
3. Within five years, a form of government (a District Council) ought to be in place, together with sizeable representation on the parent PCC. An alternative would be to create a Conventional District. All solutions will be set by Anglican legal forms held in tension with local cultural norms.
4. Towards the end of the period, or when the A.S.A. regularly exceeds 50, serious thought should be given to a different mix of gifts in the authorised leader, either by replacement or supplementing the leader's gifts by a lay team. (see next stage)
D) Pace
1. This whole stage many take from two to five years. Failure to thrive in line with the aims within such a timescale must be investigated through planned review.
Stage three : The second five years after planting a small congregation.
This will also act as guidance for the first five years of Progression Plants starting with congregations of over 50 and all "Transplants"
Aims and purpose
The characteristic of this phase is the growth to becoming an interdependent, mature, adult church within the diocesan pattern of parishes, being self governing, self financing and gaining the potential to self reproduce where and when appropriate. With all but some rural plants, the expectation should be of numerical growth to between 120 and 200 A.S.A., as well as growth in depth and maturity to match. Maturity may be signalled by the ability to produce disciples, leaders and offer gifts to the wider church, as well as the potential to reproduce once more.
A) Leadership
1. The authorized leader for all of this stage should ideally have gifts in pastoral care, public teaching, and administration. If the original plant leader possesses these, he/she may be invited to stay. If not, that person's gifts can be better used in a further new plant and a fresh leader, standing in the same tradition, should be appointed.
2. By the beginning of this stage a plant, lay led for its first five years, should be developing some form of ordained leadership.
3. A key task is to build a team of leaders, with at least one ordained, and at least one gifted evangelistically. This is to provide the basis for further sustained growth and to facilitate any future planting when appropriate.
4. Leaders need to present continuing evangelisation as the task of the whole congregation and keep church life slim to match.
B) Buildings and worship
1. During this period demands for a building that is owned, and which feels more ecclesiastical, are bound to be made. Finances and how suitable this change is for continued evangelisation of the neighbourhood, culture or network should be treated as paramount. The desire to settle down is strong but often leads to a premature plateau, unless there is strong leadership for continued mission.
2. Large "Transplants", by contrast, usually inherit a church that is redundant, involved in pastoral reorganisation, or facing imminent closure. Great sensitivity is required in relationship to any residual congregation involved, without fatally compromising the new mission initiative of the incoming group.
C) Administration Government and Finance
1. Throughout this period the Diocese should encourage the parent congregation to prepare to, and before the end of this time, actually release the plant from any child or dependent status.
2. During this period the plant can and should form an acting PCC.
3. Decisons about the future allocation of ordained staff to the planted church should take equal notice of congregation size as of parish size.
4. By the end of the period, the planted church should become a parish, either in its own right, or in a group with the parent church if it is adjacent.
5. All permanent financial subsidy from the parent church should cease.
6. In this period, diocesan quota will be payable on the normal rate, with a measure of agreed relief in respect of new fringe members.
D) Last and not least
1. This phase may take three to five years. It is unlikely in the English and Anglican scene that further planting can take place within three years of an plant - even of more than 50 people. Maturity, by definition, either of individuals, their gifts or of a new church, cannot be rushed.
2. But before these five years are up consultation with the Diocese should begin, to consider and assist a further plant from this new church.
These guidelines were taken and turned into the appendix 1 of "Breaking New Ground" : GS 1099 1994 CHP