Church Multiplication
Planning and Action
The leadership of the Rocky Mountain Ministry Network is committed to aggressively facilitating the development of healthy, multiplying churches to serve the rapidly growing populations of Colorado and Utah. This website is designed to provide information and resources to assist in the planting of new churches.
Starting the Conversation
Alex Lucero
Utah Director
Travis Lowell
West Slope Director
Getting Started
Plant a Church
Steps To Planting A Church
In The Rocky Mountain Ministry Network
The following steps MUST BE FOLLOWED by any church planter interested in planting a church in the Rocky Mountain Ministry Network.
To get the Steps To Planting a Church in a pdf file click here.
To get a copy of the entire Church Planting Manual click here.
Am I a church planter?
What traits should a church planter have? Are there discernible personal qualities evident among those who have planted successfully? The Church Multiplication Network has partnered with LifeWay Research and sought to unearth the skills and mindsets common among the most proven church planters. What resulted were specific, measurable characteristics which were consistent among those who have had success in planting churches.
Potential AG planters can receive a special rate of $29 (normally $88).
Click here to go to the Rocky Mountain District Church Planter Candidate Assessment page. On that page click the “Purchase Passcode" to begin your online assessment.
Resources
Abandon Committees! Does it seem to you that congregations are late adapters to some trends? It does to me. It appears at times that congregations are just getting around to adapting to certain trends as the next trend is emerging. For example, organizing congregations according to teams rather than committees is now in its ascendancy, just as in the world at-large, teams are fading in favor of communities. A Dream is Not Enough– Reality check for leaders who believe they have a God given dream. A Senior Pastor's Priorities By Dan Reiland My desire in this article is to keep you out of the funny farm. To do that, I will outline the top five priorities of a Senior Pastor. This set of priorities comes from years of experience and observation of Senior Pastors who lead well, and those who don't. If you invest your time wisely in these areas your ministry will be more productive and hopefully you will increase the margin in your life that increases the quality of your life. The Death of Denominations In order to keep your denominational core alive you first have to know what it is. Organizations with a long life span tend to fall victim to “the diffusion of purpose." If this is the case with your denomination, it may be time to rediscover the original or primary purpose of your church. Then with God's help find a way for this unique witness of faith to live in real time as it was meant to do. Communication among the denomination's spiritual leaders is a good place to begin. The Futurity of Present Events Ministry and mission are not done in a vacuum. They are always carried out in specific context and affected by local, national and increasingly, global contextual factors. Understanding the context of ministry is not an option for 21st century leaders. While we know a great deal about the inside of congregations, church leaders often have limited understanding of the external factors that are reshaping mission and ministry. Trying to lead without both inside and outside information is like a bird trying to fly with only one wing. Hanging out and Hovering around John 3:16– A provocative look at incarnational ministry. The Value of Values, Part I – Core Values By Dan Reiland “I'm a believer in identifying your church's core values and intentionally pursuing their positive impact. . ." Thoughts on Change by Steve Pike “As a church leader in this new millennium, I find myself living with a profound sense of confusion that I find difficult to explain or understand. Ministry methods that worked well ten years ago, no longer seem effective. Ideas, and even beliefs, that seemed so right just five years ago are now being called into question." The Common thread…Change and Transition Resource for understanding the life cycle of a congregation, and change and transition. Transitioning: Growing into the church you want to be – Around the world, churches are in need of transition. The 21st century is presenting church leaders with new challenges and new opportunities. It appears that God is doing something fresh and new in his church. Vision Impairment Questions by Stan Toler Check your church's “vision" (eye sight) Growing a Church from Good to Great Change is hard Is it Time to Leave? Modern Team Ministry by Dan Reeves Could Paul and his ministry team be a model for modern team ministry? Meetings and Ministry 6 steps to running an effective meeting. Dysfunctional Architecture an article from Leadership Network about a strategy for planning a new building to match your ministry philosophy. The Heart and Art of a 21st Century Servant a message by Wayne Cordero, Pastor of New Hope Church in Hawaii on the most essential ingredient to leading people through a change process. Changing Congregational Culture Charlie Halley discusses the process of changing a church culture. Inviting and Welcoming New People Great ideas for making your church a more “guest" friendly place! Paul's Missionary Band Paul's missionary team provides a great metaphor for 21st century ministry. |
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Art Sources
http://bigposters.com/ – Creative Juices Printing and Graphics
http://abcgiant.com/ – Backgrounds, textures, page dividers, and more.
http://rainworld.com/ – Photoshop tutorials
http://posterprints.com/ – Mounting and laminating
http://barrysclipart.com/ – Clip Art Server
http://churchartonline.com – Church Art Online
http://comresources.com/store/default.asp – Communication Resources' Online
www.freeimages.com – Free photos and illustrations
www.gettyimages.com – Getty Museum
http://movieprop.com/ – Stage props and costumes
www.1001freefonts.com – Free Fonts
http://www.watton.org/clipart/index.htm – Timo's Christian Clipart site
http://www.midnightoilproductions.net/ – Midnight Oil Productions. Telling the Story in a New Light, through professional-quality worship resources and media training. Midnight Oil is Len Wilson and Jason Moore, authors of Digital Storytellers, The Wired Church, former media ministers at Ginghamsburg Church, and co-founders of Lumicon Digital Productions. Midnight Oil Productions offers high quality worship graphics and videos at a price churches can afford, as well as one-day workshops on the use of media in worship. We'll see samples of their products today.
http://www.highwayvideo.com – Highway Video. Good video started library. Lots of documentaries, Music videos for discussion starters plus some good starting elements for video editing. Check out their Vibe Videos, a visual compliment to powerful, humble worship. Vibe Videos are formed around fundamental themes such as love, forgiveness, etc and are created with images, text, music, and scripture to create synergy within any worship experience. Great to use as background worship videos.
http://www.avisualplanet.com – A Visual Planet.com. It's a subscription site. Very reasonable and great content. Beautiful images that you can quickly and easily get them whenever you need them. They also add hundreds of new images every month. We'll see samples of their products today.
http://www.interlinc-online.com – Interlinc. Used by youth leaders for several years now. A great source for Christian music videos.
http://www.churchmedia.net – Church Media.net Has over 1000 subscribers and a very active online forum discussion board, as well as equipment and media for sale.
http://www.screenvue.com/ – ScreenVue. They provide Direct on subject clips from movies that are covered by CVLI licensing. 200 movie clips on 4 to 5 DVD's…..they are attempting to expand in the near future to more mainstream videos.
http://www.group.com/ – Provides movie indexes, clips and discussion starters as part of their company.
www.preachingtoday.com – Sermon illustrations, preaching articles, graphics
www.sermonspice.com – Media for your message
http://www.freefoto.com – FreeFoto.com. It's a place in England. Graphics are free to churches and non-profits. Thousands of good graphics.
http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/powerpoint.cgi – Heartlight.org. Has photos from all over the world posted by professional and amateur photographers. You have to post a message to the owner of the photo for permission to use.
http://www.ebibleteacher.com/imagehtml/backgrnd2.html – eBibleteacher.com. Has some free graphics and links to pay sites. Very good quality and a nice resource for graphics on the web.
www.lightstock.com – Cheesy-free, Christian stock photos, vectors and footage
http://www.christart.com/ – Christian Art. Free Christian Graphics
http://www.salisbury-church.org/html/worshipimages.shtml – Salisbury Church. Images free to use in your church.
http://www.textweek.com/movies/themeindex.htm – Textweek.com. Great Movie Theme Index. You can find references to scenes from all sorts of movies that will help you find just the right clip to use to make your point.
