More than 300 years ago, a smart scientist named Isaac Newton came up with three basic laws that describe the way things move. One of these laws says that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is the most important idea behind how rockets work.
When we launch things into space, we do so by putting them on rockets with enough fuel — called propellant — to boost them above most of Earth’s atmosphere. The propellants give the rocket enough energy to boost away from Earth’s surface. When a rocket burns propellants and pushes out exhaust, that creates an upward force called thrust. Because of the pull of Earth’s gravity, the largest, heaviest spacecraft need the biggest rockets and the most propellant.
This is a little reminiscent of how we launch churches. We do so by trying to gather enough fuel to propel a church body into a community. That fuel usually consists of people, finances and lots of prayer. The typical church planting model is the “big launch” model. This model depends on being able to gather a very large crowd, even more money, great excitement and a ton of prayer. Not to mention other churches to come alongside to partner with the new church. With that model we pray we have enough thrust, or momentum, to carry it to its destination of being self-sustaining financially and with regards to human resources within the first 3 to 5 years.
What if you could gather a crowd, raise (and save) money, generate excitement and entice more churches to partner with you before you ever came together for your big launch?
What if you could launch before you launch? That may seem like it doesn’t make sense, but hear us out. What if you could gather a crowd, raise (and save) money, generate excitement and entice more churches to partner with you before you ever came together for your big launch? Not only is it possible, but it’s a new model that seems to be working for new church plants across the country.
Here a 3 reasons to launch before you launch:
- Budget: There are many ways to grow your church before you launch that are not only cost effective, but may actually raise more funds in the long run.
- Buzz: In order for a church to “launch big”, it needs some serious buzz. People need to share about it via word of mouth and share it digitally via social media. The more people sharing, the more anticipation, the more people want to join the mission. The faster you can get the word out and cast vision, the more buzz you’ll get.
- Brand awareness: Awareness is one of the biggest challenges a new church has to overcome. Multinational corporation, Nike, spent 3.11 billion dollars on brand awareness in 2021 alone. They understand how important it is to get in front of as many people as possible. It’s no different for churches. The quickly and more opportunities you can let people in the community know who you are and what you do, the better. Launching before you launch does just that.
There are many other reasons to launch before you launch but for the sake of keeping this blog shorter, we’ll keep it to three. Not to mention you are probably asking yourself “How do I launch before I launch?”. Great question. Here’s some general strategies we’ve seen trending.
TRENDING WAYS TO LAUNCH BEFORE YOU LAUNCH
Gather With Your Community Regularly
Launch Team Meetings
LTM’s are a great way not only to gather but to recruit new launch team members to join the mission. Get together in-person weekly to cast vision (Prov 29:18), train (Eph 4:11-14), update and teach culture. Encourage your launch to invite others who may be interested in being part of something new. Be sure to eat and laugh as much as you coach and inform.
Be sure to eat and laugh as much as you coach and inform.
Prayer walks
Strategy, systems and marketing are important. That said, the power of prayer is limitless and more powerful than any strategy. (Mark 11:24) Be sure to keep your team praying without ceasing. Be sure to ask other brothers and sisters in Christ outside of your team to pray. Be sure to be praying yourself. One great way to cast vision and launch before you launch is to go on prayer walks around the community you’re trying to launch in. Not a lot of things bond people together more than praying together. (Side note…this is free)
Worship Nights
Worship Nights
We all get filled up with different spiritual pathways. Some pathways fill us individually more than others. Some are filled more by prayer and meditation. Some are filled more by devouring God’s Word. Most people share the way they are filled spiritually the most is through musical worship. (Psalm 95:1) Worship nights are beautiful opportunities to not only praise the one worthy to be praised, but also to be filled up by pouring out worship. Corporate nights of worship are sure fire ways to launch before you actually launch. These can take place in a basement or at a public park. If you feel like making it more produced, you could find a venue. Many times people will attend a worship gathering looking to find spiritual fuel and leave having found a new mission.
Many times people will attend a worship gathering looking to find spiritual fuel and leave having found a new mission.
Serving locally
What better way to launch in the community before you actually launch than to serve the community you plan on eventually serving? What an amazing opportunity to share the gospel as well as the vision for a new church. (Matthew 5:16) Not to mention bond your team and get a buzz going.
Connect With Your Team Virtually
Weekly services
One thing 2020 taught us is we do not need a building to experience church. Why not begin hosting weekly church services before you actually start hosting weekly church services? These services can include anything from announcements to worship and teaching. You can even create weekly kids services as well. It gives you an opportunity to create content that you could repurpose into micro-content that you can use in other ways. It also will give those who are curious and have been watching from afar a chance to preview what you eventually launch will look and feel like. It’s also an easy way to resource your launch team with tools to share with friends, co-workers, neighbors and their Aunt Sally (who maybe will never attend in person, but may support the mission financially for years to come).
Why not begin hosting weekly church services before you actually start hosting weekly church services?
Daily devotionals
A great way to disciple your members before you launch is to begin a daily devo. A 1 to 5 minute devotional where you (or a team member you entrust) read a scripture, share a thought and submit a prayer of encouragement. Use your social media platforms to share it with a small percentage of your followers for free. Pay a little to push it to more of your followers.
Informational zoom calls
Keep your team connected and informed with zoom calls, google hangouts or microsoft teams. These connections are also another opportunity for your launch team to invite someone who may be interested in learning more, but may be too intimidated to make their first appearance in person. It’s another way to promote excitement as well as celebrate what God is doing. (Psalm 150:1-6)
Create A Church Home Digitally
When someone says they have a “church home” what they actually mean is they have place they go to in order to enjoy community, discipleship and fellowship. Way before you have a physical church home, you could create one digitally. We believe there are many ways, but we think some ways are better than others.
Website
- Great for having a landing place where people can easily learn about your mission, vision and values. As well as watch past messages and contact the leadership.
- This method of digital church home is tough, because you may not be able to broadcast services live, pray for others and be prayed for. Not to mention, most people are much less reluctant to visit a website than they are to visit social media.
Social media platforms are designed to allow you a small percentage of awareness for free. If you really want to reach all who follow you, then you will have to pay.
Social Media
- Great for trying to get in front of your community, followers, supporters and fans regularly and go where they already are. You can get extremely creative with micro-content and devotionals. Not to mention you can give those curious about who you really are a window to get to know you before they ever enter a building.
- This method of having a digital church home is tough, because you do not control the algorithm. Social media platforms are designed to allow you a small percentage of awareness for free. If you really want to reach all who follow you, then you will have to pay. If at any point any of these platforms decided they didn’t like your content they could block it or shut down your channel / profile. Another drawback is each platform attracts a certain age bracket and the content is different on each one.
Church App
- The benefits of making a church app your digital church home are many. First and foremost you are subject to an algorithm. When you push a notification, it will go out to all of your users. Effective church apps are designed not only to inform, but to engage relationally and grow you spiritually. People may quickly visit a website to grab a small bit of information, but they stay a much longer on an engaging app. A very good app will give your members opportunities to connect relationally and grow spiritually. If you have a church app that gives your user interactive experiences as well and a place to ask questions and find out about all things going on in the life of church, then they will begin to see it as a temporary digital church home.
- The biggest drawback of an app is a digital community will never be better than a real in-person community. There is absolutely no substitute for a real hug, face to face conversations and corporate prayer and worship.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. We have a very real enemy (1 Peter 5:8), which is why launching a church is always filled with potential pitfalls, temptations and flat out resistance. Yet, with enough propellant even large objects are thrusted. We need to look no further than our heavenly father for all that we need to answer the call to plant a church, but we have a creative God that made us creative beings. We are called to use this creativity to advance the Kingdom of God. These are some ideas we’ve seen trending, but by all means we hope these inspire you to dream of some more. If you know of some ways to launch before you launch that we haven’t covered, feel free to share them below.
