Know your town: The key to starting ministry in a new location
I was coaching a church planter recently who is soon to move to the community where he is going to plant his life, his family and his sense of mission for years to come. He has sought the Lord for a long time, and is now only days until he lives in the city and plants the church for which God has been preparing him. In our conversation I asked him, “What are you going to do first when you get there and get everything unpacked?”
Become a student of your neighborhood
What does Day One of living on mission in a new place look like? I remember landing in Charlestown, getting our family settled in and then wondering, “Where do I go from here?”
How do you meet people? How do you get from stranger and newbie to friend, neighbor and eventually community pastor? My instinct would be to start a Bible study, put on event to serve the community, or maybe run an ad — but these don’t help when you “parachute” in.
So I coached my friend, the new church planter, to do what someone coached me to do: interviews. Find a realtor, community leader, principal, coach, business owner, coffee shop manager or anyone else who has more authority and influence than you — which is pretty much everyone, right? — and ask them about the community. Learn your town or city like you’d learn theology or doctrine or history or someone you want to know.
Ask questions
When I began this process, I made a list of questions, set up some meetings in coffee shops or at restaurants (my treat!) and went through as many questions as our time allowed. Here are the questions I asked:
What is your story?
What are your thoughts on our community?
Who else do I need to meet? (Could I use your name to set up that meeting?)
What are some of the largest community events?
Are there any buildings going up or things coming in?
Are there any buildings coming down or things going out?
What are the burning issues for residents?
What would you say are the goals, values and beliefs of people here?
Who is hurting or struggling here?
Who is succeeding or thriving here?
What part of Charlestown is furthest from utopia -- not just economically?
What is one positive change that could have the most dramatic effect?
Rarely did I get through all the questions, but I didn’t feel pressure to. I was establishing connections that could last me for years to come. The people I interviewed became friends who would visit our church or neighbors with whom I got to share the Gospel.
Look for open doors
Perhaps of equal long-term importance, those relationships opened so many doors – to Natalie becoming head of the parents’ association at our boys’ school and working at a not-for-profit serving vulnerable members of the neighborhood; to me becoming a coach in Little League and member of the neighborhood council; to easier permit processes for community events; to knowing where and how to serve; to finding spaces to meet on Sundays once we began to gather for worship; and even to setting the values that would guide our church and resonate with our community. I believe the fruit of those conversations won’t be fully grasped on this side of eternity.
One important caveat: Unless you confidently know that the person is a follower of Christ, introduce every meeting and conduct every conversation as a new resident in the community — not a pastor, not a church planter, not a missionary, not a bearer of good news. Don’t use phrases that might make you seem like some spiritual guru or expert coming to “bring Jesus to that community.” Keep that part quiet unless they ask. And if they happen to ask, tell them you are a follower of Jesus and just want to be involved in and love the community. If they really press in (astute pre-Christians sniff us out every time), tell them you are a pastor and would like to see another (or a new) church started in the community that loves and gives back while coming alongside the good that’s already happening locally. Only once in my conversations and interviews did it ever get that far.
Let me conclude by saying that if COVID-19 has you feel like you’re re-launching your church, you might consider doing interviews and asking similar questions. You are a different person, your community is a different place, your church is a different people, and our situation contains a different dynamic than a year ago. Questions like these could hold a key to you and your church becoming community influencers on a deeper level in COVID and post-COVID realities.
JD Mangrum is the church planting pastor of Christ Church Charlestown in Charlestown, MA.