Church PLANT Manual

Session 1: Prepare • 17

church can do ten things well. Clarity is king in all church planting efforts. As you determine your values you must avoid comparison. The expression “comparison is the thief of joy,” attributed to Theodore Roosevelt, is applicable to many areas of life but is particularly applicable in ministry and more so specifically in the context of church planting. Your team will need to wrestle through various personal values that are important to individual team members and arrive at your collective values. This is more difficult than it may appear at first glance as everyone on your team has a history which informs their views. Asking good questions through this journey will be helpful and your team exercise time will assist you in the process. Whether consciously or not, we all approach church planting through our experiences evidenced in statements like, “in my old church we did this or that” or “we used to do things this way or that way” and the like. In all things your team will need to be driven by the collective values of your church plant and avoid comparison.