Building Momentum in a New Church Plant

   You are waiting at the starting line for the starter’s horn to sound, and the sailing race to begin! It’s going to be a while, that much you know, because most of the boats are still at a dead standstill. Suddenly, with ten minutes to go before the start, you hear and see a new wave of activity begin as the boats display life and begin to move towards the starting line. Some start fast, and others start out ever so slowly, it seems to take the larger boats so long to get going! When I was younger, I raced sailboats of all sizes. It was so easy to get a 14 foot “Hobie Cat” moving as compared to the 69 foot Morgan deep hull. Once that larger sailboat began to move, the wind within its sails had no problem maintaining hull speed and plowing through the water with great efficiency! It’s the principle of inertia at work: things at rest tend to want to stay at rest, and things in motion, tend to want to stay in motion. That is also true in beginning a new church: now and then the greatest risk is in doing nothing.

The inertia that a moving object builds up is called momentum. It takes lots of energy to build up momentum, but it takes far less energy to maintain it. Momentum is more that a principle of physics. It’s a principle we can apply to our personal lives and to the life of a new church plant as well.

Jesus Told a Story about Momentum
Momentum played a role in one of the stories Jesus told. The story is about a wealthy man who had to be away o business for an extended period of time. He called together his three associates, and gave them his wealth to invest while he was gone. One was given five-talents, another was given two, and the third was given one talent to oversee.

A talent was what a worker could earn in 20 years. For comparison, if a worker’s salary today is $30,000, then one talent would equal $600,000. That means one worker was given $3 million (5 talents), another $1.2 million (2 talents), and the third $600.000 (1 talent). After a long period of time, the wealthy man returned and found that the first associate invested the $3 million and doubled it to $6 million. The second associate had invested his as well, and also doubled it to $2.5 million. The third, however, had simply hidden his $600,000 and gave the same $600,000 back to his boss.

The boss was very pleased with the first two men for doubling his money, but he was angry with the third man. He took the $600,000 he had given to that man and gave it to the one with $6 million. Jesus wants His followers to see the importance of using whatever God gives us in life. We’re to invest wisely what He’s given us in opportunities, finances, abilities, and time. Jesus indicates that when we attempt to do something with what we’ve been given, we’re going to end up with more, and this increase will increase even more. In Jesus’ story, the man who acquired the ten talents was given an eleventh (the one taken from the man who did nothing) presumably to continue to multiply his boss’s wealth.

Jesus summarized the story by saying, “For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” (Matthew 25:29). That’s the muscle of momentum at work. The one who works and takes risks to multiply what he has been given by God has even more, and the one who doesn’t do anything to gain more will lose what he has. Often the greatest risk is in doing nothing.

• · Discouragement
• · Failure
• · A lack of focus
• · Ungratefulness
• · Inattention
• · Fear

Intentional Steps Toward Building Momentum
There are several steps we can take to build momentum: understand it takes time and persistence to grow a new church!

Jesus said God’s kingdom grows in influence like yeast does in bread dough. Who wants to sit and watch bread rise? Bread rises really slowly, but it does happen! Getting positive momentum going from a dead stop, takes time and persistence. New churches gain momentum slowly. Research has show that a minister doesn’t become truly effective as a leader until after a few years at a church. (This will vary with each leader). New churches are not served well when there is a change of pastoral leadership every three or four years. Momentum is a new church – takes time to build.

Just Do Something – Almost Anything
Doing nothing won’t change anything; in fact, it usually makes things worse. In Jesus’ story of the three men given the talents, the criticism of the man with one talent was that he did nothing. We can begin by just doing a little something, being obedient to God in little ways. After all, most of life’s greatest achievements are made up of small things.

Building positive momentum in a new church involves identifying small and manageable goals that, with prayer and some effort, can be achieved. It requires moving beyond the momentum-killing idea that “We’ve never done it that way before.” For that matter in a new plant, “You’ve never done it before!”

Build on Your Successes
Focus on your latest forward progress. Many of the Psalms were written by people in trouble who reviewed in their psalms that ways God had helped them in the past. This gave them the confidence to move forward and seize the future, and their psalms usually end on that confident note. One word of warning! Even those positive experiences and memories can either hamper or build momentum. A nostalgic wishing list can hurt even a brand new church! Don’t’ get buried in such lists, but remember, God is the giver of good gifts.

Remember the Muscle of Momentum
It takes a great deal of energy to get a yacht moving across the water, but once it gets going, it’s unstoppable! That’s the muscle of momentum. The little play craft was able to get moving more quickly, but the larger yacht is able to stand up to the rough seas while the smaller craft is thrown about by turbulence. Momentum helps you with assimilating new people into the life of a new work. Momentum allows you to grow past levels that might otherwise stall your new work. Momentum helps you create more momentum. Momentum is that little extra that allows a new church to keep its focus on what is worthy and right for this hour without sinking at the most crucial time, just at the beginning of the race. Learn to harness the muscles of momentum and they will greatly assist your new work in moving across the starting line of growing a healthy church. Keep the wind in your sails!

Dr. Tom Cheyney is the Executive Director of the Greater Orlando Baptist Association and is passionate about seeing churches revitalized and become healthy once more! He is a frequent conference speaker on church planting, church revitalization, and leadership development. He is the co-author of Spin-off Churches by B&H Publishing Group. For more information, go to www.goba.org.