Business Resources
http://beemak.com/ – Beemak Plastics official home page
http://mplc.com/ – Motion Picture Licensing Corporation
http://www.mapquest.com/ – Find a business or location
http://knowgod.com/ – Know God Apparel
http://christianbook.com/ – Christian books
http://www.monster.com/ – Monster Board Job Database
http://www.loc.gov/homepage.lchp.html – Library of Congress
http://businessweek.com/ – Bloomberg Business Week Online
http://ceoexpress.com/default.asp – CEO Express: The executive's toolbox
http://fedex.com/us/ – FedEx
http://www.ginghamsburg.org/ – Ginghamsburg Church. Tons of great free forums.
Business Resources
http://beemak.com/ – Beemak Plastics official home page
http://mplc.com/ – Motion Picture Licensing Corporation
http://www.mapquest.com/ – Find a business or location
http://knowgod.com/ – Know God Apparel
http://christianbook.com/ – Christian books
http://www.monster.com/ – Monster Board Job Database
http://www.loc.gov/homepage.lchp.html – Library of Congress
http://businessweek.com/ – Bloomberg Business Week Online
http://ceoexpress.com/default.asp – CEO Express: The executive's toolbox
http://fedex.com/us/ – FedEx
http://www.ginghamsburg.org/ – Ginghamsburg Church. Tons of great free forums.
Change
http://www.xenos.org/ – How to view change in the church
http://leadnet.org/ – Leadership Network Home Page
Christian
www.biblegateway.com – Bible lookup, verses and different versions
http://www.ccli.com/ – Christian Copyright Licensing International
http://christianityonline.com/ – Christian Community, Interests and Magazines
http://crosswalk.com/ – Christian search, email, news, music, chat, and more
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/ – John Mark Ministries
www.myhealthychurch.com – Christian church supplies, ministry resources and curriculum
www.outreach.com – Church communication and outreach marketing tools
www.preachingtoday.com – Sermon illustrations, preaching articles
http://www.pastors.com/ – Encouraging pastors with tools for healthy, growing churches
www.sermonspice.com – Media for your message
http://zondervan.com/ – Christian communications
http://coachnet.org/ – CoachNet
http://discountchristian.com/ – Discount Christian software and books
http://www.jesus.org.uk/ – Around the world news from DAWN
http://theophilus.org/ – Theophilus' World
http://www.worshipleader.com/ – Worship Leader. An excellent way to stay on top of today's worship issues
Christian Research
http://www.network211.com/ – Using 21st Century technology to communicate the 1st Century gospel
http://vineyardusa.org/ – Recovering the Art of Pastoring
http://barna.org/ – Barna Research Online
Church Development
http://churchgrowth.net/ – Welcome th Church Growth Incorporated
http://hccentral.com/ – House Church Central
http://effectivechurch.com – 21st Century Strategies
http://www.gospelcom.net/ – Internet for Christians
http://joshhunt.com/ – 2020 Vision
Church Planting
http://cmtcmultiply.org/ – Church Multiplication Training Center, Bootcamps for Planting a Church or Starting a church
http://coachnet.org/ – Welcome to CoachNet 7
http://newchurches.com/ – New Churches Dot Com
http://newchurchspecialties.org/ – New Church Specialties
http://dcpi.org/ – Dynamic Church Planting International
http://joyfulheart.com/ – Church Articles Archive – Joyful Heart Ministries
http://terraserver.com/ – The TerraServer User's Guide
http://a29.org/ – Acts 29
http://pfdf.org/ – The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management
Computers and Technology
http://www.bizrate.com/ – BizRate.com
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/home_page?p=1015228 – Christian Super Store
http://www.pricegrabber.com/ – The Smart Place to start your Shopping
http://pcmag.com/ – PC Magazine Online
http://www.pricewatch.com/ – Price Watch 7 – Street Price Search Engine
http://www.wbtic.com/default.aspx – Web-based training information center
http://wired.com/ – Wired News
http://www.microsoft.com/ – Microsoft Support
http://www.zdnet.com/ – Welcome to PC/Computing
