Rev. Samuel Robles Jr.

As I reflect on the last 6 months, I am amazed on what we've accomplished so quickly! Here are some highlights: 

- we have had to move locations 3 times due to growth;

- we had 4 preview services throughout the summer before launch;

- our attraction events have revolved around community service & fellowship (average almost 1 a month);

- we've been able to birth various ministries, with more on the way. 

And throughout all this, and most importantly, people are giving their lives to Christ, transforming themselves , re-kindling their relationships with God, re-prioritizing their lives to put God first, creating new relationships, and worshipping their Creator. It's amazing what God is doing!

So what have I learned throughout all this? A LOT! 

Therefore, I am going to share 5 things that I have learned and experienced in 6 months of church planting that I find to be particularly important (this does not mean that areas I do not mention are less important). NOTE: these thoughts are applicable to not only new church pastors and planters, but also new church start attendees and members. 

1 - BE ORGANIZED

Organization is essential in church planting. Why? Because you are creating a foundation for your church. Don't build a house on sand. Build it on rock. (Matthew 7: 24-27)

Not everyone is organized. And if you find yourself to be "unorganized," surround yourself with people who are! Thankfully, organization is one of my leadership characteristics, and it has come very handy in church planting. 

In new church planting, there's going to be a lot happening at the same time. Look at the big picture. Be a good time manager, and prioritize. 

At Arise, we took time to create and organize our infrastructure and leadership. We did not rush it, or are rushing it. We created ministries that we knew we needed from the get go, and we took time doing so. With our current infrastructure and organization, we are now set to receive various people, and have something to offer them. 

2 - BE CREATIVE

What would be our purpose in church planting if we were mirroring someone else? I am amazed on how much time I have spent in reading about marketing, particularly church marketing. It has forced me to reflect on,  "what makes our church stand out?" One of the key areas of marketing is differentiation, which asks, "What makes us/you different?" 

This has challenged us to not only be creative in our liturgy, but also in our identity. Since Arise is a church whose initial target audience is bilingual, you will find many of the flyers and campaigns we create have "Spanglish" tones to them. Not only do we intermingled Spanish and English, but we also intermingle colors, designs, images, etc. We try to be relevant. We aim to speak the "language" of our target audience, and we aim to reflect that in our image. What we found is that what we look like as a church is pretty different than what many people imagine a church to look like, and guess what, that's ok.

3 - PRACTICE TEAMWORK

While I may be the church planter and pastor, this is not my church. It's God's church! I cannot do it all alone. At Arise, we do not have paid staff. But what we do have are people who are passionate about ministry and God. We aim to empower our members to practice leadership and use their gifts. We aim to work together as a team, and involve as many people as we can.

Working with other people energizes me because I sense their passion and excitement. It's almost infectious. Church planting can be very exciting and fun, yet also very overwhelming. However, it's possible when you have a team. We hear very often that there is no "I" in team, but there's also no "I" in church.

4 - STAY FOCUSED

I would be lying if I wrote that everything has been perfect for us in church planting. It certainly has not. There have been obstacles along the way. Yet it's important that in the midst of obstacles to stay focused. And how does one stay focused? Frequently revisit your church's mission, vision, and values. If this new ministry is commissioned by God with a purpose, than constantly remind yourself on what that purpose is. If God is for you, who can be against you? (Romans 8:31)

During our gathering phase, I would constantly re-visit our mission, vision, and values with our people. Every week it was in my powerpoint, and I would spend 5-10 minutes talking about each of them. There were even Sundays when I quizzed them! (LOL!) And as a result, I heard testimonies how people were sharing the church with others because they understood the purpose of the ministry. I am amazed on how so many people have our values memorized! And why is this important? Because we now have an opportunity to live them out and practice them. It allows our church to stay focused on what God is calling us to do. 

5 - TAKE TIME TO RESEARCH, READ AND THEOLOGIZE

One of the many things I took away with me from my new church ministry training was the importance of taking time to "sermonize." I am glad that has remained a vital memory, in so much, that part of my agenda during the week of "administrative" tasks is to have time to read and research. I certainly don't have everything figured out, so it is very important to me that I continue learning and educating myself.

New church planting involves a high demand of details, conversations with people, conference attending, organizing and creating projects. etc. These are all very time consuming. It's easy for having personal time to read and "sermonize" to get lost. In my opinion, what good is planting a church and creating a brand new ministry like no other if the Sunday message is not good? (for lack of better terms) While ministry certainly exists Monday through Saturday (and I am a firm believer in this), there is an expectation to hear a word from God on Sunday mornings, and that will only happen if we (pastors and leaders) take the time to prepare and pray! If you really want to hear God speak on Sunday, take time to wrestle and theologize during the week. You can tell the difference, and it will be reflected in the spiritual growth of the people.

I can certainly go on and on about what I've learned and experience over the last 6 months. I do not hold my thoughts to be absolute. I do hope that my thoughts can provoke discussion and reflection on church planting. May everything we do and say lead us to Kingdom building, for God's glory!