10 Most Common Mistakes Made by New Church Starts

by Jim Griffith, Bill Easum

Jim Griffith and Bill Easum draw from decades of personal experience in planting new churches and consulting with supervisors and planters in new church starts. They have condensed their vast experiences down to ten points that account for the great majority of failures among church planters. For each point, the authors provide examples of the particular mistake and ways to avoid it. They speak in special sections to coaches and supervisors, showing them how to work with church planters to avoid the mistakes. The ten mistakes point in most cases to plans made on the basis of past experiences or unrealistic models that do not fit either the particular church planter or the mission field where the church is planned. The church planter must take the initiative to do God?'s work as directed by the Holy Spirit, not copy a religious superstar?'s methods or approach the work as defined by outside sources.

Genres: Church, Nonfiction

128 pages, ebook

First published March 20, 2008

Reviews

[Will Turner · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book started out okay. I honestly wasn't expecting too much. I've yet to find a book on church planting that is good, sadly. This book continues in that sad tradition of being another forgettable book on church planting. And worst of all it is marred by some really poor/bad theology.

I appreciated the first chapter. The Great Commandment(s) are foundational and prior to the Great Commission. Love for God and love for neighbor are the presuppositions, if you will, for obedience to the great commission. Good focus.

But it goes downhill quickly thereafter. I am still shocked that they promote the homogenous principle (27-28). It's affinity they call it. I say it's unbiblical. Now of course, if you are starting a church in a homogenous neighborhood I am not expecting you to have a diverse membership. But even then you should have some diversity of age. Planting based around affinity is an easy way out. And it goes against much of scripture. Our Gospel - the death and resurrection of Christ - is the power of God to tear down the dividing wall of hostility. Sure, diversity is harder, but it is better. I'd even argue more biblical. Please don't pursue homogeneity/affinity. Please pursue diversity and promote the immense power of the gospel to transcend ethnic, societal, economic, age barriers. It's powerful enough! As church planters, we should be praying for our churches "on earth as it is in heaven."

They also fail to understand the proper relationship of evangelism and discipleship. They write, "Evangelism... It's the reason the entire community of faith exists" (48). For some reason, maybe Matthew 28:18-20, I thought that was discipleship. Not too mention giving glory, honor, and praise to God. While I appreciate the focus on evangelism they fail to properly explain that evangelism is not the end. It's only a means to the end. Discipleship is the end, well sort of. Even discipleship is still a means to the end which is ultimately sanctification to glorification.

And "Remember, you are selling yourself, not a vision, or a church" (53). Lord, keep me from ever selling myself. Church planter, it's not about you. It's not about your brand. It's not about your vision statement, mission statement, or purpose statement. It's not even about your church. It's about Jesus. He must increase. Our job? We must decrease (John 3:30).

While I get their criticism of churches that fall into "maintenance mode" the problem is that it's a false dichotomy. (They offer other false dichotomies throughout this book, for instance attractional v. incarnational). They'd rather see the church as a "missionary outpost" in opposition to say, a hospital (56). But the church is both! It's for needy sinners. A good pastor is a shepherd. A shepherd lovingly cares for the sheep he has - tends to their wounds, binds up their hurts, but he also pursues the sheep who are outside of the gate. And more importantly, as they do note, shepherds must train and equip others (Eph. 4).

And then we get to how they define success: "getting the seats filled." And they offer a word to supervisors on how there need to be clear numerically based benchmarks (58). The implication is that if these benchmarks are not being met something is wrong. I can't help but realize that both Jesus and Paul would fail their benchmark tests. They would fail miserably...

They are clearly functioning on a suburban mega church model. If that's your jam then maybe this book is for you.

My main takeaway from this book: If you are going to plant a church immerse yourself in the doctrine of ecclesiology. Study Scripture. Read through the Acts of the Spirit. Read the NT letters. Read excellent, deep theology books on the nature, purpose, and function of the church. Don't confine yourself to reading books on church planting. Read about the Glorious Body of Christ.

There are so many solid books on ecclesiology. Read those instead...

Tim Keller's Center Church and Redeemer's Church Planting Manual far surpass this book in all respects. I'd recommend those two books over this one hands down.

