NMS experiences with Congregation Planting in Europe

Mary S. Rakotovao

Magne Mølster

Sven E. Skjold

Introduction

NMS has worked with Church Planting or “planting congregations” since the organization’s beginning in 1842.

At that time, we did not use the expression “planting congregations” but new congregations were formed as a result of the work of the missionaries and their associates. Gradually, “planting congregations”, or “Church Planting”, has become a more common term to describe the process of starting a completely new congregation. We will use the expression “planting congregations”, and not “church planting” here, even though “church planting” is the most commonly used expression internationally. We choose the term “planting congregations” to clarify that this takes place within an established national church.

For the past 25 – 30 years, NMS has been active in planting congregations in four European countries; Norway, Estonia, France, and England (and Croatia). Some projects within this thematic area have not been planting congregations, but more renewing congregations, which we will further refer to as Congregational renewal. During the work on this booklet, we have drawn from our experiences in NMS in the area of planting and developing congregations, particularly from the projects that the authors themselves have followed up.

This booklet is based on the authors’ experiences, and most of the examples we highlight will be from the congregation of Créteil in France and that of Saku in Estonia, but we will also include other examples. This leaflet is not an academic booklet, but a document based on personal experiences. In 2023, NMS conducted an academic evaluation of four congregations which were planted, two in Estonia and two in France. We hope that this booklet can be a good and practical supplement to the evaluation.

We have divided the work of church planting into three phases, the preparation phase, the planting phase, and the operational phase. These phases merge into each other, and much of what we have written could have been placed in all three phases. However, we have chosen to keep the distinction between these three phases in order to draw attention to the fact that there is a slightly different focus in each phase, depending on where one is in the life cycle of the project or the congregation.

NMS has also been involved in some unsuccessful church planting projects. We are not afraid of failure, or of having to give up after a while. To succeed, one must take chances, and it is natural that we do not always succeed in achieving our goal. At the same time, we know that it can be painful when a project does not succeed for those who have been personally invested it. Therefore, we want to do everything we can to succeed, and at the same time, continue to take chances.

Mustamäe, Estonia

Presentation of the authors

We are three pastors who have worked on this document. We have all been active in planting congregations, two of us as church planters and one as a professional advisor from NMS’ administrative side.

Here is a small presentation of us including the relevant experience that each of us brings to this document:

Mary S. Rakotovao is a pastor in the United Protestant Church of France, EPUdF. She has been a missionary pastor in France, sent by NMS, since 1990. She worked with church renewal in Pontault-Combault between 1993 and 2009. From 2009 to 2013, Mary worked with promoting different types of worship services in several congregations (church renewal). From 2014 to 2022, she planted the new congregation in Créteil together with her husband, Rafi. From 2022, she has been involved in revitalizing the congregation of Champigny sur Marne, together with Rafi. Mary has also been an advisor for NMS for the student and young adult project in Lyon, Mission JEEPP.

Magne Mølster is currently a missionary pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Estonia, EELK, sent out by NMS. He has been there since 2011 with his wife, Ave. In the beginning, he worked partly in NMS’ congregational planting project in Mustamäe and partly in Saku. Since 2013, he and Ave have been fully engaged in planting the congregation in Saku together with the others in the planting team. Magne has also worked as a teacher at Sunnfjord Folk High School (2002-2005) and has been a youth pastor in Lunde and Flåbygd parish in the Church of Norway (Dnk) (2006-2011).

Sven E. Skjold has been a missionary pastor for NMS in Madagascar and has helped establish new congregations there together with local church planters. He has experience as a youth pastor and substitute pastor in Dnk. From 2014, he has, in various roles, had professional responsibility for church planting in Europe for NMS’ administration. He has followed up the following projects administratively: France: Créteil congregation, planting a congregation. Champigny congregation, congregational renewal. Pertuis/Lourmarin congregations, congregational renewal. Mission JEEPP, Young Adults Assembly in Lyon and Nice, planting of fellowships. Estonia: Mustamäe Maria Magdalena parish, planting a congregation. Saku, St. Thomas Parish, planting a congregation. Norway: Spikkestad congregation, planting a congregation. Tromsø International Church, planting a congregation. Rønvik parish, planting a youth church. Ukirke, Stavanger, planting a youth church. Oslo International Congregation, planting a congregation. Ræge, Christian fellowship among local Thai, fellowship building. England: Keswick, planting a congregation. West Carlisle, planting a congregation.

Créteil, Paris

Goal

The goal of a church planting project is to have a vibrant congregation that has both spiritual and financial sustainability.

A vibrant congregation is a congregation that grows. A congregation will usually stop growing in number when it reaches a certain size, often about 150 – 200 active members. We believe that a congregation that has reached this level can still be vibrant. Then we can talk about growing in maturity, but also that the congregation continues to be turned towards and concerned with reaching people outside of the congregation. A congregation can also have other types of growth, such as incarnational growth (i.e. growth in its imprint in the local community), or growth which is shown by more people being able to use their gifts. Lastly, we think that a vibrant church baptizes and sends out disciples.

Some Biblical perspectives on planting congregations

The planting of congregations is not a goal in itself. Church planting is a means for God’s mission, a means for God’s love to be received and passed on.

As disciples of Jesus, we are sent out in order to pass on what we ourselves have received (John 20:21). When we want to start a new congregation or encourage growth in an existing congregation, it is so that even more people will be touched by this love which we ourselves have received.

A congregation should be the embodiment of the Gospel and the love of Christ in a specific place or context. Every Christian is a bearer of the

Gospel, or to put it another way; we are clay vessels in which treasure is laid (2 Corinthians 4:7). It is natural for Christians to seek to share the Word and the Sacraments. Christians have done so since the beginning (Acts 2:42-44). The congregation is the fellowship in an area or among a group where we Christians seek together to share the Word and the Sacraments and should be the incarnation of the Gospel there. When the congregation shares the Word and the Sacraments, it will also be visible to other people in the area. Thus, the congregation is the incarnation of, not only the Gospel, but also of Christ himself. The congregation is the body of Christ.

We can read in the book of Acts and in Paul’s letters about how Paul worked as a missionary. Paul planted congregations in many of the cities where he served as a missionary. We believe that the planting of congregations is an effective tool for new people to be touched by Jesus’ love, even where there are already active churches.

Service in Saku Church

Preparation phase

Dreams and visions

Every church planting project begins with a dream, a vision. Someone sees a possibility, shares it with others, and with God’s guidance, the project moves forward.

In the Créteil church planting project, the dream began many years ago, at the end of the 1950’s. The population of Créteil was supposed to grow enormously in the years to come to become one of the largest cities in the eastern suburbs of Paris. The regional Protestant church raised funds and bought a large house in Créteil in 1960. The goal was to plant a congregation in this growing suburb.

The first attempt during the 1960’s did not survive. Neither did the second attempt during the 1990’s. In 2014, the United Protestant Church of France (EPUdF) asked NMS to send a missionary couple to Créteil to try a third time. In May of 2018, the Créteil church plant became a member congregation of EPUdF. The dream had become reality.

There were dreams in Estonia too. The Christian work in Saku began in 1994, and within four years there were already clear visions of establishing an independent congregation and building a church building. The visions became realities, but it took longer than initially expected. The Saku congregation was founded in 2013, and the building of a church began in 2019. The vision was not limited to just the establishment of an independent congregation. Several vision evenings were arranged. Mainly in preparation for the formation of the congregation, with a spotlight on topics such as the congregation’s values, vision and slogan, and dreams for the future. Since the Saku congregation was still quite small at that time, it was largely successful in bringing the volunteer workers together around these visions. The vision and values were occasionally highlighted in the sermons.

