Essentials

Here's the warning label that you MUST read:

I realize that many who're exploring church planting in Tucson are not native to Tucson or Arizona or even the West for that matter. Many recent church planters have migrated from somewhere in the South to come out here to this wild West and frontier land to plant a church. Through many conversations with these planters, numerous prospective ones, and local planters has led me to open this dialogue about "what you really need to know."

This is not the Bible belt, nor the buckle nor anything close. Put it plainly we're "unchurched." 930,000 out of 1,000,000 Tucsonans DO NOT "go to church" which is 93% of the population. However, they're not antagonistic towards God or spiritual things, instead its quite the opposite. Based upon hundreds of conversations with those who are not following God I've yet to hear any negative feedback about starting a church or about God. Many tire of the institutional church but more importantly when they hear the kind of church(es) I've planted or that we are planting collectively many take notice. They're intrigued, they're interested, and curious. That doesn't mean that if you send out 10,000 fliers in the mail these same people will show up, but at least they're interested.

What that means though is this ... these people are VERY interested in God, but just not in the typical mode of church we've traditionally presented. Everything rises and falls on personal relationships and through building authentic relationships and "doing life" with non-Christians many will be open and even eager to eventually check out your church or come to your house for a discussion group. Again, relationships are key. But at the same time in new growth suburban areas where most everyone shares the same middle-class values these people are much more open to the conventional mode of church and even will respond to such things as mass mailers. The key is to exegete your community and then "do church" in culturally appropriate ways.

What that means when working towards a "public launch" (if that's the way you choose to do church) is this: in new growth areas you can market it like crazy, do big community events, and you could honestly expect 100-300 people to come out for your Grand Opening. If you were to do that same thing on 4th Avenue, downtown, or somewhere else not as responsive and receptive to that mode of church it may be just you, your wife, your kids, and the Holy Spirit there at your first worship gathering. Relationships.

The key is contextualization. Do me a favor, become a local ... become indigenous like we train missionaries to do. Since 93% of Tucsonans don't go to church doesn't that then qualify us as a mission field? Shouldn't we begin to act accordingly? Contextualize. Let Tucson be your home, don't compare. Don't bad-mouth Pac-10 football (a personal sore-spot ... LOL) or make unfair comparisons between where you left and Tucson (we don't have grass and your yard is rock and cacti). Contextualize. Don't create your expression of church in your mind before you even get here. Don't do church based upon this book or that book, this model or that ... contextualize. Move here, learn the rhythms of this city, and listen (yes, listen ... you've been trained how to speak ... but listen to the people). Bring principles you've learned and be fluid.

I like what Ed Stetzer shared at the Exponential Conference in Orlando earlier this year. He said to this large group of 1,500 church planters, "The reality is that where you're planting is not some cool hip city like Seattle, San Francisco, Austin, and so on." Tucson is Tucson, warts and all and I LOVE it here ... the culture, the people, the weather, the desert, the mountains, and the Wildcats.

Think, pray, reflect, and dialogue. Be open, flexible, and fluid. Again, don't create your church in your mind before you even step foot in Tucson that is void is really knowing the people. The reality is that it is easier for church planters to fall in love with their expression of church more than they truly love the people they're trying to reach. It's easy to get caught up in worship music styles, technology in worship gatherings, candles, websites, coffee bars in church, logos, brochures, and marketing ... but what about the people? Do you or will you really love them because in the end that's all they want to really know. Now all of those things I just mentioned ARE important, but they ought to play second fiddle to you immersing yourself in this community and really loving those that Jesus misses the most.

- Sean, Church Planting Strategist