[Melinda Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book for those of us starting new churches or restarts. Some things are a bit dated and a few things I have a different view on, but still, an excellent resource. Highly recommend for anyone starting a new faith community.

[Dustin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Great Summary of Bad Practices

This books does well at exposing mistakes planters (and other pastors) make. Thankfully, they don’t just expose the mistakes. They provide remedies as well.

[Aaron Carlberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are many things to find useful in this little book. The most helpful was defining what you do well. A church planter needs a definitive vision, given to us by God, in where and how to plant. Not everything works in every city as each culture is unique. Jesus as our Chief Shepherd defines our vision, not the people who show up at the doors. American Christians have been sold a bill of goods that the church is there to do ministry FOR them and to minster TO them (these things are not necessarily covered in this book). Remaining true to God's vision first, cutting bait (so to speak), will keep us sane in our planting endeavors.

My negative about the book is that it seemed that 80% of their examples involved women. "Sally did" such and such. Most planters I have come across are male (it's not chauvinism, its true), and it is odd that this book seemed to ignore the majority of the audience who would read it. I don't know if they were trying to be PC, but it was off putting for me.

Also, it felt like the book came from a particular mindset: how you take an offering, how you launch, how the boards are comprised...it seemed they thought in the end all churches (after a few years) would end up functioning the same, and this is untrue.

If you are considering planting and using this book as a resource, great, but please don't let this be the only book you read. There are better books out there (I would recommend Planting Missional Churches by Ed Stetzer for one, and Confessions of a Reformission Rev. by Mark Driscoll for two).

Again, not a terrible book, but one sided and contradictory to many other models.

[Steven Bullmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every church was a "new church start" at some point in time. Much of the "mainline malaise" can be attributed to the decades of dysfunctions these mistakes have been causing churches. Though I never started a church, I did come in with hopes, dreams, visions of how broken churches could be healed, suffering churches could thrive again, and plateaued churches could grow again ... in other words, the things that church planters do. And therefore I had to confess "Guilty" of at least 4 of the ten mistakes; and "horribly guilty" of number 10 "Using the 'Superstar' Model as the Paradigm."

On the principle of the old Fram Oil Filter commercial - "You can pay me now (spend a little on an oil change) or pay me later (spend a lot on a new transmission because you let the oil get too old to work)," every church would do well to read this book, confess and claim which mistakes they have made, and fix them sooner rather than later ... or not at all.

[Peter Krol · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a helpful, concise look at church planting. While there is much I would disagree with, I thought that many of the practical concerns were pretty helpful to consider.

I was particularly struck by the sections on failing to talk about money until it's too late, and on not trying to blindly duplicate another church's model.

The focus on the needs of your people and your community was helpful. I would have appreciated more Scriptural support for some of the issues.

[Jonny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this mostly from my perspective as a Cell Leader and a Cell Leader Coordinator from an aspiring pastor's perspective, and I thought it was quite insightful and accurate. Hardly a spiritual book, these authors succeed in imparting their wealth of experience to open ears. Limited in eloquent vernacular and prose, the practicality of this book is what makes it worth reading. Lots of nuggets of treasure here; recommended for those interested in church planting.

[Alissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a small book (just over 100 pages), but it took me forever to read because it was jammed packed with great information. Many ministry books repeat themselves, but this was straight and to the point. The authors recounted stories of many failed church plants, which was helpful to have real life experiences shared along with their recommendations.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

The launch team for our new satellite read this in preparation for the launch. It was short and easy to read. It wasn't prefect for satellites, but it was still very helpful. We also read Launch by Nelson Searcy and there were some very distinct points of disagreement between the two. Particularly how quickly you launch. Searcy says launch quick. Griffith/Easum caution about launch quickly.

[Amy Carty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great!

This book has been very informative as we start building and growing a church congregation. I am very glad this book was recommended to me and if you are planting a church, please consider reading this.

[Ryan Fisher]

This book was a fairly quick read and had a decent amount of unique material. It was good.

[Donny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading for the District Strategy Team.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read chapter 10 before you start chapter 1. Insightful and helpful.

[Sean Post · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth a quick read but there are some scary parts in here. For example, "the purpose of a church plant is to get people in seats." Really?... I thought it was to make disciples.