Prayer

If prayer is already a natural part of the life of a new project even before a congregation is planted, we believe it is easier to create a culture where prayer has a natural place in the life of the church also in later phases. It can be easy to not give the priority to prayer due to time pressure, or to forget about it due to many other important matters.

Image: Jonas Jacobsson

We believe that planting congregations is a Biblical way of working. This is what the apostles and the first disciples did, as we can read in the New Testament (Acts 2:42ff; 11:19ff; 14:21-23; Titus 1:5), and this is how generations of Christians have worked to spread the kingdom of God on earth. At the same time, we do not know what God’s thoughts are for the individual planting project. When is the time to get started, who should be called to the various ministries in such a project, where is the best place to focus, what choices to make? We see it as especially important to be responsive to God’s guidance in such work. This applies throughout the entire process beginning with the vision and the initial planning, throughout the planting phase and into the operational phase, and in the further life of the congregation. Prayer and work follow each other all the way.

Jesus was constantly in prayer to his Father, sometimes alone, and sometimes together with his disciples (Luke 6:16; Luke 9:28). We believe that both of these forms of prayer have a natural place in a church planting project. There is the prayer of the individual project leader and each church member individually, as well as the prayer of the fellowship. Within NMS’ church planting work, the participation of various Norwegian missionary groups and churches also plays a key role.

Prayer can have many distinct functions, some of which are mentioned above. One function of prayer that is not mentioned however is how it affects those who pray. Those who pray must be open to being changed by God or called by God. The person praying opens up to God about a specific prayer topic and will therefore be influenced by what he or she prays for. Within some church planting projects, we have seen that certain people have prayed for years for a congregation to be established in a certain place. Then when a possible project is initiated, faith sees it as an answer to those prayers. In other projects, a prayer group was formed only when the project began to take shape.

It is difficult to measure the value of prayer against other tools such as individual efforts, money, buildings, leaders, and other aspects of church planting work. But we believe that prayer is important.

Examples of the role of prayer:

Those who have been involved in planting the congregation in Saku are convinced that prayer has played a decisive role. This is mainly due to one of the church members who was a central figure in the congregation’s prayer groups for many years. The elderly congregation members, who at that time constituted the core group in Saku’s pre-congregational work, gathered in two prayer groups and met several times a week. They prayed for an independent congregation in Saku, for a church building and that more people would meet Christ. They also prayed that they would one day have their own pastor and church musician. They eventually received everything they asked for.

Many outside of Saku have also prayed for the work, in Norway, in Finland and elsewhere.

There have been many stages to the work, which have come in serendipitous ways. Particularly striking was the sum of 300 000 euros which was transferred to the church building fund in 2018 due to the resolution of a long-standing discussion between the State and the Church regarding compensation for confiscated church properties during the Soviet era. This took place exactly at the time where the church building foundation had begun moving ahead with its own project manager and was mentally prepared to start the construction of a new church building.

“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:20)

In Créteil, the missionaries began with a prayer group in 2014, before starting up any other activities. The mission for this group was to pray for the church planting project, to pray for each other, and to pray for those who requested prayer for specific subjects but could not participate in the group. This group began with weekly meetings and still meets today.

The planting of a congregation in Mustamäe started small with fellowship meetings in a cramped apartment in one of the many high-rise buildings

in that part of Tallinn. There was prayer and sharing, and at one point the group was large enough to invite people to public worship services. Since they did not have their own premises at the time, they were allowed to use the parish facilities of another congregation in Tallinn (Nõmme Rahu church). Since then, prayer, and particularly prayer using the Taizé model, has been a permanent and important part of the congregation’s work and identity.

Local initiatives

In NMS we have been concerned that the initiative for a new project should come from the local partner, be it from the national, regional, or local level.

We do not want the planting of new congregations to be seen as a criticism of those that already exist, or to come as a result of divisions or disagreements.

In the Créteil church planting project, local initiatives played an especially vital role. As already explained in the section « Dreams and visions », at the end of the 1950’s, Protestant believers lived in Créteil, but they were going to the neighbouring parish of Charenton because there was no church building in Créteil. They had a dream, to plant a congregation in Créteil. The vision started locally before being supported on a regional and national level. It was this same vision with some of the same people which made it possible for the Protestant believers in Créteil to persevere despite many difficulties to move forward. In May of 2018, when the Créteil church plant finally became, for the first time ever, a member congregation of EPUdF, several of the founding members were older people who had lived their whole lives in Créteil and had been a part of the first two attempts. Truly, without local initiatives and perseverance during the past 60 years, it would have been impossible for the church plant to finally become a member congregation of EPUdF.

National initiatives and involvement

Sometimes it is the national level that takes the first initiative for the planting of a new congregation. There may be strategic reasons for choosing a particular location. Other times it is a combination of national, regional, and local initiatives.

The planting of a congregation in Mustamäe, Estonia, can be called a regional initiative. One of the largest churches in Estonia, the Johannescongregation, where the dean himself was the parish pastor, sent some of its people to Mustamäe to plant a church. NMS contributed financially, and a deacon/pastor was hired. The establishment of churches in densely populated areas, where there are no Lutheran congregations or church buildings, is a clearly stated goal of the EELK mission strategy, and the planting of a congregation in Mustamäe is to some extent an example of an initiative “from above” or from the outside.

In the planting of a congregation in Saku, Estonia, the regional level played in a comparable way a significant role. The dean and his congregation, two miles further south, led the missionary work in Saku from the very beginning in 1994. Later, the EELK mission centre became involved. In cooperation with the Finnish missionary organization SLEY, a Finnish missionary couple was sent to Saku in 2007, and when the missionaries returned home in early 2011, the mission centre invited missionaries from its Norwegian partner, NMS. The mission centre and

Mustamäe, Estonia

missionaries from its Norwegian partner, NMS. The mission centre and the dean, who was also the parish pastor in the mother congregation, contributed to a vision group in 2012 that paved the way for the founding of the congregation in Saku in 2013. At the same time, it must be clarified that even though the beginning of the work in Saku was initiated from outside, the initiative to invite NMS in and establish an independent congregation in 2013 was primarily local.

Becoming an independent congregation gives more freedom – and responsibility. In both Saku and Mustamäe, this meant in practice that the dean/mother congregation and the mission centre began to take a less key role than earlier. This was natural – the desire to become an independent congregation being also related to the desire to have more freedom and responsibility. To varying degrees, however, the dean/mother congregation, the mission centre, and the church leadership (Consistory) have played a role in the work going forward. Such involvement has been positive for the projects and has also been important for NMS. It is essential that the congregation is not left to its own devices as soon as it is officially founded as an independent legal entity, while it is still small and vulnerable, both in terms of members, work, and finances. The role of the church leadership has been important, especially regarding the construction of church buildings in Saku and Mustamäe.

NMS has experience that it is important to have an agreement with the deans and the church leadership in advance which states that the goal of the mission project from NMS’ side is to found independent, vibrant congregations. In Saku, the work had existed for almost 20 years before a congregation was established, and some of the church planters were members of the mother church. Making it clear early in the process that planting a new congregation is the goal, and that it may involve a sacrifice for the mother church (which may lose some members and regular donors), is essential for a successful church planting project.

The role of NMS in this phase

NMS does not usually take the initiative for a project. This also applies to projects for planting congregations.

The reason for this reluctance is, in the first place, because NMS wants there to be local ownership before embarking on such an extensive project. Secondly, NMS wants the national leadership of the church to also want the project.

