Practical Church

The number of songs you do in your services affects more things than you may think. Welcome to welcome to episode 37 of Practical Church Planting. Does it matter how many worship songs you do in a service? In this episode, we talk about how the number of songs you sing impacts who you are going to reach, what the desired goal of your services are, and who will even show up at your church? There is...

Following up with first-time guests is vitally important. This resource will make it easier. Welcome to welcome to episode 36 of Practical Church Planting. You can watch the episode below, or  subscribe to the podcast  and never miss an episode. There are many different methods and ways to follow up with first-time guests. In this episode, we talk about  Text In Church , which is the program we us...

Connecting college students to your church doesn't have to be a mystery. Welcome to welcome to episode 35 of Practical Church Planting. If you are near a college or university, you probably desire to impact those students with the Gospel. In this episode, we share five ways you connect with and involved college students in the life of your church. Here is what you can do to connect with more colle...

Did you know there are many free options of kids curriculum that you can use at your church? Welcome to welcome to episode 34 of Practical Church Planting. In this episode, we share four  free  options of kids ministry curriculum you can use at your church. We also discuss some tips and give advice about what to do when it comes to kids ministry in general. The four kids ministry curriculum we dis...

If you have a church service, you have to plan it. Here is a blueprint for how you can plan and prepare your services every week. Welcome to welcome to episode 33 of Practical Church Planting. In this episode, we share the service planning blueprint we currently use at New City Church. From how we create our sermons, pick our songs, add any creative elements, and work to avoid the "why didn't we t...

We all want to preach (and hear) clearer sermons. In this episode, we'll share a sermon template that will help you do just that. Welcome to welcome to episode 32 of Practical Church Planting. We all want sermons that are clear, applicable, and help us see who Jesus is. But it can be hard to do that every week with various Biblical texts and topics. In this episode, we share a sermon template we'v...

Insta-stories are a great way to share with people what is going on at your church. Here are five tips to make them even better. Welcome to welcome to episode 31 of Practical Church Planting. Insta-stories area great tool for people to see what is happening at your church and for you to give people a sense of what it would be like for them to join you. In this episode, we share five tips that you...

Service run-throughs can help your service(s) run way smoother. Welcome to welcome to episode 30 of Practical Church Planting. Going over your service before it's actually time for your service is a great way to get out the kinks, get everyone on the same page, and eliminate many of the surprises that could have happened during your service that you didn't expect beforehand. Even if you don't thin...

There are two main reasons often given as to why churches get stuck at certain growth barriers. We share a third that may be hard to hear. Welcome to welcome to episode 29 of Practical Church Planting. As churches grow, there are certain times and growth barriers that they can get stuck on. Why do churches get stuck? Two main reasons are often given; they need to create better systems and process,...

Longer sermons aren't somehow better simply because they are longer. In fact, it could have the opposite effect. Welcome to welcome to episode 28 of Practical Church Planting. Longer sermons aren't more spiritual or better just because they are longer. In fact, going too long can actually hurt what you are hoping to accomplish. In this episode, we share 3 benefits of shortening your sermon. It kee...

Church announcements aren't anyone's favorite. But they don't have to be awful either. Welcome to welcome to episode 27 of Practical Church Planting. Church announcements don't have to be the worst thing in the world. In this episode, share 4 tips to help your announcement slot go better during your services. Here are the tips we share: Keep them short Have 2-3 announcements max The 80% rule Don't...

Having information new visitors need most on the homepage of your website is vitally important. Welcome to welcome to episode 26 of Practical Church Planting. The people who visit your website the most are not the people in your church, it is people interested in visiting your church. Because of that, your homepage needs to have information that they need the most right away. Here are the three th...

Live streaming your services can actually have the opposite effect of what you are going for. Welcome to welcome to episode 25 of Practical Church Planting. There are good reasons to live stream a service, but we believe live streaming your services as a church plant can be and often is a bad thing. Why? Here are four reasons we discuss: Bad quality is bad for your church People aren't going to Fa...

Church planting should never be done alone. Let us a give you a few reasons why. Welcome to welcome to episode 24 of Practical Church Planting.  Church planting is hard. We all need help and encouragement along the way. In this episode, we share four reasons why you should join a church planting network and/or a denomination. Here are the reasons we discuss: Accountability Resources Having a Tribe...

Facebook Live is one way your church can connect and engage with more people. We've got some tips to help you utilize it more effectively. Welcome to welcome to episode 23 of Practical Church Planting. If you want to be more effective and engaging with Facebook Live, it takes more than winging it. In this episode we share 3 tips from what we have learned to help you utilize Facebook Live better. W...

Have a desire to plant churches but not be the lead planter? There is a (much needed) role for you to play. Welcome to welcome to episode 22 of Practical Church Planting.   It takes a lot of people with different talents and gifts to plant churches. In this episode we talk about how you can be involved in church planting even if you don't want to preach every week or be the main visionary. There i...

We all want to preach better sermons. Here are 6 tips to help us do just that. Welcome to welcome to episode 21 of Practical Church Planting. Here are the 6 things we discuss to help you preach better sermons: Know what you are going to say Practice what you are going to say out loud Too short is better than too long Don't start with a welcome Know your bottom line No one cares how much you know u...

Want to reach more people with engaging content? In this episode we give you three resources to that will help your church do just that. Welcome to welcome to episode 20 of Practical Church Planting. It can be confusing and overwhelming trying to navigate how to communicate clearly what is going on in your church and also trying to stay on top of what it looks like to engage people online. When ev...

Sermon based small groups are a great way to run your groups. Here's how you can do them. Welcome to welcome to episode 19 of Practical Church Planting. You can watch the episode below, or  subscribe to the podcast  and never miss an episode. In this episode, we talk about how to do sermon based small groups and why they are so helpful for your church. We talk about: How to make it easy for people...

You're starting the process of planting a church. That's great! Here's why you shouldn't start Sunday gatherings right away. Welcome to welcome to episode 18 of Practical Church Planting. When you are in the early stages of raising money, building a team, and sharing your vision, there is also a desire to start meeting on Sundays right away. We would caution against that. We explain why in this ep...

Engaging content is king. We've got two strategies you can implement this week on Facebook to help your church be more engaging. Welcome to welcome to episode 17 of Practical Church Planting. Consistent, engaging content is crucial to helping your church reach new people. In this episode, we share our two most engaging posts (in terms of likes, comments, and shares) that we post  every week  on Fa...

We all want to be more productive. The good news? There is something you can do that will help do just that. Welcome to welcome to episode 16 of Practical Church Planting. Ministry can be hard and unpredictable. However, it can be at least a little bit more predictable than we think. In this episode, we talk about what a block calendar is and how to use it. Here are the benefits and "how-tos" that...

First time guests are great, but what can we do to connect with them and significantly increase the likelihood they will return? Welcome to welcome to episode 15 of Practical Church Planting. Weekly tours of your meeting space following your service(s) is a fun and great way to connect with first-time guests. In this episode, we explain why that's the case, and how to do it. We discuss how: It's u...

What if you could impact your community in a big way every month without having to increase your budget? You can, with the $5 Give Club. Welcome to welcome to episode 14 of Practical Church Planting. The $5 Give Club is a great monthly outreach idea that doesn't cost the church any extra money and is something your people will love to get behind. In this episode, we share what it is, why you shoul...

We all want to grow our small groups ministries (whatever you may call them), however, we believe multiplying groups is not the best option. Welcome to welcome to episode 13 of Practical Church Planting. It sounds counter-intuitive and seems to go against most of the advice we hear about small groups, but in this episode, we give you 5 reasons why multiplying small groups may not be the best thing...