http://tucows.com/ – The Ultimate Collection of Winsock Software
Computers and Technology
http://www.bizrate.com/ – BizRate.com
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/home_page?p=1015228 – Christian Super Store
http://www.pricegrabber.com/ – The Smart Place to start your Shopping
http://pcmag.com/ – PC Magazine Online
http://www.pricewatch.com/ – Price Watch 7 – Street Price Search Engine
http://www.wbtic.com/default.aspx – Web-based training information center
http://wired.com/ – Wired News
http://www.microsoft.com/ – Microsoft Support
http://www.zdnet.com/ – Welcome to PC/Computing
http://tucows.com/ – The Ultimate Collection of Winsock Software
Demographic Research
http://acxiom.com/ – Acxiom Corporation
http://appliedgeographic.com/ – Applied Geographic Solutions
http://dol.gov/ – United States Department of Labor
www.city-date.com – Demographis for U.S. cities
https://www.sba.gov/content/demographics – US Small Business Administration
http://cities.barna.org/ – Barna demographics
Government
http://www.whitehouse.gov/ – Welcome to the White House
http://firstgov.gov/ – The official site for U.S. Government information, services, transactions, and forms.
Helpful Resources
http://www.myhealthychurch.com – AG Church Resources and Curriculum
http://www.network211.com/ – Network 211 – 21st Century Technology for the 1st Century Gospel
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ – Church Buyers Guide – Building & Transportation
http://www.biblegateway.com – Bible lookup for keywords, passages and topics
http://www.pastors.com/ – Pastors.com
http://www.fastcompany.com/homepage/index.html – Fast Company Magazine
http://stewardship.org/ME2/Audiences/Default.asp – Christian Stewardship Assoc.
http://www.churchsmart.com – ChurchSmart Resources
http://www.xenos.org/classes/papers/10.htm – Eleven Reasons Why Home Fellowship Groups Usually Fail
http://ginghamsburg.org – Ginghamsburg Church
http://www.churchgrowth.org/cgi-cg/gifts.cgi – Spiritual Gifts Analysis
http://firstthings.com/ – First Things
http://swordsearcher.com/ – Windows Bible Software
http://churchsource.com – Church Source / Zondervan
http://bemorecreative.com/ – Be More Creative
http://www.biblesoft.com/ – Biblesoft
http://khouse.org/ – Blue Letter Bible
http://gty.org/ – Grace to You
http://sermoncentral.com/ – Over 22,000 Sermons Indexed by Bible Chapter
http://pilgrimpromo.com/ – Wyatt Archaeological Research
http://www.songdiscovery.com/ – Song Discovery. The best way to find new contemporary worship music that you can use as backgrounds as well as praise songs.
Hoaxes, Viruses and Legends
www.snopes.com – Internet Viruses, Virus Hoaces & Urban Legends
http://urbanlegends.about.com/ – Current Internet Hoaxes, urban legends, and other digital lies.
Humor
www.swapmeetdave.com/Humor/Religious/htm
www.makeitclearnow.org/relhumor.html
https://www.pinterest.com/explore/religious-humor/
http://www.topfive.com/ – The Top 5 List
http://nitpickers.com/ – The Nitpickers Site
Leadership Resources
http://www.theatlantic.com/ – The Next Church
http://leonardsweet.com/ – A resource for the Postmodern Reformation
http://axxess.org/ – AXXESS
http://www.teii.org/the-mars-hill-forum-series/ – Mars Hill Forum
http://solomonsporch.com/ – Solomon's Porchl
http://tompeters.com/ – Welcome to the online site of Tom Peters!
http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/ – Welcome to the Jossey Bass Web site.
http://www.spencerburke.com/hatchery/ – Hatchery Los Angeles
Presentation Resources
http://storycenter.org/ – Center for Digital Storytelling
http://crystalgraphics.com/ – 3D Graphics
Search
http://www.google.com/ – Google
http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/ibmwatson/explorer.html – IBM Watson
Video Resources
http://adcritic.com/ – adcritic.com
http://reelproductions.net/ – Reel Productions
http://us.ccli.com/licenses-and-services/church-video-license/#benefits – Christian Video Licensing through ccli.com
http://www.criterionpic.com – Criterion Pictures.
http://www.Swank.com – Swank Motion Pictures.
