The church planting proposal is a document that serves as the "business plan" for the new church. It generally covers the first two years of new church development. In the proposal, the church planter puts into writing what God is laying on his heart. It spells out the initial vision or dream, the initial ideas of the culture of the new church, and its launch strategy. Keep reading to find out what content is needed in your proposal.
An effective church planting proposal is 5 - 10 pages in length. It is simple, flexible, and is at best a working draft. Your proposal can be summarized in a brief written, graphic, or electronic format for presentation to potential staff, your leadership team, and your launch team. It may also be a helpful resource for partner or parent churches, and your district or sponsoring network. The proposal serves to answer the following basic leadership questions - feel free to use your own order of questions and add any additional questions:
- What is the initial name for the new church and why did you choose it?
- What is the mission (purpose) of the new church?
- What is the God-given vision for the new church? What will it look and feel like in 2 1 year, 5 years, or 10 years with God's help and guidance? What are three main characteristics of the culture of the church in the future?
- How has God called you (the planter) and your spouse to plant this new church?
- How has God uniquely equipped you to serve as the lead church planter?
- What have you learned about yourself as a church planter through the assessment process?
- What spiritual preparation has and will go into planting this church?
- What coaching and continued training resources or people will you employ?
- How will you build your core team and your launch team?
- What staff/people/roles will you recruit before the launch (birth) of the new church?
- What are the plans for multiplying church plants out of this church?
- How will you go about recruiting and mobilizing an intercessory prayer team? How will you build your support team?
- What core values will guide its development and ministry?
- How will this new church contribute to multiplying new believers, disciples, and kingdom advancement?
- What will the new church look and feel like when it launches? What model will it follow?
- What will the worship services look and feel like in the first 2 years after the launch?
- What is the leadership development pathway for this new church?
- What is the estimated critical mass goal for launch and how will it be achieved?
- What denomination/district/parent church/partner churches will be involved and how?
- What will be your primary ministry focus group/area? What are the demographics?
- How will you go about building a support team?
- What is the vision of the church for multiplying other churches?
- Why would anyone want to become part of this church plant?
- How can someone get involved in this church plant?
- What is the initial budget for the church plant and what streams of financial and material support will you include? (Please include a copy of your first or next quarterly new church budget.)
[Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash]