The Art of the Start
215 pages
My church-planting coach, Phil Claycomb, assigned me to read this book and at first I was not only skeptical but wasn’t really looking forward to reading a business book as preparation for planting a church. I put it off until the last possible minute, fully expecting it to take me a good couple of weeks to trudge through the material, however I finished it in a grand total of 3 days. It was absolutely fantastic and it gave me a great deal of confidence and information to proceed through the incomprehensible black cloud of confusion that was enveloping my psyche. (Easily put: The fog began to lift.)
Granted, this is a business book so as you read it you have to skip over certain parts that don’t pertain to church work but the rest of it aligns rather beautifully. If you read it from a church-planting perspective, you begin to see that this book is more than a business book but a book that gives a practical and insightful look into what it takes to start something from nothing.
Perhaps the most intriguing, helpful and inspiring chapters for myself were:
- The Art of Pitching, a chapter that helps you create a “sales pitch” for potential donors and partners. This gave a real simple outline on how to create a short and powerful presentation that clearly communicates your vision and your plan. This helped me by helping to clarify my communication strategies.
- The Art of Writing a Business Plan, a chapter that helps you create an in-depth approach and 5-year strategy for getting up off the ground—and in the realm of church-planting, making it to self-sufficiency. This also helped create a sense of confidence for where this thing is heading and even just a sense of how this thing is truly possible!
- The Art of Recruiting, gave a sense for how to go about finding and wooing a potential team that will be on this Jesus Mission with us. This was extremely valuable not only for helping to go about finding a paid staff, but a volunteer staff that is truly sold out to the vision and mission—especially when you combine this chapter with the The Art of Partnering.
This was a fantastic book that has truly helped to give some concrete thoughts where before there was mush. I would highly recommend this book for anyone getting ready to embark on a new journey, a new venture, and a new church-plant. It’s been invaluable to our journey.
Related posts:
- Visioneering (a review)
- church planting from the ground up (a review)
- the art of the start (a recap)
- breaking the missional code (a review)
- funding or sales market