MEDIA RESOURCES
Click below for resource websites regarding:
http://www.midnightoilproductions.net/ – Midnight Oil Productions. Telling the Story in a New Light, through professional-quality worship resources and media training. Midnight Oil is Len Wilson and Jason Moore, authors of Digital Storytellers, The Wired Church, former media ministers at Ginghamsburg Church, and co-founders of Lumicon Digital Productions. Midnight Oil Productions offers high quality worship graphics and videos at a price churches can afford, as well as one-day workshops on the use of media in worship. We'll see samples of their products today.
http://www.highwayvideo.com – Highway Video. Good video started library. Lots of documentaries, Music videos for discussion starters plus some good starting elements for video editing. Check out their Vibe Videos, a visual compliment to powerful, humble worship. Vibe Videos are formed around fundamental themes such as love, forgiveness, etc and are created with images, text, music, and scripture to create synergy within any worship experience. Great to use as background worship videos.
http://www.avisualplanet.com – A Visual Planet.com. It's a subscription site. Very reasonable and great content. Beautiful images that you can quickly and easily get them whenever you need them. They also add hundreds of new images every month. We'll see samples of their products today.
http://www.interlinc-online.com – Interlinc. Used by youth leaders for several years now. A great source for Christian music videos.
http://www.churchmedia.net/home/ – Church Media.net Has over 1000 subscribers and a very active online forum discussion board, as well as equipment and media for sale.
http://www.screenvue.com/ – ScreenVue. They provide Direct on subject clips from movies that are covered by CVLI licensing. 200 movie clips on 4 to 5 DVD's…..they are attempting to expand in the near future to more mainstream videos.
http://www.grouppublishing.com/ – Provides movie indexes, clips and discussion starters as part of their company.
https://www.lightstock.com/ – Lightstock – Christian images, photos, vectors, video clips. When you join, you can get one free each week.
http://www.avisualplanet.com – A Visual Planet.com. It's a subscription site but very reasonable and great content. All images are original by avisualplanet.com artists, or are public domain so there are no copyright concerns.
http://www.midnightoilproductions.net/ – Midnight Oil Productions. Telling the Story in a New Light, through professional-quality worship resources and media training. Midnight Oil is Len Wilson and Jason Moore, authors of Digital Storytellers, The Wired Church, former media ministers at Ginghamsburg Church, and co-founders of Lumicon Digital Productions. Midnight Oil Productions offers high quality worship graphics and videos at a price churches can afford, as well as one-day workshops on the use of media in worship.
http://www.freefoto.com – FreeFoto.com. It's a place in England. Graphics are free to churches and non-profits. Thousands of good graphics.
http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/powerpoint.cgi – Heartlight.org. Has photos from all over the world posted by professional and amateur photographers. You have to post a message to the owner of the photo for permission to use.
http://www.ebibleteacher.com/imagehtml/backgrnd2.html – eBibleteacher.com. Has some free graphics and links to pay sites. Very good quality and a nice resource
for graphics on the web.
http://www.churchmedia.net/forums/ – Church Media.net Has over 1000 subscribers and a very active online forum discussion board, as well as equipment and media for sale.
http://www.christart.com/ – Christian Art. Free Christian Graphics
http://www.gifs.net/animate/webl1.htm – Animated GIF Finder. A ton of free animated .gifs that work with the latest versions of Power Point
http://www.textweek.com/movies/themeindex.htm – Textweek.com. Great Movie Theme Index. You can find references to scenes from all sorts of movies that will help you find just the right clip to use to make your point.
