Did you have any idea how to plant a church?
No idea! I had never been part of a church plant or even seen a church plant happen. When someone forwarded me an email about the Exponential conference in Orlando, Fla., Grace and I felt like we should go and learn. We discovered a whole world of church planters. We learned about the importance of assessment, coaching, launch teams, training and a lot of the best practices. I started devouring information and books about church planting. Five years later, we’ve grown into the congregation we set out to plant.
What first steps were integral to getting the church where it is today?
Assessment. Several books I read argued that one of the most common reasons for church-plant failure was that the planter was not qualified, but no one had assessed him or her beforehand. Grace and I wanted to make sure we had what it took. It was a rigorous process of evaluation. At the end, we were encouraged to pursue our vision. After our assessment both of us had tears streaming down our cheeks as we prayed and saw a church coming together.
Also, core group development. The recruitment of the first 20 people was an amazing journey of God’s providence and guidance. They were about as diverse as our church is now. Although I had specifically intended to recruit a core team that represented the diversity of downtown LA, I frankly wondered how it was going to happen. But God had divine appointments in mind, and that plan began to unfold.
As people joined us, we met together on Sunday evenings getting to know each other, talking about the whys and the hows of church planting. We also spent this time coming up with a name, vision/mission statement and core values of the church.
How did you start to meet and engage with the community?
During the core group development process and continuing into the first year of the church, our core team members spent many hours downtown just talking to whomever we could. It was amazing how willing some people were to give their opinions on what they thought of church, why they didn’t go to church and what kind of church they might be interested in participating in.
We also spent a significant amount of time prayer-walking through downtown, taking the time to notice every building, every business, every corner and every person. We met with existing pastors and community leaders and asked them for their wisdom. We went to neighborhood council meetings and devoured the downtown demographic studies. Our goal was to be a neighborhood church for downtown.
So the LA Church Planting Movement’s vision of planting a church in every Los Angeles neighborhood is an extension of what New City Church LA has done?
From the beginning, the vision of New City was to start a church planting movement in LA. The city is composed of 119 distinct neighborhoods, ranging from about 10,000 to more than 200,000 people each. More people live in Los Angeles than in 43 states of America. Many of these urban neighborhoods have churches with great buildings but also with significant membership decline. When the neighborhood demographics shifted, the churches didn’t change along with them. Also, there are churches that have a certain demographic focus—they are often not focused on being a church for the neighborhood, but are just located in that neighborhood, and if they do reach out, they reach out to their segment throughout the city.
Our vision is to plant more churches that are gospel-centered, bringing the various people in their neighborhood together, and not only sharing the gospel but also being the gospel to that community by serving the community. For every church we plant in LA, we’re committed to plant one overseas with the global poor via our partnership with Compassion International.
This is a huge undertaking. How is the LA Church Planting Movement working toward this vision?
To accomplish this goal, we are currently partnering with Stadia, which has committed to put in $60,000 per church plant with us. So far, we have put together more than 18 churches of various denominations that are committed to the vision and are willing to fund the church plants. It has been awesome to see how God has brought churches of all denominations together to start a church planting movement here in Los Angeles. I love being a part of it!
Tom Hughes, lead pastor of Christian Assembly LA, is a co-catalyst with the LA Church Planting Movement. Churches like Christian Assembly that are committed to seeing Los Angeles become the greatest city for Christ are coming together because they know no one local congregation can grow large enough to reach Los Angeles alone. Something powerful happens when local churches unite for a cause greater than themselves.
Early this year, we saw the launch of two new churches as well as two with the global poor. And we recently saw a third neighborhood church launch. We are on our way to raising the money needed to plant the fourth and fifth churches. Our goal is to plant two to three churches per year for the first couple of years, and to plant four to five churches every year thereafter.
We believe the power of the gospel can actually bring people together. We often cite Jesus’ prayer the night before the cross: “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me” (John 17:20-21, NLT).
Kevin Haah recently spoke at Exponential West in Los Angeles where 2,000 church planters came together for four days of renewal and teaching on discipleship. Exponential East 2014 (April 28-May 1 in Orlando) continues the discipleship conversation, focusing on Jesus’ core mission while on earth: to seek and save the lost. For church planting resources and to learn more about planting a church, visit Exponential.org.