This plan has built into it a number of assumptions. In addition to the Core Values already listed, we are assuming the following:
- The world and the church will mutually benefit from the creation of more New Church societies, and in fact will benefit more from many medium-sized congregations than from just a few large ones;
- Austin, Texas is rich soil for church launching in general and for the New Church in particular;
- The Rev. Glenn McKinley Frazier (a.k.a. “Mac”) is the right person to lead this project;
- Church launching, using the crowd-to-core model of church growth, has advantages over church planting, using the core-to-crowd approach;
- Many church starts jeopardize their ability to be financially independent, and thus their ability to grow, by getting into real estate ownership too soon;
- Effective evangelism involves honest marketing, and effective marketing strives to demonstrate how a brand is the leader in its own unique category, not a latecomer in an already established category; and
- Best practices from the old Christian church growth world are a useful starting point for making projections and setting benchmarks, but it must be remembered that our unique theology may prove to invalidate some of them as we go forward.
The following is additional rationale behind some of these assumptions.
[Excerpted from the New Way Church Launch Plan. Yesterday we wrapped up the first section (“The Point”), and today we begin the second section, “Rationale”. Next week we continue with the Rationale section, with “More Societies“, “Austin, Texas”, “Mac Frazier”, “Church Systems”, and “Crowd to Core”. If this is interesting to you, please post a comment. And if you know someone else who might have something useful to contribute, invite them into the conversation, too!]