That’s like asking when a couple should consider having a baby. There are no precise guidelines or timeframes, but let me offer some considerations. A church-plant, like a child, is a blessing to the parent congregation. So, while we should exercise wisdom in deciding when to plant, be careful not to think simply in terms of what it will “cost” to give birth to a new church. Is there a price to pay? Absolutely! But losing some aspects of congregational life will result in new blessings for the old congregation.
The most important point of readiness is the availability of a discipling leader to pastor the fledgling flock. Without a ready pastor, it’s impossible to plant a new church. Pastors who hope to plant churches should begin by discipling individuals. Intentionally developing future pastors costs nothing but time!
Second, the sending pastor must be ready to give sheep cheerfully. I told each of our church planters to “steal” my sheep. If they couldn’t convince some of my followers to follow them, I wasn’t convinced they’d get anyone to follow them when they arrived in the new city.
The planting church should be established enough to intentionally “send” the new church. Reread the book of Acts and you’ll see how much the early church sent. The sending church should have enough history to have an identifiable DNA. The new church will develop a ministry personality all its own, but having been raised in a good family provides the new church with lots of intuitive answers to ministry issues while it develops its own ministry philosophy.
The mother church should average at least 120 in attendance, so the loss of key leaders will not cause undue hemorrhaging after birth. Of course, one of the benefits of church planting is the immediate need for leaders to replace the ones sent, but if too large a percent of the leadership goes off, the mother church will struggle to regain its strength. I recommend the church planting team be less than 5% of the parent church congregation.
That leads to a financial guideline I’d suggest. Though the income of the planting congregation will usually return to its pre-plant level within 3-4 months, it may take longer if the departing families account for much more than 5% of the existing budget. But I never used that as a hard-and-fast rule, because faith ought always to trump calculations.
