5 ways to support a church planter beyond money and volunteers

Every church planter needs financial and volunteer support, but as necessary as those are, they’re not enough for the planter or the church to survive, let alone thrive.

When we first landed in Arizona in 2019 to plant Asante Church in Surprise, we were in partnership with 11 other churches in both Arizona and Texas. Each partnered with us financially, with many sending their people for outreach events or mission trips.

During those first two years of planting, financial and volunteer support were essential, and our church wouldn’t be here without them. But there were still gaps that needed to be filled. What we received from our partners outside of money and people actually helped us put the money and people to better use.

Pastors looking to partner with a church plant: There is so much more you have to offer that your planters desperately need, whether they know it or not.

We needed check-ins and accountability.

Church plants are a big investment. You should always check in on your investments.

It gave me great motivation knowing that the pastors and churches who believed in me enough to invest in our idea of a church also cared enough to reach out for updates. It put that extra “umph” behind the hustle of the week. It also kept me from sitting around and twiddling my thumbs.

We needed processes and procedures.

It’s one thing to get people excited and gather them around a cause bigger than themselves, but it’s something else entirely to build a system and structure capable of holding onto those people and adding even more.

In our earliest stages, the word “assimilation” could have been ancient Greek to us. But, because we had partnering pastors and churches who had the systems we needed already in place, all I had to do was ask them what they did.

Before we knew it, we were starting to resemble an actual church and show signs of establishment. That would not have been possible if our partners had not made their church organizational structures, policies and procedures completely transparent to us.

Mountain Ridge Church in Glendale supported Asante by organizing a team to help stuff 10,000 eggs for a community egg hunt, above right. (Photo courtesy of Alex Dennis)

We needed experience we didn’t yet have.

You don’t know what you don’t know. We found that out quickly. Our partnering pastors knew that and were incredibly patient with us.

Over many lunches and meetings, they asked strategic and probing questions to prepare us for what was ahead. They knew we hadn’t done this before and, therefore, couldn’t anticipate all that we needed to consider.

Their years of experience saved us so much pain and heartache.

We needed brotherhood.

We weren’t designed to live life alone. Pastoring and church planting is a lonely calling.

The opportunity to get around like-minded leaders and celebrate wins, grieve over losses and share a good meal contributed directly to the longevity of our church and my time in ministry.

Never overlook the difference a lunch or a coffee meeting can make. If you’re feeling lonely working the field, chances are the planter you’re supporting does, too. Call him up. Get together!

We needed to live on mission together.

The Great Commission isn’t something that can be done within a ministry silo. Some of our favorite work as a church plant and now partnering church is what we’ve been able to do together with other churches.

I’m not talking about sending people for an event. I’m talking about your church working alongside your partner church at a neutral location in order to see the gospel advanced.

The beauty of partnerships is that they go both ways. Go get in the trenches together!

Alex Dennis is the lead pastor of Asante Church in Surprise.