General

How to Start a Church: These Are the Key Steps to Take

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">There&&num;8217&semi;s no denying that spirituality is an important part of life&period; That&&num;8217&semi;s why millions of people attend church regularly&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">As Christians&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s important to spend time worshipping together with other believers&period; Thus the need to find a <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;focusonthefamily&period;com&sol;faith&sol;looking-for-the-right-church&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">church home<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">If you&&num;8217&semi;ve been feeling led to start a new church&comma; there are plenty of details you need to keep in mind&period; After all&comma; growing a church from scratch is a huge undertaking&period; The key is to understand the steps before you begin&period; Fortunately&comma; you&&num;8217&semi;ve come to the right place for advice&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">This article looks at how to start a church from the ground up&period; Keep reading to discover insight into the process so that you can give your congregation the best possible place to worship God each week&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Go to a Christian University<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">First&comma; you need to get an education&period; After all&comma; preaching the Word of God is a serious responsibility&period; Thus you need a degree in religious studies&comma; theology&comma; or divinity&period; These degrees will provide a thorough overview of the Bible so that you&&num;8217&semi;ll be filled with knowledge and wisdom when you&&num;8217&semi;re ready to begin your ministry&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Get Preaching Experience<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Keep in mind that no one is born with the skills needed to be an effective preacher&period; That&&num;8217&semi;s why you need to give yourself time to gain experience in preparing a message and then delivering it to a large gathering&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">You might be surprised how hard this actually is&period; After all&comma; speaking for an hour or more at a time each week can be extremely intimidating and exhausting&period; The better you prepare before forming a church congregation of your own&comma; the more effective you will be as the shepherd of your flock&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Start Small<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Don&&num;8217&semi;t expect to lead a megachurch from the very start&period; Churches don&&num;8217&semi;t have thousands of members when the doors first open&period; In fact&comma; it typically takes many years to grow into a large congregation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">That&&num;8217&semi;s why it&&num;8217&semi;s so important to set reasonable goals and to minimize your expectations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The best strategy is to start by leading a small Bible study&comma; then expand and your congregation grows and your needs change&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Build a Congregation<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">It&&num;8217&semi;s important to remember that your church body will grow one member at a time&period; Even the biggest and most successful churches in the world still start out with huge numbers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Churches almost always have humble beginnings&period; First&comma; a preacher feels a calling to spread the Good News&period; Some start preaching on a street corner&comma; attracting a few interested listens&comma; and their congregation grows from there&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The key is to be patient and let the Lord lead the way to bigger and better things&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Name Your Church<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Once your congregation has reached a large enough size that you can actually begin identifying as a &&num;8220&semi;church&&num;8221&semi;&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s time to give it a name&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Naming a church body doesn&&num;8217&semi;t have to be complicated&comma; but there are a few considerations to keep mind&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">First&comma; many churches identify with a specific denomination such as baptist&comma; methodist&comma; or Episcopalian&comma; etc&period; These denominations follow a certain set of dogmas that are derived from scripture&period; Thus you might want to include the name of a denomination in the naming of your church&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">For example&comma; Free Will Baptist Church or First Methodist Church&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Or you could avoid attaching a specific denominational label and use something like Bible Believers Church or New Covenant Fellowship&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The key is to give the church a name that best projects the identity of the congregation as a whole&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Consult a Lawyer<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Starting a formal church is a big deal&period; Keep in mind that it&&num;8217&semi;s not a simple matter of gathering once or more a week and worshipping together&period; There are also plenty of legalities to deal with&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">In fact&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s crucial to understand that you should never start a church without first getting proper legal counsel beforehand&period; This can save you a ton of headaches down the road&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;newsforpublic&period;com&sol;need-lawyer-non-profit&sol;">Pick a lawyer who specializes in non-profit<&sol;a> and tax-exempt status&period; They will likely charge a minimal fee and can check to make sure that your non-profit documents are in proper order&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">You&&num;8217&semi;ll also need church software from <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;iconcmo&period;com&sol;">Iconcmo&period;com<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Organize According to Tax-Exemption Rules<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">It&&num;8217&semi;s also important to educate yourself regarding tax-exemption rules for churches&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The IRS provides online training that will help when you&&num;8217&semi;re submitting your application for tax-exempt status&period; This training is extremely informative and will make the process much easier to understand&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Define Who You Feel Called to Reach<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Every church is different&period; This means that each church has a unique vision regarding who they feel called to reach&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Perhaps your congregation feels called to minister to the people of the innercity of your community&period; Or perhaps you feel that foreign missions should be your focus&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Defining your mission field will help you focus on how to organize your ministerial efforts&period; This is incredibly important because you&&num;8217&semi;ll have limited resources&comma; thus you can&&num;8217&semi;t afford to stretch your budget too thin&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Regardless of your chosen mission fields&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s crucial to get organized and to train the various age groups within your congregation to work together for the common cause&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Draft a Statement of Belief<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Your church&&num;8217&semi;s statement of belief should serve as the cornerstone of your mission&period; This is your statement of faith and should represent the central them of your calling&period; After all&comma; forming a church is no small matter&period; And the statement of belief is the way you define for yourselves and for the outside world exactly why you&&num;8217&semi;ve chosen to come together as a unified body of believers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Elect Deacons<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Every protestant church should have an elected board of deacons&period; These are considered the elders of the church&period; They are the decision-making body that makes all major decisions regarding significant issues&comma; including construction plans and sending members into the mission field&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The deacons are nominated by the congregation and then voted on by the entire church body&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>A Complete Guide for How to Start a Church<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Going into the ministry is a true commitment&period; It involved both faith and hard work&period; Fortunately&comma; this guide for how to start a church will make the journey a little easier&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Keep scrolling to find more great articles on our blog&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Hardik Patel

Hardik Patel is a Digital Marketing Consultant and professional Blogger. He has 16+ years experience in SEO, SMO, SEM, Online reputation management, Affiliated Marketing and Content Marketing.

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