Nevertheless, it is natural for NMS to be involved in the preparatory phase. This may be by NMS requesting relevant projects from the church leadership. Or communicating that the time is approaching when there will be funds available for such a project, or that there are some relevant missionaries who have the qualities to work as church planters. The church leadership can then use its network of contacts to look for possible projects, for example in places where there are already some people on the local level who are motivated and then initiate a process for a possible new project.

If it is appropriate to deploy missionaries in a church planting project, NMS will need some time, first to get funding for the missionaries approved, then to recruit (see separate section on this). It will normally take at least a year and a half from the time when there is a request for a missionary to the starting point for the project. This also applies to projects which do not have a missionary. The application deadline is in August of the year before the project starts, and the project begins in January of the following year at the earliest.

When there is an initiative for a new church planting project, NMS would like to be connected to it as early as possible.

This will make the work of designing the project easier. If the initiative comes from a local congregation or synod/diocese, it is advisable that they first contact the national level of their church and request advice from

NMS on preparing an application for the new project.

NMS would like the local group to work together with the central church leadership on goals and strategy for the congregation, dreams and visions, thoughts on how to be a missional congregation in the local context, forming steering groups and working groups, thoughts on how to become an independent congregation and take financial responsibility, etc. NMS is happy to provide advice in preparing the project.

NMS wants the project to be desired locally and approved centrally in the church. This does not mean that there cannot be resistance to the project. We have often experienced this, especially in advance. It is important to check out what the resistance is about, often it is simply a misunderstanding of what church planting is and will change once the project is underway. Sometimes there may be fear of losing members from other congregations, e.g. the parent congregation or a neighbouring congregation, or there may be envy. We must also be prepared for the fact that the resistance may have rational and real reasons, and then it is important to consider whether we should change the project description and plans in advance, so that the project does not fail. If we believe that non-traditional methods are important in mission work, it is important that this is well communicated to the responsible dean/ bishop, etc. - to avoid conflict. Regardless of the reason, it is important to communicate well with those who express resistance. This will provide useful information to the church planting team and church leadership and facilitate effective communication with them and may sometimes lead to making necessary changes to the project.

Recruiting and sending out missionaries

The recruitment process in NMS is not that long. There is a regular job advertisement with a subsequent interview and then employment.

It is admittedly more thorough when hiring married couples with children. It requires good knowledge of human resources to select the right candidates in such a short hiring process as we have in NMS. There is also a noticeably short training period after employment, which mainly focuses on internal knowledge of NMS and human resource matters. In addition, thorough training in the local language is provided, but there is not so much about contextual thinking or the relevant subject of church planting. However, NMS does make arrangements for a missionary working in church planting to receive professional training, with participation in the annual network conference for church development as a minimum.

As an alternative recruitment route, NMS also has the option of hiring someone after a period as an intern (formerly a one-year trainee) or Trainee. In the NMS Trainee program, a candidate enters into conditions similar to those of an intern and engages as a volunteer in a field over a certain period, either continuously or by several short stays. After the end of the Trainee period, it will be decided whether the candidate is the right person for the position, and the candidate will also have a better basis for knowing whether the position is suitable. There is no obligation to hire someone after a Trainee period, either for NMS or for the candidate. The Trainee program is best suited for students, as it is not paid with a salary, only supported financially.

The network for church development in Norway, which NMS organizes, has prepared a document called “Some Guidelines for finding a Church planter”. Some of the ideas below come from this document:

A church planter must have many of the qualities of a regular church leader, but some qualities are more important than others.

Be a visionary and be strategic. One must be able to formulate visions and constantly point back to the vision for the congregation or project. One must also have a certain understanding of the strategy, be able to follow a plan and to change it when necessary.

Have strong internal motivation. A church planter must tolerate adversity and not immediately succeeding. There may be a need to prove one’s worth by succeeding, but church planting is a long-term project that can have many setbacks. The church planter should be ready to work for at least five years after completing the period of language training.

Be spiritually and theologically sound. The church planter must be secure in his or her own spirituality, have an individual prayer life and be able to bring others together in common prayer. A balance with a good theological basis is also important. Church planting should be based on a desire to reach new people with faith, and not on frustration with existing congregations.

Have relational skills. Conflicts or friction will arise in a new project. There will also be many different opinions and thoughts about how to do things. A leader who can tolerate disagreement while still leading in one direction is important. Relational skills are also important for including new people, and inspiring others to reach new people.

Be able to build a team and equip leaders. This is related to the previous point but focuses even more on the importance of the pastor or the project manager not acting as “Superman” or “Superwoman.” The more the church members are actively missionally minded, the more people will be reached with the testimony about Jesus and about the fellowship offered. A church planter must be able to look for the talents of the individual and be able to release these talents into the congregation. Five spiritual gifts are especially important in church planting: Faith, leadership, evangelist, teacher, missionary. The church planter should have at least one of these gifts himself and look for the other gifts among his members. A church planter must build a team of volunteers

who see themselves as church planters together with him or her.

Have flexibility and the ability to manage change and cultural differences. Even if the church planter is in his or her own home country, he or she will cross cultural boundaries. One must have the ability to manage the stress that comes with this and be able to see what belongs to the local culture. The ability to think outside traditional thought patterns can be especially useful, especially if it is linked to flexibility.

Have knowledge of missional tools. A church planter should have some knowledge of tools such as cultural analysis or the ability to identify special target groups. He or she should also be able to use resources available to church planters, such as M4, Agenda1, Fokuskurs, Exponential, etc.

Be able to build relationships with people outside of the congregation. A church planter should have non-Christian contacts in the local community or be used to and willing to establish contacts with people outside of the congregation. He or she should also have thoughts about what such contacts can mean for the church planting project.

Have a missional mindset: A church planter must have a missional mindset. This means that one must be concerned with reaching people who are not used to the church and faith.

Have a multiplying mindset: A church planter is someone who makes disciples who in turn make disciples, etc. He or she is someone who gives responsibility to the members of the congregation and does not keep all the responsibility himself or herself. He or she is someone who looks for gifts in others.

Resources

When planting a congregation, it is important to think about and map out what resources you have available. “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?” (Luke 14:28).

Here, one can think of human resources, leaders, rooms, buildings, homes of active church members, contacts, possible partners, support groups (e.g. other congregations in the area), shared visions, etc. At the same time, not everything in a church planting process can be planned. “The Spirit (wind) blows where it will” (John 3:8a). Furthermore, Jesus says: “Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). This is the experience from the work in Saku. Of the things which have been successful, there has been planned work and strategies. Here one finds everything from prayer work and Bible focus to outreach events such as ski day, family day and the church building market. Based on recognized principles for church growth (Schwartz), there has been an emphasis on a breadth of work, considering different target groups such as different age groups, members, and nonmembers, etc.

Examples of things that could not be planned, but which have played a key role, are resource persons who have come into the congregation or financial blessings. Such resources provide opportunities that one could not initially foresee. There can also be half-planned things that have become much more important than one first thought. For example, when the youth worker in the congregation and his brother-in-law took a football to a stadium in the town to see if they could find someone to play

football with and share the gospel with, and suddenly a large group of boys appeared who were happy to meet for football another time as well. This was the start of the football mission in Saku.

In a planning phase, one needs to make plans for where the congregation will physically meet. Should a building be rented, should construction be planned, is there access to a building for free or for a small fee? It is common for congregations to have a strong desire to own their own building, but it is not at all necessary to begin or to run a congregation. We encourage you to think unconventionally, it is the people who are the congregation, not the building. At the same time, the contextual plays a significant role in relation to the place where the congregation gathers.

