Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts

Jim Griffith and Bill Easum draw from decades of personal experience in planting new churches and consulting with supervisors and planters in new church starts. They have condensed their vast experiences down to ten points that account for the great majority of failures among church planters. For each point, the authors provide examples of the particular mistake and ways to avoid it. They speak in special sections to coaches and supervisors, showing them how to work with church planters to avoid the mistakes. The ten mistakes point in most cases to plans made on the basis of past experiences or unrealistic models that do not fit either the particular church planter or the mission field where the church is planned. The church planter must take the initiative to do God's work as directed by the Holy Spirit, not copy a religious superstar's methods or approach the works as defined by outside sources.

Bill Easum is president of 21st Century Strategies, Inc. and is one of the most highly respected church consultants and Christian futurists in North America. He has been a pioneer in the church growth movement, with thirty-five years of pastoral ministry experience. The author of several books, he is also the editor of On Track E-Magazine, and is a contributor to Rev Magazine and Net Results.Jim Griffith is the founder of Griffith Coaching Network, a network of coaches committed to helping church leaders and congregations launch new ventures and daughter churches. A veteran of several church plants, he's assessed more than 1,900 church planting candidates, trained more than 7,000 planters, and coached more than 1,500 new and existing churches in their efforts to reach the mission field around them.