Killing the Core Team and Losing the Launch Team part 2
Why did we have both a Core Team and a Launch Team?
One of the many things that jumped out at me in all my reading and studying about church planting was the stat that 80% of your launch team would not be with you after the first year. I wish I could remember where I read that but that doesn’t matter. This fact/stat/whatever you want to call it haunted me. I had all sorts of questions and the more planters I talked to the more this stat was confirmed. I immediatly set out to come up with a plan that had this high turn over built in. Because our model was going to be what some refer to as a “parachute” (show up on site with a church) model I decided to invite as many people as possible into the launch team for a short season. This protected both me and them from any hurt when the time came for us to part ways. The launch team would be able to bless us with many more hands to serve and a lot more butts in the seats.
Distance from our mother church also played into the launch team. Being 45 minutes or more from most of those who would be on the launch team we decided to put those who signed up on a rotation of once a month for six months. There were many advantages to this. We knew who to expect on certain weeks and could plug them into different areas to serve. We could dictate when people came protecting us from having 80% on one Sunday and 20% the following Sunday.
A launch team set up like this also presented challenges. We needed a group of people who wanted in at a higher level. A group who not only encouraged us in our mission and vision but also wanted to live it out with us. We decided to implement a Core Team that would consist of those who would be willing to commit to The Bridge on an almost every week basis for one year or more. Very quickly this group grew from 3 to 12 to 26 to 35 in the months of July and August.
The Core Team inherited large responsibilities for our Sunday gatherings. Giftings, passions, and willingness to serve where needed led to Core Team groups. Our groups were children & nursery, greeting, hospitality, set up, tear down, worship & tech, ushering, and prayer. This set us up very well.
Our Core Team groups grabbed a hold of their areas. This couldn’t have gone better. I felt like I was able to wind them up and let them go. I cast vission and they put it into action. The Core Team continued to grow in our first month of meeting as some from our Launch Team desired to be a part of things in a greater capacity. Staging soon was added as another team.
I can’t imagine starting a church without a dedicated Core Team. They have been a source of joy and enouragment to me week in and week out.
In my next post I’ll share about some of the challenges we encountered.
