Structure: Yea or Nay

I just want to comment on my friend Gary Lamb's latest blog entry about how and when to structure a new church plant. Gary's got a great point and I agree with his insight into the need for a new plant to be able to act, react, and move quickly.

Because of my military background I thought/assumed that we needed to be structured from Day One. So we put a lot of time into Bylaws, Elders, our Finance Team, and getting a couple of small groups going. I will say for us it worked not because of the structure but because of the people we placed inside of the structure. Being from my hometown I personally knew ALL of the people I was asking to serve in these areas and I had known some of them for years -- I knew they were loyal, and I knew they bought into our vision 100%. So I don't think our structure slowed us down BUT it had the potential to do so.
Having that structure in place did free me up to work ON the church vice work IN the church.

So I would agree with Gary NOT to structure unless you are 100% sure of the people that will work your structure. That advice holds true whether you structure at Day One or Year Three ... know and trust the people inside whatever structure the Lord leads you to establish and they must be as committed to the vision as you are!!

The one area I do wish we had spent more time training, vision casting, and leading was in our small groups. I think small groups need structure from Day One but probally more than structure they need support from the Planter in the pulpit. There is not a better way to build vision into your people and encourage your people to develop godly habits/disciplines than talking about those things in the message. Two areas I did not/do not talk about enough are finances and small groups ... we struggle there a lot. I do talk a ton about baptism/membership and we've got a lot of members and have baptized a lot of folks in 3 1/2 years...go figure.