9 Characteristics of Successful Church Planters

By Nelson Searcy

I've said it before and I'll say it again - starting a new church is an heroic venture and, if God has called you to it, there's nothing else like it.

I was reading this post and it sparked that there are also 9 Characteristics of Successful Church Planters:

1. Must Complement Vision by Working toward Goals, Setting Up Accountability and Maintaining Discipline

God-inspired vision is essential in starting a church that will make an impact for His Kingdom. However, vision alone (like talent) is never enough.

Church Planter, you must be able to set goals and work toward achieving them, hold yourself accountable (and enlist others to help you do so) and demonstrate the discipline to stay focused on doing the little things to pursue that vision in the midst of challenges and pressure from all sides.

2. Must be Willing to Change without Losing Determination

Show me a church planter who has never failed and I'll show you one who has never taken a risk. The key to long term effectiveness is "failing forward;"

When something doesn't work or circumstances change, you must be willing to adapt without losing hope or throwing in the towel. Like the old Timex watch commercials, can you "take a lickin' and keep on tickin'?"

3. Must Understand and Embrace True Creativity

Creativity is sometimes pigeon-holed into how flashy your postcards are or how fancy your website is, but true creativity is essential to success in church planting. Inflexibility has been the downfall of many a new church.

You have to be creative in managing your time, solving problems, connecting with those you're trying to reach and communicating God's Word to your people.

4. Must Display Confidence and Optimism about the Task at Hand

I am constantly amazed by how many church planters (and pastors) I meet who are pessimistic and insecure. It makes me wonder who they're working for.

Church Planter, if the God of the universe has tapped you on the shoulder and called you to start a new church... walk, talk and act in the confidence that He knows what He's doing (even if you're not always completely sure)!

5. Must be Diligent

There are seasons in church planting where it feels like your church is never going to grow. Other times, you'll wonder if there will ever be enough money to do what you think you need to do.

You need to develop the persistence to keep doing the right things and calling out to God to do what only He can do. The breakthroughs that follow these periods are some of the greatest joys of starting a new church. And you'll only experience them if you're persistent.

6. Must be a Voracious Learner

In all of the hustle and bustle of starting a new church, one of the "easiest" ways to save a little time is to cut down on your reading and training opportunities. This is a move that will come back to bite you sooner than you realize.

If you're not growing, your church won't grow for long.

We live in a time when there are more books, resources, audio training and coaching available for pastors and church planters than ever before... now is the time to develop lifelong learning habits that will serve you for the rest of your ministry.

7. Must be Motivated and Driven to Succeed

I spend a lot of time in my church planting resources (The Call of a Church Planter, Launch, The Launch Conference, etc.) talking about clarifying your CALL to plant a church.

I do that because - like every seasoned church planter I know - there have been many times, situations and obstacles over the years that would have served as the perfect opportunity to quit if it weren't for knowing that God called me to do this.

And once you've clarified your call, you can harness that as motivation to do whatever it takes to make this new church a success.

8. Must be Willing to Embrace the "Inner Entrepreneur"

One of the reasons that church planting has had such an abysmal failure rate is that it requires a different skillset than most other areas of ministry.

You can be a great preacher, care-giver and Bible study leader and still fail at planting a church because you have to be able to start something from nothing.

There is no boss to set your hours, hand you a to-do list or scold you for slacking off -- if you're not a self-starter, your church planting experience is likely to be unpleasant (and brief).

9. Must be Enthusiastic about this New Church

Somewhere along the line, God called you to play a role in the frontlines of writing redemptive history, helping people cross over from death to eternal life by planting a church.

With that in mind, there is no excuse not to be passionate about what you're doing.

This isn't about a certain type of personality so much as it is about enjoying the work to which God has called you.

Be passionate about your city. Be passionate about the people God has called you to reach. And beyond all that, be passionate about doing whatever it takes to introduce people to Jesus!