Other project support

A planting project can have several supporting partners.

We have experience from different forms of support for planting congregations. There may be individuals or congregations that support such a project, or there may also be organizations or church denominations. NMS is not against other partners being involved in projects we support, but we would like to mention some things that may be good to think about.

It is important that the different supporting partners know that others are also supporting the project and that they know how much support the different partners are each giving – and possibly also what specifically they are supporting. This does not apply to individuals who give random gifts; individuals can be categorized as a group and in this way retain their anonymity. When it comes to congregations, organizations, and the like, they should know about the support from the other organizations. It should be clear from the financial report who are the supporting organizations and how much each is giving. The application should also state the names of the organizations with which the planting

congregation is seeking cooperation if it is known in advance. We believe that there may be good reasons to seek support from different partners, but openness or transparency is important for mutual trust. The planting congregation should report to all organizations and congregations that have offered support, even those that did not explicitly request it.

In some cases, NMS has entered into tripartite cooperation agreements with another organization to support projects. These agreements give us the opportunity to combine the resources and expertise of several partners to achieve greater impact. The tripartite agreements mean that NMS and the external organization enter into an agreement with a partner about different responsibilities and support amounts (see more about this under the “Administration and leadership of the congregation” section).

Collaborating with several partners can be an advantage for the congregation, as it becomes less risky if for some reason all of the support expected is not actually received. NMS also sees it as a great advantage that there are several partners supporting a project for the same reason. In some cases, it can mean a bit more administration for the church, especially if there are different reporting and follow-up routines. There may be some challenges for NMS when Norwegian congregations want to support our project congregations outside of NMS channels. We have seen that some Norwegian congregations have been happy to have had a congregation project through NMS but have chosen to end the collaboration with NMS in order to give directly to the congregation in the partner country. We warn against this, both because it means that NMS loses the support needed to be able to continue contributing to such work, and thus the opportunity to be involved in new projects, but also because it makes the path to corruption2 shorter. Norwegian congregations often have no form of follow-up for what the money goes to like NMS has, and there is the risk of putting project managers in a demanding situation. NMS has no means to prevent this, but we warn against it.

NMS has zero tolerance for corruption in all its forms. We expect all 2 Corruption refers to the undue influence or abuse of power for personal gain, often at the expense of the rights of others or the good of society. This includes bribery, fraud, extortion, abuse of position, and any form of unfair or illegal distribution of funds or services

our partners and suppliers to share this commitment and cooperate to ensure that our collaboration maintains the highest standards of integrity and ethics. What the church plant can do to be transparent in cases where it receives support from Norwegian congregations and individuals is to send accounts to those who give large gifts and also to all the congregations that support the project. A church planter or any other person in the congregation who receives a monetary gift must always be accompanied by another person when support is given in cash. A receipt must be written for the donor which should include details of the amount, date, and purpose of the support. All support sent must be deposited into the congregation’s account, never into private bank accounts.

This is what NMS’ finance department writes about the advantage of giving gifts through NMS:

• Reduces the risk of corruption: Direct support without the necessary control and follow-up can increase the risk of corruption and misuse of funds. NMS has established procedures and mechanisms to monitor the use of funds and minimize this risk.

• Follow-up: Norwegian congregations do not always have the same follow-up procedures as NMS to ensure that the funds reach the purposes for which they are intended.

• Avoid double funding: With proper coordination and reporting, funds are used more efficiently and the risk of double funding of projects is reduced.

Contextual mapping

For NMS, contextuality is a key factor for a successful project. This is precisely why language training for missionaries is a focus.

Missionaries are often advised to begin their work by spending time “getting to know” the situation. And that is why the application forms for projects ask about possible local conflict factors.

Missionaries are often advised to begin their work by spending time “getting to know” the situation. And that is why the application forms for projects ask about possible local conflict factors.

Some examples of areas that need special vigilance with regard to contextuality can be ecumenical relations, geographical or economic factors (e.g. the salary level in the church as a whole if a local pastor is to be hired). Or it can be about church and liturgical traditions or what is permitted for a congregation to do in the public space. Topics related to age, gender and gender roles, the missionary’s lifestyle, and values, as well as general expectations of missionaries and church employees in the country in question also need attention.

In France, one needs to be aware that one is dealing with many cultures, e.g. minority cultures from Africa or other continents. Our experience is that in a French church plant there will be a majority of people with a minority background. This means that one must generally be culturally sensitive.

Contextual mapping is also about being aware as a missionary or counsellor of the culture one brings along with oneself. NMS is to help build the church of Christ – not Norwegian culture or the Norwegian Church abroad. However, situations may arise where a break with local, prevailing culture is in order – so that Biblical ideals can be better expressed. This may, for example, be about how national minorities are treated and referred to. A break with expected behaviour will often be easier to accept if it is a foreigner who does this. At the same time, the missionaries’ actions can create a precedent or help change inherited patterns of thought.

Parts of the contextual mapping can be advantageously done by the church planter after arriving at the location. It can be something the missionary works on while he is studying the language and continues alongside the church planting work. In Créteil, the missionaries were in place for six months to do this job. This shows how important it is for NMS to prioritize this part of the planning.

NMS missionaries receive some training prior to their deployment, but unfortunately, we are unable to do this as thoroughly as before, for financial reasons. We therefore want to have close follow-up along the way (see the above chapter, “Recruiting and sending out missionaries”).

Risk & opportunity assessment

A tool which can be used for church ministry assessment today is the SWOT analysis. The SWOT analysis was developed in the 1960s by a man named Albert S. Humphrey. Used worldwide, the SWOT analysis is a proven tool for assessing the health and viability of any church or department as well as for missionary projects such as church planting.

A SWOT analysis provides both pastors and other church leaders with stimulating strategic thinking to clarify the long-term effectiveness of any ministry area. When applied properly, it can serve two specific purposes:

1) Use the information obtained to provide a quick analysis of the congregation or missionary project.

2) This information can serve as a starting point to develop short- and long-term strategies. This is accomplished by identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of the ministry or project being put into place or evaluated.

A grid is used which looks like this. (The above example is taken from the project in the congregation of Champigny.)

Strengths are the characteristics, attitudes, actions, and activities that identify the congregation or project and are foundational to who one is, what one does, and what one wishes to accomplish. Strengths also include resources, skills, core values, and competencies that help realize the mission.

Weaknesses include factors that damage and hinder the congregation or project.

Opportunities refer to favourable conditions, trends, strategic moves, or previously untapped potential avenues of action that will enhance the congregation or project.

Threats are the factors that can directly or indirectly have a negative effect on the congregation or project. They can be internal or external factors and may or may not be beyond one’s control. It is important to make every effort to identify these threats and deal with them according to one’s abilities, resources, and opportunities.

The SWOT process is especially useful because evaluating missionary projects is easier to do when objectives are clear, and when desired outcomes have been determined beforehand.

The local team or church council involved in the project should do the SWOT analysis together with the project leaders. If a pilot or vision committee exists for the project, it should also be involved in this process.

The SWOT analysis is effective if it is done beforehand, that is to say before the project has begun. But it should be looked at and revised at least once a year during the entire project period.

Some elements used in the SWOT process can also be found in the templates of the NMS Project Applications and Yearly Reports. In particular, the questions concerning sustainability (possible challenges/ risks and how to deal with them), unexpected results (positive and negative) as well as conflict sensitivity and how to deal with it.

