Here's my goals for the year

Successful Church Plants

There are ten common factors that successful church plants share, according to the results of a study released by the Center for Missional Research, a division of the North American Mission Board. The following factors proved to be the best predictors for higher worship attendance, as reported by christianpost.com:

Location. Church plants that start in school facilities show a distinct advantage in term of visibility, parking and low costs. In the longer term, churches that meet in movie theaters also exhibit higher attendance.

Reaching children. Special children's events along with outreaches around holidays, and at other times, attract crowds and help churches sustain attendance.

Promotion of the church. Church plants with high attendance mail invitations for services, programs and events and to keep community awareness high.

Training new members. Successful church plants provide training and clearly communicate that the new members participate and find a place to serve.

Mandatory church covenant for new members. New members are required to sign a church covenant as a sign that they take their commitment to the church seriously.

Intentional financial stewardship. The pastors receive financial compensation as well as health insurance, allowing them time to focus on the church's growth and not their own basic needs.

The staff factor. The most successful church plants do not start out under-staffed and their planters are full-time. They have also assessed staff for their suitability and have multiple staff members from the start.

Not just focusing on their own needs. Successful church plants start at least one church within three years of their own plant and those who are sent out to start a new church are replaced and even more are added.

Building leadership. Church plants with higher attendance conduct leadership training, build their leadership base and delegate leadership roles to church members on an ongoing basis.

The achievement factor. Church planters have a vision of what God wants to do and remain focused on accomplishing that.

That sure sums it up. Now I've got a year to get to it...come along for the ride!