Written By: Rev. Zack Keuthan, Fletcher Presbyterian Church
At the end of January, I shared lunch with a group of church planters in Asheville. I told them about the paradigm of our mother-daughter church plant, and one planter said, “Now, that’s the way to do it!” I agree! I am so grateful to be planting a daughter church.
First, I am thankful for Reformation’s vision to invest in a young guy right out of seminary. Despite how much I thought I knew coming out of seminary and the mentoring I had received up to that point, I needed to grow in ministry (and still do!). I needed people to invest in me. I needed input and encouragement. I needed to see people who were steady when I was so up and down. I found this at Reformation. From members, staff, elders, deacons, and the senior pastor. Reformation grew me up. I don’t think I would be attempting to plant a church apart from Reformation’s investment in me.
Second, I am thankful for a core team from the mother. One planter told us that he thinks starting with a core team puts the plant much further along from the start and helps the plant weather inevitable setbacks. Church planting can be risky, slow, and lonely. That’s okay! It provides plenty of opportunities to deepen our trust in Jesus. But it sure helps to have a team working together, praying together, and reminding each other of His promises! I also believe a team-based approach is the model of ministry we see in the Bible. And I am experiencing the wisdom of this approach as the mother and daughter church work together, the core team and I work together, and our presbytery works with us (our provisional elders have been true shepherds for our little flock!) to plant Fletcher Pres.
Third, I am thankful for our financial model. While I am responsible for raising support, our church plant receives significant support from Reformation, First Presbytery, and Outreach North America. This lightens the burden on me and frees me to be more on the ground in Fletcher connecting with people and doing outreach.
Fourth, I am thankful for the administrative support Reformation is providing our church plant. There is no way around it. There is a lot of administrative work that comes with starting a church on top of preparing sermons, counseling, Bible studies, pastoral visits, networking, and raising support. It is hard to overestimate how helpful the administrative support from Reformation has been to me.
Finally, as we were considering doing a mother- daughter church plant, we were told that God often blesses the mother congregation and the sprouting congregation. Even at this early-stage I can see how that is true! Members in our church plant are growing in new ways and members at Reformation are stepping into leadership roles left by those who went with the church plant.
I agree that mother-daughter is the way to do it!