It is not enough to just do the SWOT analysis. It has to be applied for the duration of the project. Concerning the weaknesses and threats, it is also important to reflect beforehand on how to treat these weaknesses and threats if they would become hindering factors for the success of the project. For example, who will help the project leaders in case of conflict? Who will give financial help in case of difficulties? Who will send resource people when necessary? etc.

Dialogue with all parties involved

For NMS, it is important that all levels of the national church and external partners are involved and take their share of responsibility for the project to be successful. These levels and partners can be:

• A local church planting team; a group that can consist of motivated people on the local level, people from the mother church who are challenged to this task, missionaries, local pastors, or other paid employees.

• (Eventually a local church council)

• Mother church – the congregation which is the initiator and supporter of the project

• Regional level, bishop, or dean

• National level, archbishop, subject manager at head office, Mission Centre (Estonia) or similar

• NMS centrally with its leaders and advisors

• Other organizations or churches that support the project

When entering into a complex and long-term project such as church planting, it is important to agree on the responsibilities, rights, and obligations of the various parties. In some projects, we have therefore drawn up contracts in addition to the project application. The project application describes what one wants to do to plant a new church, goals, objectives, activities, etc. A contract describes the responsibilities between the national level, regional level, local level, NMS, and possibly other

partners. What meeting points should exist, and who is responsible for calling in and leading these meeting points? What steering groups should we have, and who is responsible? When NMS is the only external partner, the partnership agreement fulfils the role of this contract.

It is also important to inform nearby congregations of the project in a good way in order to minimize the chance of speculation and possible conflicts. This may be necessary under church law before a new congregation is formally established (Estonia). In many places, the concept of church planting is foreign, and this can create perceptions that this is something extreme and therefore threatening. We have had good experiences with missionaries and others from the church visiting the nearby congregations to provide information before starting a project.

It is important to have clear agreements in mind for the sustainability of the congregation in the future. If the preparatory work has not been done thoroughly, the different parties may have quite different expectations of what the project should be, who will take responsibility and for how long external support will last. Already in the planning phase, one must think about the time when NMS or other external partners will no longer provide financial support.

There should be written minutes of all the meetings which are held so that one can go back and see what has been agreed upon.

Forming a vision group

Before starting a church planting project, it is important to have a common vision, to know where one is going and how one plans to get there.

In the Créteil church planting project, the first step before deciding how to proceed was an initial period of observation of 6 months in Créteil, to get to know the place and the possibilities. During this period, a pilot group was formed and had its first meeting. This pilot group was composed of the two missionary pastors, the president of the Reformed region (Paris) of EPUdF, a representative from the regional council of the Lutheran region (Paris) of EPUdF, a French pastor with experience with missionary projects, the national secretary of the Coordination for Evangelisation and Training in EPUdF and the pastor of the neighbouring church of Charenton which was considered as the mother church of the church planting project in Créteil. This pilot group met each trimester for the duration of the project until the parish was established in 2018 with its own church council. The pilot group was essential in guiding the project forward, in supporting the missionary pastors and also in helping them in times of difficulty.

Gathering, Créteil

A missionary team was also formed to support the missionary pastors on the local level. This local team was composed of members of other congregations willing to give at least a year of their time and talents to support the Créteil church planting project on the local level. Two of the six members of this first local team came from the Charenton mother congregation, three from the large Le Marais parish in Paris and one from the Coordination for Evangelisation and Training in EPUdF. They all lived relatively close to Créteil geographically which gave them the possibility to be active on the local level and support the church plant in its local evangelisation efforts. This team could have easily integrated Ucrew members and would have certainly appreciated their presence, but EPUdF on a national level never sent any Ucrew members to Créteil. The local missionary team met every month and was also in contact with the pilot group.

The local missionary team had a relatively loose and flexible structure, functioning in some ways like a church council but without the heavy administration of a church council thus able to concentrate on the missionary aspect of the project.

This local team was present for four years and integrated three new members during this time. When the Créteil congregation was established in 2018, the majority of the members of the local missionary team became the members of the first church council of the new congregation. This was essential for the transition period from church plant to established congregation, to have people who knew the project well and who were missionary minded. This enabled the new congregation of Créteil to continue in much the same way as it had begun. The new church council wrote down its vision for the newly planted parish and was guided by this vision during the years which followed.

The congregation as a whole was a part of developing this vision which was thoroughly discussed and adjusted each year during the annual meetings.

The processes of church planting in Estonia have had many of the same characteristics. After several meetings of the vision group in Saku before the congregation was formed, the work on the vision continued also after the congregation was formally founded: the leaders of the congregation invited all church members to these meetings. The congregation’s vision and values were developed in the spring of 2014.

Planting Phase

Introduction

After the preparations have been made, the planting phase can begin. The missionaries or the local project leader have often been in place for a while already to take part in the planning, as we could read in the previous section.

In the planting phase, one works actively and purposefully to get people to take part in the life of the congregation. This can be through worship services, Bible groups and other activities, but it is also about people connecting with the Lord of the Church and becoming disciples, i.e. discipleship and mentoring. Here it is important that the entire congregation has an attitude which shows that they are witnesses to the Gospel in their lives.

Reaching out to those who do not identify themselves as Christians or who are not active in a congregation will be an important goal in this phase. In one of the chapters below, we give some of our ideas for making

ourselves visible and present outside the church building but also taking seriously what it means to be witnesses.

In this phase, it is good to start with a few people and then grow into a larger group. When the congregation grows, it is important to take the right steps to grow at the right pace. It can be tempting to hire more people because there are endless tasks. We warn against hiring more people than the congregation can afford to pay in the long run. Discovering the members’ spiritual gifts, abilities, and areas of service where they can serve with joy is important. This may be through necessary and motivating training - on one’s own, together with other congregations in the area, or at an educational institution (example: a course for Sunday school teachers in Estonia). If people can be challenged to take responsibility on a voluntary basis, we generally believe that is a healthier way to manage growth. This keeps the finances from becoming too tight, and it gives the members a strong sense of ownership of their congregation. Be careful not to wear out members so that they become exhausted.

Find out what this congregation’s distinctive character should be. What should the spirituality of this congregation be like, what culture do you want to characterize this congregation, etc.? Often the path is made as the

Tallin, Estonia

congregation moves forward.

If there is a culture of prayer in a congregation, it will be easier to help each other to prioritize and remember the role of prayer in the congregation.

Administration and leadership of the congregation

How will the new congregation be administered?

This is of course planned before this phase, but now it is put into action. Here, one must follow what is required by the national church and possibly the state. A church council may be necessary from the start. In any case, it may be good to agree on the division of responsibilities between diverse groups and individuals. Written agreements are best.

Who has the ultimate authority? This will usually be stated in the church’s legislation. At an annual meeting or congregational meeting, members will probably be elected to the church council or the elders’ council, and the accounts, annual report and budget will be approved here.

Who is responsible for the next congregational meeting? Is it a church council, or an action group (an action group can be a precursor to an elected church council, during the project period)?

Who has the daily responsibility? In addition to the elected bodies, the pastor or missionary may have administrative responsibility. In some congregations, a distinction is made between spiritual responsibility and administrative responsibility. In this case, it is important to clarify the boundaries between the different areas of responsibility. In some places, the pastor is automatically the general manager of the congregation. In any case, the person in question must relate to the board and the chairperson, who have the final say in matters of finance, etc. Sometimes

there is a conflict between planning and spirituality. How do you deal with this? Here it is important to know who has the final say, and how to resolve such disagreements.

