Ripe for Harvest

S ESSION 2: P REPARE • 191

Prepare: Be the Church Exercise Questions

Below you find a number of questions related to your team’s preparation for planting a church together. Please do not feel the need to work on each separate question with equal time and attention. Rather, your focus and discussion should be evaluated for each question according to the following guidelines: • Is this a question that we as a team can, and should, answer now? • Can we answer this question in order to set a general direction now, and then wait to work on the specifics involved? • Should we delay answering this question in order to include the input of others (especially indigenous leaders)? This list is meant to be comprehensive, not exhaustive. Be open to seeing how certain questions and discussions you encounter together may prompt you to move in other, unexpected directions that might be helpful to explore. 1. What is our initial understanding of each team member’s gifts, strengths, and passions? 2. What roles will we as team members play as we begin? How will we be organized? Who is in charge of what? 3. Do we have the key roles on a church plant team covered? (see Key Roles of a Church Planting Team and Responding to God’s Call to the Poor ). If there are gaps on our team, how do we intend on closing these gaps? 4. Regardless of the target population your church plant will seek to engage, why is it necessary to always be mindful of God’s heart for the poor, the broken, and the oppressed in that area? (See On World Impact’s “Empowering the Urban Poor” ) 5. What kind of training will we need for the first six months of the plant (evangelism, language, etc.)? 6. What church plant model will we initially employ? 7. When, where, and how often will we meet for worship and prayer? Preparing the Church-Planting Team

Context Values/Vision Prepare Launch Assemble Nurture Transition Schedule/Charter