5/23 Mtg Summary

1.  What will this church look like?  (the timeline, some detail pictures, focus, people, etc)

-        Once again this plant is not something really new to our network.  It is one of the plants that we have always talked about and tried two other times.  We knew from the beginning that we will need a home/base/flagship church that will be the center of all the works of Grace Life.   And that in the city, it would hard to have a church like that...thus, we have always looked to the nearby suburbs where God would lead us to start a church.  I believe this is such a time. 

       Thus, when we think about the focus and the purpose of this church we would have to look outside the city limits where people are less transient.  So far, Catonsville and Elkridge have come into our view as we see open doors of opportunity.  We have some people in our church who are presently located there, we have Grace Lifers from the past who live in that area, we have possible partnerships that we can start looking into, possible funding opportunities, I have other contacts through past minitry involvements in that area, etc.  At one point Federal Hill looked really promising, but now it seems less likely as some of the leads have not worked out and the limitations of being in that area are great. 

-      TIMELINE: we have 3 months if we want to launch in September.   Most of the time, when people start looking for a new church it is in the fall and early part of new year like Feb.  So those are good months to launch a new church.   If we are not ready to officially launch the new church then we will still hold sunday services starting from Sept.  and have an official launch by Feb.

-          Need a place to worship, people, funding – then we can have a service.  We still need a critical mass of people, we can have a closed service – not open to the public but you can invite the people that you know. Gives you the freedom to train up people and plan more ministry.   So far we have about a dozen people who are committed to the plant to do more than just be attenders.   We would like to get to a place where we have about three dozen people committed to the plant and few more who are going to be faithful members.

2.  Why should I be part of this church from the start?

-          Not everyone gets this opportunity/experience. Esp if you have a calling in ministry it gives you an unique opportunity to learn a lot about ministry from the ground up.  If you want to be a missionary, church planting will be a great experience. You will also grow because things are so dynamic. Things move a lot and change a lot. Rarely at a static state. You experience a lot of breakthrough and prayers answers (like a mission trip). A lot of community aspect – starts small at the beginning and everyone is focused on the mission. Everyone is contributing and tithing, etc.   It is like being on an extended mission's trip. 

3.  How can I get involved, what can I do to serve, and what are some expectations if I say, “I  

     do?”  You can look below at some of hte ministry needs that we will have right away.  One of the reasons why we would like to have more people involved is to limit the burnout that the core group often experiences in a church planting context.  The core group typically does all the ministry, all the decision making, all the follow up, all the outreach etc.  In this new church start we would like to have enough people so that we can all share the responsibility/ministry so that we are not out every night doing ministry or in meetings.  So perhaps just couple nights a week.  Some will serve in the Leadership Team and not serve as a small group leader.   Some will serve as a small group leader and not be a worship leader at the same time.  IN this way I am hoping that people will be able to serve more long term and enjoy the blessing of serving the Lord.  

4. Where would the funding come from?

-          We would like to raise about 100K a year for 3 yrs.  That seems like a lot of money but it is very minimal in terms of what it usually costs to plant a church in US.  I am close to securing about 20k of that already.  Pray that God will provide for this plant.  We will also be doing some fundraising and we will get help from our SBC friends.

5.  Where is it going to be located?

-          Look at the notes under the first question and PRAY ABOUT LOCATION.  We will need to make a decision within a month because it is one of the reasons why some people are having a hard time committing to this new church work.

6. How is this church pant going to be different than the other ones that Grace Life has done?

-          We would like to get a larger pool of people to start with.  We would like to start with mostly working adults and married couples/families.  We are less pressure to do this plant than other ones that we have done because in the past the survival of the network was at stake or because it was our first plant . But this time, we are much more dependant on God and waiting on Him to work.  We really don't have to force things or try to move it faster than it needs to be...

7. What would be expected from those who serve in Leadership Team/Ministry Leaders?

         -  Avg one meeting a week for those serving on the Leadership Team.  For ministry leaders like small group leaders, two evenings a week.

8. The importance of this church.

      -- I can't stress enough the importance of this plant and the potential that it has.  This church could really be the home base for not only the ministry that we will continue to do and plant churches here in US but all the future work that we are thinking about doing in South America, esp Peru. 

Ministry Needs:

Leadership Team: people who have had experience in ministry including interns and vstaff
Sunday Service:

-          Worship Team/Leaders

-          Media

-          Fellowship

-          Greeters/Newcomers

-          Setup Team

Prayer: prayer chain or prayer network
Small Groups (2): one in the city and one outside of the city

Children’s Ministry

Nursery

From this point on we want weekly prayer meetings.

1.       Spread the word about keeping up with the church plant. At least to keep praying. Go to the blog.

2.       When you meet with people, keep in mind 2 groups – group that can serve and be part of this plant and a group that will be visitors/attendors/members.

3.       Weekly meetings – Wed nights 8pm (1-2 hours)

Prayer and worship in addition to training on some weeks...