In some projects, there has been a separate council consisting of the partners, the church’s national and regional level, and the project manager. This council can have different goals, but in the tripartite cooperation it has been important to agree on the support budget and revisions along the way. It has also been a valuable information channel, where all parties receive the same information about the progress of the project, or about human resource changes or other adaptations decided by the partners. If such a council exists, it is important to agree on its mandate. This type of council is not above the church council or the action group, but since parts of the project support are administered through a partner, it will have a significant impact. NMS does not wish to overrule the leaders of the project in such a council, but on the other hand, wants to ensure that its support is used in a correct way, and that the funds are used to the best possible benefit.

Some projects must also have a church building committee or foundation. This is especially true if the congregation wants to build, renovate or maintain a church building, or if there are tasks associated with the building that is rented.

It may be necessary to have both theological and technical/building expertise in such a committee. It is not certain that the person who is the church planter, probably the pastor, has good administrative skills. The pastor should be good at building up a congregation, but if he/she does not have good administrative skills, it may be possible to associate other people who have these skills. In some cases, this can be done by volunteers, in other places one may consider having a full- or part-time administrative position. Again, it is important to remember not to create more positions than the church can pay for after external support ends.

Church leadership is something different from administration. It is about getting the team to function, about pointing to the vision, inciting faith, and building the desired culture. This is the church planter’s responsibility as long as the project is in the planting phase. Spiritual leadership is also about ensuring that the team together seeks the Lord of the Church and about facilitating spiritual growth for each individual in the team.

A missional congregation

In the history of mission, it has been common to think that mission is linked to specific people, such as missionaries, or specific initiatives, such as an evangelizing waffle stand outside a convenience store. However, one can also use the essential term “missional congregation.” This refers to a holistic understanding of the congregation as sent out: to participate in God’s mission, Missio Dei, on all levels. Everything from the volunteers’ cleaning of the church room to the way newcomers are met, and the range of activities aimed at different people and age groups, church members and those outside of the church, is part of God’s sending – God’s mission – in this place. At the same time, the spiritual life of the individual church member or worker is an important aspect of a missional congregation’s thinking: One needs to seek God, His Word, and His Light oneself in order to pass it on in word and deed.

A missional congregation’s thinking can be linked to Paul’s image of the Church as the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-31), Jesus’ parable of the vine (John 15:5) and Peter’s vision of the Church as a spiritual house built of living stones (1 Peter 2:4-5). One is who one is and does what one does because of belonging to Jesus Christ.

In the church plant in Saku, from the beginning, there has been a spotlight on the balance between three aspects of being a missional congregation: 1) Building the personal relationship with God, 2) Building

the congregation as a fellowship and 3) Building bridges out to the local community. As an example of the first, the congregation had its own informal Bible school for several years, which has since been replaced by house groups and fellowship evenings. There have been congregational evenings which have built spiritual fellowship, as well as the worship services.

As an example of the second, congregation members have been challenged to join in and serve during the worship services and share the responsibility of making the church coffee. The church coffee is a good reason to stop and have a chat and maintains a good standard. It helps to build fellowship within the church, while also being a good meeting place between old and new churchgoers. Even members who rarely attend church have a reason to come if they are appointed with the responsibility for the church coffee. At their confirmation, they have promised to live amid the church, and even those who rarely attend worship services are happy to show up from time to time.

As an example of the third, we have included many of our experiences of how a congregation can reach out to new people through activities we have used in some of our projects. (below) This is a spotlight on outreach initiatives, what we can call bridges out to the local community. The church planter can feel free to use some of these activities or think about what may be relevant in his or her own context.

Some early examples from Saku are baby song, pancake nights, soccer mission, ski days, and church building markets. For many years, the congregation lived in an old, rundown prayer house, and it was particularly important to create meeting places outside of the building.

After the church building was completed, it is our experience that curious people visit the church, which has made it become a meeting place with the local community. This applies primarily to the concerts, but also to Christmas walks for the kindergartens, family days at Easter, café days, etc. In such situations, it is also important not to forget the mission of reaching out to everyone, for example through diaconal work and evangelical initiatives outside the church.

There are also examples from the church planting work in France of what it can mean to be a missional congregation.

POC (that is, “Portes ouvertes et café” in French or “open doors and coffee” in English) The church building in Créteil is located in the middle of the busiest street in the city, where people hurry past on their way to work, school and university. So, parishioners took tables, coffee pots, cups, and biscuits out onto the pavement. A cup of coffee led to people stopping and chatting with them.

“La Fête de la Musique” is the annual music festival that started in France in 1982 and takes place on the brightest and longest day in the northern hemisphere: June 21st. Anyone who wanted could play music anywhere, what they wanted and as much as they wanted. Many years later, the music festival is still alive and well and can now be found in more than one hundred countries around the world.

The congregation in Créteil uses this day to invite their neighbours to a special musical experience in the square in front of the church building. A small group of artists from the congregation is present. Many well-known hymns and gospel songs encourage the audience to participate actively in the concert. The tables in the square are filled with goodies and many of the spectators sit or stand afterwards to eat and talk to parishioners.

Christmas market in Créteil. On the first weekend of Advent, the Créteil congregation organizes a Christmas market each year. The aims of this event are several:

• to offer the congregation a time to meet for fun,

• to open up the church to the neighbourhood,

• but also, to collect some money for the benefit of the congregation’s diaconal association.

And these goals have largely been achieved. Every year, many people from the neighbourhood visit, up to sixty people from outside of the congregation.

Volunteering, «Use Your Talents» and spiritual gifts

A good church leader always sees the members and is interested in their talents.

In line with the principles of “Use Your Talents” 3, one must not only look for which gaps need to be filled for the congregation’s various tasks, but also what each individual is called to and has a talent for.

Using talents has a special focus in NMS. At the same time, it is a Biblical principle to invest one’s talents and to use the gifts one has been given for the edification of the church (Matthew 25; I Corinthians 12; Ephesians 4, etc.). Experience with church planting indicates that a missionary groundbreaking work or a newly founded church has a unique opportunity to emphasize the spiritual gifts and volunteering efforts of the church members. Resources and people are often few, and the individual sees more easily that his efforts are needed here in this congregation. At the same time, these are routines that are good to include when the congregation grows, because then new members will be able to see that “This is how we do it here – in this congregation everyone takes an active part!”

In several of our church planting projects, recruitment of volunteers has been continuous. This has been done systematically to recruit participants particularly for the worship service and the Sunday school work. For these activities, half-year plans have been drawn up, with the names of those responsible. For the church service, there is text reading, prayer, church coffee, technique, music/lead singer and sermon/liturgy. For the Sunday school, participants have been recruited for the presentation of a Bible story and a handicraft assignment for the children. In the congregations in Estonia, many members have come to faith through confirmation school, so it has been more difficult to find volunteers for spiritual leadership tasks that require more Biblical knowledge, e.g. leader of a house group, than for practical tasks. To train members to take

3 Resource-based development approach developed in FLM (Madagascar), see https://nms.no/dypdykk/menighet/useyour-talents/

responsibility for the spiritual growth of the church, we have also invited them to leadership training. In Saku, we have good experiences with meetings for both paid and unpaid workers every two months. This is a kind of “general staff meeting.” Here we look back at the activities accomplished since the last time and look forward. We talk about tasks that need to be solved and who can take responsibility. Good experiences have been made with holding parties for volunteers, arranged by the church council, as a way of showing that volunteers are important and appreciated. These parties have often taken place at the home of a family from the church council.

