Your associational leadership strongly believes that existing congregations plant new congregational expressions. It takes a one to three missionally-driven congregations to effectively launch a new congregational expression. The spiritual and strategic growth that happens out of this sponsorship often has a wonderful and fruitful impact on the sponsoring congregations as well as the Kingdom growth experienced in and through the new congregational expression.
Because starting and strengthening congregations to serve as vital and vibrant missional communities is the One Priority of CMBA, we have sought to develop mentoring and coaching capacity among the people who assist with the current strategy to catalyze the launch of up to 30 new congregations during this decade.
The three people on the CMBA Team Huddle – called the Purple Squad – who are dedicated to multiplying congregations have an average of 40 years of experience in launching new congregational expressions. Their presence as partners with the sponsoring churches team launching a new congregation represents the following ten capacities:
- Family: They represent the whole family. CMBA is a family (not just a friend or acquaintance) of almost 100 congregations in the Midlands of South Carolina, and the entire family will be interested in the progress of the new congregational expression. CMBA would want the new congregational expression to understand the depth of relationship with their family.
- One Priority: The One Priority of CMBA is to start and strengthen congregations to serve as vital and vibrant missional communities. This is a core focus for us, and we desire to be catalytic in this area along with the sponsoring church team.
- Overall Strategy: They represent the overall strategy of seeking to be catalytic to help CMBA congregations launch 30 new congregational expressions during the next decade as a basic response to the growth and diversifying of our context, and to inspire the sponsoring church team and the new congregational expression to be participants in this effort.
- Communication: They can communicate in a timely manner the progress of the new congregational expression to the whole family of CMBA congregations through stories, social media, podcasts, newsletters, and other communication vehicles.
- Prayer: They call the CMBA family to timely prayer for the new congregational expression on an ongoing basis, and when there are special needs. We believe in the power of prayer, and that as many people as feasible need to be praying for new congregational expressions and the people to whom God is sending them that they might receive spiritual salvation.
- Resources: They serve as a source or broker for the new congregational expression of resources needed that are beyond what the sponsoring church team is able to provide. They may know family or other resources available to new congregational expressions.
- Mentoring/Coaching: They provide mentoring and coaching – as appropriate – based on multiple decades of starting and nurturing new congregational expressions. CMBA Staff and Mobilizers in new congregational expressions bring long-term and deep experience to the process of starting new congregational expressions. Each of these individuals brings an average of four decades of experience spent dedicated to mentoring and coaching.
- Learning: In spite of these decades of experience in starting new congregational expressions, CMBA desires to learn from grassroots leaders how the new congregational expressions are being launched and developed as none of us has ever learned all we need to know to be effective in fulfilling the Great Commission in the spirit of the Great Commandment.
- Membership/Affiliation: They assist the new congregational expressions with the actions needed to help them become a faithful and loyal member of CMBA at the appropriate time (and affiliated with SCBC and SBC) by representing the denomination to the sponsoring churches team.
- Financial Support: They are able to advise on the best ways to secure additional finances needed for the new congregational expression that may be beyond what the sponsoring church team is able to provide, through assistance from the association or they can help broker with other denominational sources.