What to Look for in a Launch Team
I'm continuing to answer some questions sent to me by a young church planter.
Today I'm looking at his second question about forming a launch team:
Question #2: What are specific things you look for in launch team?
What to Look for in Your Launch Team
The quality of your launch team will determine the quality of your church. I know that when you are first starting out, you tend to just want somebody...ANYbody to show up to your meetings. But be really careful. Attracting the wrong people in the early days can start the unraveling of the church before it even begins.
So here are five qualities that I would look for in the people who form your launch team.
Choose people who:
1. are healthy spiritually and emotionally. This doesn't mean they have to be mature believers (although that helps). It just means they are headed in the right direction...toward Jesus.
Some of the hardest working and passionate believers are new believers. So that's good. But often unhealthy people are attracted to church plants for the wrong reasons: they want you to have the perfect church, they want access to the pastor, they want to take control, etc. I'm not saying that you kick the unhealthy people out. Just don't rely on them or let them represent the church.
2. share similar values. It's important to establish your core values right away so people know whether they fit or not. At our church we have REALL values, meaning we value: Relationships, Excellence, Acceptance, Lifechange, and Laughter. These values define us. We judge much of what we do by these values and we teach them at our Welcome class so people know who we are and who we aren't.
3. enjoy having fun together. Starting a church is intense. You've gotta have fun with it or you will burn out. Who are the people you enjoy doing life with? Who do you naturally like to hang out with? If your launch team has fun together, you will be infectious. People will want to be around you guys. You'll attract people without even trying. So this might sound frivolous, but I think it's key to the success of a church. That's why one of our values is "laughter." [pullquote]If your launch team has fun together, you will be infectious. People will want to be around you guys[/pullquote]
4. have a good work ethic. Work is fun when everyone pitches in. But when one or two people are obviously missing at all the key meetings or making a coffee run when everyone else is setting up...it gets old and drops morale.
5. are generous givers. I'm not talking about being rich (although that helps too!). Jesus commended the woman who gave two coins. The point is you want people who are willing to put the new church first in every way, including financially. Just like fun is infectious, generosity breeds generosity. Look for people who aren't holding back.
So how do you attract these kind of people? Be this kind of person! Like attracts like. We learned this in our music ministry. Good musicians attract good musicians. Fun people attract fun people, etc. So be the kind of person you want to attract and that's who will start showing up.
If you think this helps, let me know and share it with a friend. More to come...