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"SO, WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO START WORSHIP?"
By Matthew Brown, Church Planter, Park Slope Presbyterian Church

Every church planter faces the inevitable question from core group members, supporters and other interested parties, "So when are you going to start worship?" Our church in Park Slope, Brooklyn, started worship services yesterday - almost one year after it was announced that I would be the pastor in charge of organizing this congregation. In the meantime, I have faced that very question more times than I care to remember and though it was always asked with genuine concern and hope, I heard people accusing me of being lazy and disorganized. I was a minister of Word and Sacrament, and I was neither preaching nor administering the eucharist.

Nevertheless, I had determined early in the life of the church that we would not start worship before we were ready. Working on the advice of David Ellis, another church planter in New York, I did not choose a date to begin worship until all of the pieces of the puzzle were in place. I set up a list of benchmarks we called "Launch Indicators" that were an objective means of measuring how God was preparing us to be a congregation. The following is a list of those benchmarks and the reason they were chosen.

1. The mailing list for the church includes 150 or more names. This list includes everyone from launch team members to friends and neighbors who agree to receive information about this new work.

This first indicator would tell us if people were "gossiping" about the church to their friends and neighbors. It did not include those who were supporting the church and never intended to be a regular part of our community. Furthermore, only those people who expressed a desire to be on the list were included. This encouraged people in the group to ask their friends and neighbors if they wanted to know more about what was going on. By the time we began worship (yesterday) there were over 165 names on the email list.

2. We have 50 committed members of the launch team.

Following the example many other church planters, I created a "Launch Team Agreement" to provide people with the opportunity to commit to supporting our work for one year. After that year, they were no longer obligated to us and would be free to serve in another church if they chose. The expectations of those on the launch team are:

To pray regularly and persistently for Brooklyn and for the launch and establishment of this church.

To be involved in the lives of unbelievers, praying for them and building bridges with them that might serve to lead them into the kingdom.

To maintain a consistent walk with the Lord.

To be open and available to the Lord as to what ministry role He might have for you.

To give faithfully to the ministry as you are able.

At last count, our Launch Team consisted of 53 members, not including me and my wife.

3. We have procured the best possible facilities for worship.

Our second and third benchmarks proved to be the most difficult to achieve. For quite a while it looked as though we were going to avoid the "facility nightmare" that has plagued many other church plants in New York City. One of the churches in the neighborhood approached me and expressed a desire to allow us full use of their facility with the possibility of purchasing the property. By December of last year, it became apparent that this arrangement was not going to happen and I returned to all of the facilities that had previously turned us down in the hopes that someone might change his or her mind and allow us to rent. Finally, after months of awkward negotiations with John Jay High School we were given the chance to rent the school auditorium on a week-to-week basis. While far from ideal (to say the least), this situation enables us to worship in a central location and to pour our resources into one of the worst schools in the city.

4. A "Worship Operations Team" and "Children's Ministry Team" are organized and have capable, trained leaders.

This benchmark needs little explanation, but I am pleased to say that God raised up excellent leaders for both of these ministries.

5. We are serving the community in at least three organized and visible ministries.

While every church is called to proclaim the Gospel in word and deed, we believed it was particularly important that our church be actively serving the neighborhood of Park Slope before we began worship services. In order to best accomplish this, our small group ministry serves as the primary means through which community service happens. Every Community Group is to be serving the neighborhood in a visible way at least once per month. Our groups are helping to clean Prospect Park, stocking food pantries, volunteering at women's shelters and the local hospital.

6. Evangelism has become a regular part of our launch team culture. This is one of those "hard to define, but we'll know it when we see it" kind of things. This attitude will be evident as the members of the launch team pray for their neighborhood; build relationships with unchurched people; look for opportunities to share the Gospel in word and deed; and see new people embrace the Good News.

Because this last benchmark is difficult to measure, it would be easy to say that we are not there yet. And that would be true. I don't think our church will ever check this one off the list. It is intended to be a benchmark that is never fully achieved. However, by the time we began worship, many families in the neighborhood became involved in our group because they were invited by members of the launch team. Other committed participants joined the local food coop, gyms and other social groups that would give the better exposure to people in the community. Something was definitely happening because the principal of John Jay High School told us she wanted to rent to us because a number of her parents said very good things about us!

I don't know if this method would work in all situations and definitely believe that every church plant would have different benchmarks, but I can say without qualification that these "Launch Indicators" not only enabled me to answer the question about starting worship with a statement that was both clear and concise, it also gave our church the confidence that we were starting worship at just the right time.

Explore Park Slope Presbyterian Church at parkslopechurch.com