Church PLANT Manual

104 • Church PLANT Manual

Bringing It All Together 1

I. What is a charter? A. It is a written record of the intentions of the church plant team. B. It provides means of accountability to leadership. C. It provides clarity of action so the team can continue if there are changes in team personnel. D. It provides a limited amount of time to complete the task. II. Why is it important? A. Church plant teams tend to either take too long without results or get discouraged and want to quit too early. Charters minimize quitting and languishing by giving time frames. B. Church plant teams need accountability on a periodic basis but not micro-management. Charters free up the team to be creative within their stated guidelines so there isn’t excessive oversight that would hinder the effort. Charters also provide a written statement of goals and objectives so there can be specific checkpoints providing accountability to the stated plan. C. Charters provide a written plan for the next year that helps the team stay on course, minimizing wasted efforts. D. If there are multiple church plants occurring in an area, charters help scope out the target areas so new efforts are not causing a duplication of effort.

1

Ripe for Harvest , pp. 464-466.