Performance appraisals, to the extent that one can do these also with volunteer workers, are valuable and important. A little chat during church coffee every now and then is a good supplement. It is important to be responsive to challenges in the lives of the collaborators, and to hear whether the tasks are challenging enough and not just perceived as drudgery. In many places, good experiences have also been made with confirmation interviews: Offering a conversation with the course leader (usually the pastor) prior to the actual confirmation ceremony. Here, one can look back on the confirmation period, and look forward to the time when the “obligatory” connection to the congregation is over. Are there areas of service that seem interesting to the confirmand? Is he or she willing, together with one or two others, to take responsibility for church coffee and possibly a text reading once every six months? Etc.

The training of “a Church of witnesses”, (“Eglise de témoins” 4 in French) was organized by the Créteil congregation during the spring of 2016, it not only offered six different occasions to gather together the members of the congregation and create links between them, but it also helped the members learn to discern their talents in order to serve. Later that year, the pastors and the local missionary team organized additional training in order to start up new teams, for example for tasks during the worship service and the church coffee, but also for outreach initiatives using one’s own faith history to come into contact with new people. In this way, the treasures of talents present in the congregation are seen and used. The congregation has such gatherings regularly to constantly find and develop the talents of the members and discover suitable tasks for them. 4

Giving

It is important to create a culture of giving from the start. Most congregations do not have the opportunity for other income than that which is given by the church members.

Some may have income from loaning out their buildings, but it will usually not be enough for much more than taking care of the buildings they own. In Norway, there is support from the state and the municipality, but here too the congregations will have to take greater responsibility in the future.

Creating a culture among members for giving from the start will make it easier to survive when external project support disappears or missionaries, who are supported by an outside organization, leave. It is a common Christian custom to tithe, that is, to give ten percent of one’s income (Deuteronomy 14:22). Members then give according to their ability.

At the same time, we would like to emphasize that it must be up to each individual member to decide how much they want to give. We do not want to be associated with churches or religious organizations where members give a lot of money and leaders live in luxury. Here it is also important to have a certain cultural sensitivity. The Bible also teaches that giving is a matter of willingness and cannot be forced (2 Corinthians 9:7).

Jesus pointed out that attitudes are even more important than outward actions (Matthew 23:23), but at the same time he said that tithing should be adhered to (“One thing ought to be done, and the other not neglected”). It may be natural to teach about giving, to encourage it, and to be an example in tithing yourself.

It may be an idea to provide useful information about different ways of giving that exist locally. One can mention regular giving, occasional gifts, regularly programmed bank transfers, Vipps (Norway), QR codes, etc.

Conflicts

There will always be the possibility of conflicts, but perhaps especially after a time as a new congregation, or as a new project. Then different expectations, different desires for the congregation’s profile and other differences come to the surface. If there are good meeting points where people can talk about the different thoughts along the way, one can often tackle things before they degenerate into major conflicts. If a conflict nevertheless arises, we believe it is important to take this up with the church hierarchy as early as possible. Let the immediate leader (deacon, regional bishop, or president) be well informed, and preferably take it all the way to the church’s head office. NMS would also like to be informed and involved. Normally, it is the church as project owner that has the formal responsibility for taking measures to resolve the conflict. NMS may have partial responsibility if a missionary, another NMS employee, or a specific project is directly involved.

We remind you of the importance of avoiding backbiting individuals, while at the same time speaking the truth about what is difficult. It is a balancing act, and it is also important to distinguish who needs what information.

Some conflicts are not within the congregation, but between the congregation (project) and surrounding congregations or church employees. Sometimes one is stuck in the conflict which has a background of envy over progress, other times there are misunderstandings about what this new project is. The latter can be resolved with good communication. The first type of conflict can be difficult to resolve but can be managed so that a way can be found to live with tension between colleagues in an area. In some cases, one can work to ensure that the new congregation can be a blessing to the congregation where envy has arisen, in order to mitigate the conflict. In other cases, one can do nothing but silently pray to God to bless the other party (Matthew 5:44).

Building a church

A church plant that has started its activities in a school or other rented premises will, after a while, must consider the question of whether to plan to build its own church building or continue to rent. We would like to point out that it is very demanding to start building a church. It will take a lot of both human and financial resources that are needed in the new congregation. It may be easier to collect for a church building than to build a congregation.

In the work in Saku, physical buildings have partly determined where the focus has been for the congregational work. As long as the only building was an old prayer house, it was necessary for a successful mission to have regular events also outside or in other premises in Saku. With a new church building, this need has become less since it is easier to invite people in or to arrange low-threshold worship services in a clearly visible church. Estonians have a greater understanding of what a church building is than a prayer house. At the same time, the need to be visible outside of the church building has not disappeared. Some people, for various reasons, will never voluntarily go to an event at the church, and need to be met “where they are.”

Networking gathering in Saku Church Estonia

NMS is not normally involved in church building projects, but there have been exceptions (Estonia). It is important that there are also other partners, and that the main responsibility for the building project does not fall on the missionary. It must also be noted that building a church, from the first fundraising until a finished building is ready, can take a very long time, often longer than NMS has planned to support missionary activities in an area. On the positive side, the combination of building up a congregation and constructing a church building can provide positive PR for the work. It can be motivating for volunteer workers to see that the efforts are getting such visible results.

Dialogue with city and state authorities

The dialogue with the different city and state authorities is an important part of any church planting project. It is important for a church planter to be well familiarized with the country’s laws and regulations for religious communities, but also its attitude towards religious assemblies. In the case of the Créteil church planting project, it is important to note that the laws on the separation of church and state in France (« laïcité » in French) are relevant and apply. This normally means that any religious community that wants to build a church is responsible for financing it itself. And in recent years, foreign financing of new buildings or new congregations has also been even more strictly surveyed and controlled by the state.

This said, and in spite of these strict laws, it often is still possible for the city and/or state authorities to offer financial assistance to the religious communities present on their geographical territory. However, this generally depends on the goodwill of the local and/or regional authorities present. This goodwill (or lack of it) means that the situation can be quite different from one city to the next and from one region to the next. Sadly, there are examples of congregations who have waited for decades before being able to build a church because the city authorities have not granted the necessary building permits. This was the case of the congregation in Noisy le Grand (Paris region). Their building project was blocked for many years, until a new mayor was elected.

However, generally speaking and in most cases, if a congregation wishes to receive local or regional financial help from the authorities, it is possible if the congregation is making a cultural or a diaconal contribution in their city or region.

For example, in the case where a new church building is being built, the congregation can make it known that it will be open to using this building for different needs in the city’s framework in addition to the more particular needs of the congregation.

It is also possible for the city and/or the region to give financial grants to congregations who have founded special diaconal associations to help out with diaconal needs in the city or region. In Créteil, the diaconal association linked to the congregation is very present in the city, providing important services such as French classes for refugees and tutoring for children who have difficulties at school. Because of these services, the diaconal association receives local and regional grants each year. For the same reason, the mayor of Créteil offered a small financial grant to help with the renovation of the church building. It is important for the congregation to build good relationships with the local authorities in the present, thinking also of the future.

The situation in Estonia is quite similar to France. The state has no obligation to support the church, except for the maintenance of medieval churches. In many places, however, the local authority does provide support for certain measures, if the dialogue is good. In both church planting projects in Estonia, the relationship of trust with the local authorities has been built step by step. Many have inherited prejudices against religion, but thanks to meetings with credible church leaders and events that are experienced as inclusive and enriching, they have become open to cooperation. Particularly important in this context is the cooperation with municipal institutions, such as the municipal day centre, cultural centre, youth centre, etc. The city of Tallinn has been an active driver and supporter of the church building project in Mustamäe. The municipality of Saku has also contributed significantly to facilitating the building of a church.

