How to Lead Effective Church Planting Interest Meetings

How do you hold church planting interest meetings that are informative, edifying, and kingdom-oriented?

This question was before me as I planned four interest meetings for Heritage Baptist Church. In the process, I experienced how these meetings can do far more than compel people to join; they’re also occasions to model trust in the Lord, obedience to God’s Word, and love for the people of God.

Interest Meetings Should Inform

If you’re planning interest meetings because you hope to plant a church, prioritize being forthright with those who attend. Give opportunities for attendees to ask questions. Update them on a meeting location, website, giving, and covenanting date. We organized a tentative roadmap that outlined each of our meetings and the anticipated date we would form the new congregation. These details helped people who were interested to know what was coming and to mark their calendars.

But more important than being up front about the process is being clear about the beliefs of the church.

• How will someone become a member?
• What statement of faith will the church hold?
• Will the church have a covenant, and why?
• How do the pastors understand the relationship between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility?
• What translation will the pastors preach from?
• Will there be a plurality of pastors?
• How will the Lord’s Day gatherings be organized?
• What is the church’s understanding of baptism and membership?
• Does the church have a conviction about the frequency of the Lord’s Supper?
• How will the church participate in the Great Commission?
• What is the church’s view on complementarianism?
• Will the church have multiple services?
• What is the church’s view of the regulative principle?
• How are elders distinguished from deacons?
• What authority do elders and deacons have, and how does that authority relate to the congregation’s authority?
• Will the church cooperate in a denomination?

You should answer questions like these at your interest meetings. Being clear on convictions will serve those who attend the meetings and even more so those who join your church.

Interest Meetings Should Edify

Just like churches are edified on Sundays by singing, praying, and reading God’s Word, so too can those who attend interest meetings be edified by doing the same. Therefore, in addition to working through the detailed plan for planting, sing, pray, and read God’s Word in your meeting! We began each interest meeting with reading Scripture and singing a hymn.^{11 .} Consider reading passages such as Psalm 127:1–2; Matthew 9:35–38; 16:13–20; and Ephesians 3:20–21.

Similarly, I would encourage interest meetings to include not only information but instruction. First, offering a short time of instruction will give people a sense of your ability to teach. This will help them decide if they could see themselves sitting under your teaching as a member of your church. Second, people need more than just logistics to make a church transition. They need to have confidence that the theological ground of the church is solid. Third, instruction from God’s Word will stir love for the Lord, even if people are simply there for support.

A quick story: there’s an older, godly family in our sending congregation who attended our interest meetings. This family had been members of our sending church since before membership classes were on offer. By focusing the interest meetings partially on teaching, this family benefited from how the Bible connects things like the gospel, the church, and the ordinances. The family ended up learning a lot about how and why their church was the way it was!

Interest Meetings Should Be Kingdom-Minded

Although we focused our interest meetings on the values of our church plant, we clarified that the most important things about our church are what we hold in common with every true church. What this means is that we shouldn’t assume that it’s best for every attendee to leave their church and come with us. If a sending church is healthy, you may find yourself needing to tell people that it may actually be best for them to stay.

Church planting is a test of trust in the Lord and his sovereign providence. Planters need to be ready and willing not only to hear that people are going to stay at their churches, but at times, to encourage them to stay for a variety of reasons. You should not plunder the Israelites as you start your church.

Similarly, you may end up recommending to an attendee another church closer to where someone lives even though your plant would benefit from them driving across town to join with you. At the end of the day, your interest meetings should be about more than just your church—they should be about the spiritual good of each person attending even if that good is to be pursued somewhere else.

Strive to be kingdom-minded in your interest meetings and private interactions. You want your sending church (and other congregations) to flourish. Pray for the Lord to do that. When it becomes apparent that prospective members are in a great position—theologically, geographically—to be founding members of your church, tell them plainly that you would love to have them and are praying they will consider it. Offer to meet with them for further conversation. Pastor them with their spiritual good in mind, but seek first the kingdom.

Conclusion

Interest meetings are an important, albeit brief, season of seeing a new congregation begin to form. Be thoughtful about what information is most informative, edifying, and kingdom-oriented. Come to these meetings expectantly, but wait on the Lord. Some of the people you’re praying will plant with you won’t join. But Lord willing, some will. Enjoy the journey of walking with God through the unknowns.