There’s a famous saying that leaders are only as good as the team they build around them. This is something that ARC churches’ Executive Director Dino Rizzo and Pastor Chad Veach of Zoe Church believe in dearly.
As two experienced pastors and church leaders, they know how challenging launching a new church can be for pastors—even when doing so with the guidance, help, and support of an organization such as the Association of Related Churches (ARC). That’s why both Rizzo and Veach agree that if you want to build a sustainable, thriving church, it’s essential to build a strong church planting team around you.
Below are some tips on how you can do exactly that.
Don’t Force a Team
Chad Veach can’t emphasize enough how important it is for pastors of ARC churches to build a strong planting team.
“I think if you build a great team, you can do anything,” he says.
At the same time, Veach believes that church leaders shouldn’t force building a team. When he and his wife Julie moved from Seattle to Los Angeles after being called by God to start a church with the Association of Related Churches, he didn’t reach out to people and ask them to join him.
“I felt like God told me, ‘Do not invite anyone to move to LA with you,’” he says. “So, we didn’t do any invitations. We just said, ‘We’re moving to LA to start a church.’”
Soon after, 30 people ended up moving with them to help start Veach’s joint church with the Association of Related Churches. “God started recruiting for us,” he says.
In other words, God will help pastors of ARC churches determine who the members of their church planting team will be. And sometimes, those people will not be who you expected.
Build Strength at the Start
Chad Veach says he built his leadership team by meeting consistently every week for nine months before the official launch of his church. At first, these meetings took place at his house—with around 85 people attending.
Soon, they rented a church nearby. Every Tuesday night, consistently, Veach and the attendees of his meetings discussed the church they were going to build. Eventually, they had sign-ups for teams that people wanted to serve on.
When they officially launched their church with the Association of Related Churches, they did so in a club on Sunset Boulevard. But after just one meeting on a Tuesday night there, the owner of the property kicked them out—because 1,200 people had shown up.
“I think that the strength of our start really came from meeting every Tuesday night,” Chad Veach says.
For other leaders of ARC churches, the takeaway here is this: Well before the official launch, meeting and discussing the launch with future members of the church on a consistent basis will help build the base of your ministry.
Pray and Give
Chad Veach and Dino Rizzo both believe heavily in praying and giving. These are key tenets of their churches, and they suggest that all leaders of ARC churches adopt them as well.
“The gates that you swing out to your city—one is prayer to get the mind of the Lord,” Dino Rizzo says, “and the other is generosity. You can get those gates working together.”
To do this, though, all leaders of ARC churches need a good team around them—people who will help spread the word of the Lord, pray, and serve others in the community.
About the Association of Related Churches (ARC)
The Association of Related Churches (ARC) represents a collaborative network comprising independent congregations from various denominations, networks, and backgrounds. Its primary mission is to provide essential support and resources to church planters and pastors, enabling them to effectively share the teachings of Jesus Christ. ARC’s operational approach revolves around empowering and equipping church leaders, thus helping them foster the widespread dissemination of Christ’s life-changing message. Established in 2000, the Association of Related Churches has evolved into a worldwide entity and has played a pivotal role in facilitating the establishment of over 1,000 new churches globally.
