15 Life Giving Things When Planting Churches in Cities

Here’s the notes from an encouraging talk by Justin Buzzard at this years CPLF meeting in Nashville. Some very helpful information for church planters.

1. Know and Love Your City

• Live in a place where you love the city
• Who is your city? 
• What is your cities history?
• What is your cities values?
• What is your cities future? 
• What is your cities dreams?
• What is your cities fears? This is opposite of your cities values. 
• What is your cities ethos? Mode of operation? 

2. Prioritize Friendships

• Most church planters are lonely and need strong friendship
• Don’t allow a fear of favoritism to keep you from friendship
• Give a significant priority to making friends… believers and unbelievers

3. Disciple a Handful of Men

• Focus your life on discipling a few men well
• Everyone in the church should have 2 or so people they are investing in

4. Rest

• Rest daily 
• Turn off technology… sleep well at night… 
• Keep the sabbath
• Once a month have a retreat day… reading bible, praying, reading good books, and then dreaming about the church
• Take an annual break… Justin takes the month of July off every year
• Read: "The Power of Full Engagement"… a good secular book on maintaining rest

5. Unleash Your Rookies

• Don’t hold back your new and young believers
• Let them serve, evangelize, etc…
• Rebuke the control idols

6. Play Big

• Don’t hold back… give everything a 100% efforts. Go for it.

7. Resist the Devil

• 1 Peter 5

8. Go to Where Your Men Work

9. Do What You Love

• One of the quickest ways to burn out is to stop doing what you enjoy

10. Date Your Wife

• We are in a job where your marriage can disqualify you
• Invest in dating your wife

11. Set the Culture

• What your church is going to feel like… how is it going to operate
• Set a culture of encouragement… sending out encouragement cards
• Celebrate any opportunity you get
• Run to the tensions… don’t avoid, but aggressively deal with the issues you face
• Set a Gospel culture where grace is real in your church

12. Take Care of Yourself Financially

• Cities are expensive… take care of yourself… speak with financial planners
• Set a solid salary package that will fully support you

13. Finish Sermons Earlier in the Week

• 8-10 hours on a sermon and have it done by Wednesday morning
• Monday to study the text, Tuesday to outline, Wednesday to assemble

14. Let God Reck You

• God will destroy the church planter somewhere in the journey of planting
• Embrace it as God’s good means of changing you as a person and planter
• Church planting can be the greatest means of sanctification in your life… accept this and recognize it as good.

15. Stay Excited About Jesus