March 15, 2000

Lay leaders in church starting
___Beyond the need to recruit church starters, lay leaders play a vital role in launching most new congregations, according to church starting leaders with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
___"Pastors are going to have to get over the idea that we are the only ones in the church with the gift of evangelism and prophetic preaching," said Fred Ater, coordinator of the

Hundreds of new churches needed BGCT offers support, guidance for church starting Could you be a church starter? Money not the barrier to church starting many fear

BGCT's Church Starting Institute. "We need to train people and send them out.
___"A layperson, deacon, Sunday School teacher can go out and win people to Christ, bring them together and constitute a church without having one lick of seminary training," he added.
___Even in a more formal model of a congregation started by a seminary-trained church planter, lay leadership often plays a vital role.
___"In a new congregation, you need numerous people who have leadership skills," said E.B. Brooks, director of the BGCT's Church Starting Center. "Your core group has to very quickly take on leadership responsibilities."
___In such a case, though, it's vital for the lay leadership to be on the same page as the church starter, added Bob Roberts, founding pastor of Northwood Church in Keller. "You've got to be willing to follow the church planter."
___Other qualities found in lay leadership for church starting include:
___ A heart for reaching the community for Christ.
___ Flexibility, including forgetting any preconceived notions about how a church should function based on cultural conditioning.
___ Readiness to work.
___ Willingness to give.
___ Willingness to reach out and bring others in.
___ Knowing your own strengths and weaknesses and how best to use them.

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