Organizational requirements to become a congregation

Once a church plant has been active for a while, it may be useful to meet with the national church authorities to clarify what is needed to become an independent church.

This will vary from country to country, and we will not go into this here. We would just like to point out that this organizational measure is also a step in becoming an independent, viable church.

Other tips

A congregation that wants new people to be touched by God’s love must be visible.

In addition to using the local newspaper and bulletin boards in the area, social media cannot be ignored. After all, that is where most younger people get their information. Facebook and other social media are used more frequently than the website. The website is also more demanding to update. Information that does not change so often should be posted on the website. The ongoing information about various events that have taken place or are coming belongs primarily on social media.

Short film clips and interviews that you take with your own phone can have a surprisingly wide reach. Here there are opportunities not only to get the word out about events, but also to preach and to raise money for specific projects. It may be a good idea to have a small team of collaborators who have the authority to edit and post news on, for example, Facebook. Then the work is distributed among several people, and you avoid it being completely quiet during holidays.

When it comes to content, it is a good idea to think about what kind of information you want to use on channels like Facebook, and what would be better suited for a church email/newsletter or announcements. It is important that information on public channels is not too personal, such as the missionary writing in the first person about what he or she has done today, or too pastor centred. Also remember to follow GDPR rules.

If something big is happening, contact the media. Christian radio stations or public broadcasters, local newspapers, or larger newspapers, depending on how big the news or cause is. The media is an invaluable partner in getting a message out, for example about fundraising. News about big celebrations such as church anniversaries, church inaugurations, etc., can reach far, and it tells people (both local and others) that this is an active congregation.

From the project phase to the operational phase

This is the phase where NMS ends its financial support, the missionaries end their service in the congregation, and the congregation becomes an independent congregation in line with other congregations in the national church.

NMS wants to be actively involved in creating a good plan for phasing out support. We believe that such a phasing out will be the best transition if it is planned well and all parties are prepared. Planning for this phase should start even before the congregation is planted.

A change of pastor in a congregation is always difficult. There is a human perspective in this. The congregation loses a pastor who presumably is loved. When it is the pastor/missionary(s) who planted the congregation who leaves, it can feel like the congregation is losing its mother and father. It is then important that the departing pastor/missionary gives legitimacy to the pastor who will take over. If possible, we would also recommend a period of overlap between the old and the new pastor. We would strongly advise against a longer vacancy as is common with pastoral changes in some churches. This is because a church plant is far more fragile than a congregation that has existed for a long time.

Despite all this, it is likely that some members will leave, become passive members, or move to other congregations when the new pastor is appointed.

If a missionary couple has planted the congregation, the congregations will go from two pastors or a pastor and a church worker to just one pastor. In other words, there will be less working time for the congregation with the new pastor. If possible, we would therefore recommend that the missionary couple’s working hours be gradually reduced, so that the entire burden of going from two people to one does not fall on the new pastor.

There is also an economic perspective with this phase. If the pastor is local, and the only change is that NMS will no longer provide funding, planning will be important. When it comes to congregations that lose their NMS missionary, the economy will also change, as they will go from a free pastor to a pastor that they will have to pay themselves. Losing a large part of the income, or having such an extra expense for a congregation, must be planned. We have experience with some congregations putting money aside in a salary fund so that the transition will not be too big.

Set up a plan for how to pay the pastor, what changes need to be made both on the income side and on the expense side. Can you seek support elsewhere, nationally, regionally, from endowments or support groups? All of this can be good, but the absolute best thing is that you have established a culture of tithing in the congregation. Then you will have a good and stable basis for income.

Some congregations may seek to increase their income by renting out the church premises when they are not in use. This may be for concerts, for clubs or other external activities. Some congregations gain income by taking on municipal tasks that are also in line with what the congregation wants to be diaconally involved in, e.g. homework help or food distribution. If the municipality supports such services financially, it can serve as extra income. We would advise a congregation to think through what to prioritize here, so that it retains its integrity and avoids tying up

a lot of resources on measures that do little to build up the congregation further. It has often been NMS who have taken the initiative to transition into the operational phase. The local congregation typically desires to continue the cooperation with NMS and have the financial security which that cooperation entails for as long as possible. The same, naturally, is often also the case for the regional and national church authorities. That said, we have also seen initiatives from regional church authorities for this transition. There have been strategic reasons related to their seeing that other congregations in the district may have greater need for this missional capacity.

If it is NMS that takes the initiative, we will bring the local congregation, the regional church authorities, and the national church authorities together to draw up a plan for transitioning to the operational phase. We would also like to remind you that it is important that the congregation members receive good information about the process, so that they can also be prepared when changes occur. They will not be part of the meetings where we plan the transition and will depend on information being provided in connection with church coffee, congregation meetings and information letters.

Another objective to bear in mind when moving from being a church plant to an independent congregation is the continuity of being missional. There is a danger that the congregation will fall into a routine way of being a congregation as it grows larger. If the congregation is not aware of this, it can simply become a congregation that maintains everything good that exists; however, it requires a clear awareness to be a congregation that is constantly working and thinking of new things and to reaching out to new people. With this in mind, it may be wise to be aware of who you recruit as a pastor to take over the congregation after the missionary.

NMS desires to maintain contact and working relationship with the congregation after we no longer support it financially, for example, with missionaries or interns. One really good option for this is for the congregation to establish a friendship with a congregation in the Church of Norway, connected through participation in the Network Meeting; but relationship can also be maintained through visits, online meetings, and email contact.

Other Literature and Resources

Here is a list of some books, articles, websites, and other things that may be of interest to a new church planter. This list is not complete.

• Natural Church Development, Christian A. Schwartz (different books translated to different languages)

• M4 (Norwegian church planting resource, exists in English, French, Norwegian and other languages): https://m4europe.com/m4norway/

• Evaluation of four church planting projects in NMS: Microsoft Word - A living church across the earth - and also in Europe! (revised version): https://nms.no/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/A-livingchurch-across-the-earth-and-also-in-Europe-reduced-version.pdf

• Johannes Vålandsmyrs Thesis in Missional Theology: https://vid. brage.unit.no/vid-xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/283754/2014 h%C3%B8st Johannes V%C3%A5landsmyr%2C Mteol. pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

• Transforming Mission, David J. Bosch

• The Growing Church, Carl-Erik Sahlberg

• The Volunteer Revolution, Bill Hybels

• Spiritual Leadership, J. Oswald Sanders

• Lähedal Jumalale Lähedal inimestele (The history of parish planning and church building in Saku, Estonia in Estonian, but with a summary and texts under the pictures in English), Reigo Rosenthal.

• Edderkopp og sjøstjerne, Oddbjørn Stangeland

• Church Planting Theology Conference 2024: Participation

• Youtube clips from church planting conference, Cranmer Hall, Durham: https://www.youtube.com/ playlist?list=PLkU8kYXu8NPeXIJpUCZaoGA5XfQvJh45P

• NMS blogs from Estonia, England and France (in Norwegian) Estland: http://www.nms.no/estland England: http://www.nms.no/england

Frankrike: http://www.nms.no/frankrike

Network for church planting

• NMS nettverkssamling (NMS’ Network gathering)

• Congregational development Network East Asia

• Fokus kurs, VID

• Exponential

• Sendt (network for church planting in Norway)

• Cranmer Hall, Durham. Yearly course for church planting. Research in the area.

• European collaborations

• Agenda1

www.nms.no