GS-Primer-Leader-Guide-1

:Leader Guide
34
Church
Planting
and
Revitalization
Discussion
Ask the group to spin back to their COA
maps. This time the focus is going to be on
the existing believers and churches in that
circle. Ask the groups to answer the following
questions. If they do not know hard numbers
to these questions, then encourage them
to make educated guesses at the answers
for now and take time after this month’s
conversation to attempt to clarify their
assumptions:
• nWhat is the overall population of your COA?
• nHow many evangelical churches are
represented in that circle? Hint: if the
number of churches is too large, then
you may have a circle that is too large
as well. For example, if you have drawn
a 3-mile radius from the place in which
your church gathers and you can name
30 or 40 churches in that circle, then you
may be better served to narrow down to a
one-mile radius with only 10-12 churches
represented.
• nWhat is the weekly attendance of those
churches?
• nBased on these numbers, what is the
percentage of the population of your COA
in church on any given Sunday? At this point
you might be tempted to argue, “Yes, but
many people from our circle are driving
out of the circle to attend a church across
down.” This is certainly true in most cities in
the United States. But, the same premise
works in reverse as well. Many of those who
attend your church likely drive from outside
of your circle to attend your church as well.
No percentages are perfect, but this ebb
and flow would likely result in a relatively
accurate percentage within your circle. For
those who drive out of the circle there is a
corresponding person who drives into the
circle, so the percentages hold fairly steady.
Once the groups have defined their circles, it is
now time to dream about the work of church
planting and revitalization using the following
questions: