The most effective church planters are learners. Ed Stetzer did a study of the North American Mission Board Church Planting System while he was working for me that demonstrated clearly that churches that grow larger faster were lead by leaders who were in multiple mentoring relationships. These church planters described these mentoring relationship as frequently as weekly. While I don't know of any mentoring or coaching ministry in the country that mentors or coaches on a weekly bases the research demonstrates a number of things I have observed over the years. They are:
1. The most effective church planters are learners. They are constantly paying attention to what is happening in culture and who are the other churches and church leaders that are best addressing those changes.
2. The most effective church planters learn their way into the future. They view failure differently. They understand that failure is a simple setback that allows you to assess where you are and to move forward with new resolve and perspective. They literally learn as they go.
3. The most effective church planters do due diligence. They are relentless about investigating the facts. When they pull the trigger on a decision they have done their home work.
4. The most effective church planters debrief experiences. One of the most beneficial things we do every Saturday night is debrief our Saturday night services. Once this is done we implement change by the time our Sunday morning services rolls around. It is a lot of hard work, but makes a huge difference.
5. The most effective church planters participate in learning networks. Effective church planters learn from effective church planters. They come together formally and informally. They call, do lunch, meet at conferences, join coaching networks together. They are very intentional about the who of learning networks.
6. The most effective church planters have lots of informal mentors. They follow leaders who share a similar philosophy and who help them move the ball down the court. They may never meet these leaders, but they learn from them.
Make plans to checkout a breakout at our ChurchPlanters Redone Conference designed for learners; Fast-forwarding Your Church Plant by Participating in Learning Communities. See you there.
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