5 Hats every Church Planter Must Wear

When it comes to church planting, a church planter has to be ready to wear many hats.  Each hat requires a different skill set.  Here are 5 hats I think every church planter has to become comfortable in wearing from time to time.

1. Architect:

As a church planter you are also the cultural architect.  What does this mean?  The Church Planter is the primary leader when it comes to creating vision and the culture of the church.  And the thing about culture is that "culture" is the most significant factor of any organization.  It will always trump your vision and your mission.  So pay close attention to the culture that you are creating.

2. Salesman:

To be a good salesman you must bleed vision and be able to communicate well.  Two keys to being a good salesmen for your church is to communicate with passion and to be willing to make the hard ask.  Before setting out to sell the product...in the case of the church its the vision and mission of Jesus, ask yourself these questions...

- Why would someone come to our church?

- What makes us different?  What is our niche in the community?

3. Principal:

The Principal is the chief executor of a school.  Similarly, the church planter must become the enforcer...the person that ultimately makes sure that the details are carried out.  This requires attention to detail and specifically the systems of how everything operates.  To do this well...recruit and cultivate others to help in the details.  This job is way to big for one person to do.

4. Marketer:

Early on especially the church planter has to be focused on getting your name out there!  There are all kinds of methods to do this well, for instance: the web, personal networks, mailers, door hangers, facebook, blog, etc.  The list goes on and on and feel free to be creative.  In our early days we had people dress up as movie characters and pass out information about the new church at the movies.

5. Fundraiser:

New endeavors require greater resources.  You will need money to get a church up and running.  The larger the launch the greater the resources needed.  My estimate is for a large launch, a grand opening of over 300 people, you will need to raise somewhere around $300,000.  And this figure doesn't include the money needed to pay for multiple staff.  In the end, money is important however, success is not about the money!