http://www.trainingmag.com – training Magazine. Excellent resource to keep you on the cutting edge of the presentation industry. You can sign up for a free magazine and online newsletter that I have found to be very valuable.
http://www.worshipleader.com/ – Worship Leader. An excellent way to stay on top of today's worship issues.
http://www.criterionpic.com – Criterion Pictures. Has a copyright license that covers most of what CVLI doesn't.
http://www.Swank.com – Swank Motion Pictures. Has a copyright license that also covers most of what CVLI and Criterion doesn't.
TOPICS
Natural Church Development
This classic book by Christian Schwarz is one of the best tools available to use as a guide for leading your church through a process of improving the overall health our your church. You may also order this book through ChurchSmart Resources.
Gift-Oriented Ministry #1-You may purchase DISC tests directly from Uniquely You. #2- The 3 Colors of Ministry presents a holistic approach to identifying and developing your spiritual gifts. It is based on the three dimensions of God's nature, for which the author has chosen the colors of green, red and blue. #3-Unleash Your Church!- This comprehensive leader's guide provides you with the foundational Biblical principles for gifts mobilization, a strategic seven step process for action, and instructions for using the “Getting Your Gifts in Gear" workbook, the “Ministry Mentor Guide" and the book “Seven Principles for Mobilizing Spiritual Gifts." #4-Use this online Jung-Myers-Briggs personality test to help deepen your understanding of your own “wiring." Jung – Myers-Briggs typological approach
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Functional Structures Advanced Strategic Planning by Aubrey Malphurs– Excellent guide for leading your church through a process of healthy change. Good to Great by Jim Collins– This book is the classic text on helping a good organization of any kind become a great organization! Especially applicable to the church. Leading Change by John Kotter– Understand the dynamics of change and learn how to avoid the common mistakes that leaders make while changing the organizations they lead.
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Holistic Small Groups The Connecting Church by Randy Frazee–Fresh insights into the heart of healthy small groups.
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Need-Oriented Evangelism The Celtic Way of Evangelism by George G. Hunter III– A fresh look at how to build bridges to the unchurched among us! A New Kind of Christian by Brian McLaren– What does sharing your faith look like in a Post-modern world? The Church of Irresistible Influence by Robert Lewis– Read the story of a church that learned how to reach out and meet people at their point of need. |
REPRODUCING CHURCHES
The principle of multiplication is an idea that runs all the way through scripture. God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. He told Abraham that he would make him the father of many nations (implying multiplication). Jesus told his followers to go and make disciples (again the implication is “multiply yourself"). The church at Jerusalem was scattered and multiplied all over Judea and Samaria. Later, churches like Antioch intentionally multiplied themselves by sending out their best, Paul and Barnabas. It is normal for healthy growing churches to give birth to more churches. Research shows that new churches are far more effective at reaching unchurched people than established churches.
Follow the links below to visit the websites of churches that are creatively multiplying themselves!
Community Christian Church Naperville, Illinois
Anchor Church Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii
Allison Park Assembly of God Allison Park, Pennsylvania
Bethel Temple Hampton, Virginia
CMN Launch
What is CMN Launch and why should I attend?
LAUNCH
A training event for church planters who are planning to launch or who have recently launched a church. Using a mixture of online classrooms and on-site training, participants will be prepared by an experienced team of church planters to launch a healthy church. Launch runs from Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. to Friday at 12:00 p.m.
Here's a sample of what is covered during Launch . . .
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Every approved church planter must attend a CMN Launch training event before beginning public meetings. The church planter must consult with the Director of Church Multiplication to make arrangements for attending the CMN Launch. Each Church Plant project will receive up to $500 from Multiplication Team funds to assist with Launch expenses.
Click here to find out more about the AG Church Multiplication Network and Launch.