This is the final conversation of a string of discussions about neighborhood churches. In another lifetime, we called these Microsites. Still, with the global pandemic, we thought this was a perfect time to open the hood showing you what we are doing at Torrey Pines Church that is greatly inspired by Saddleback Church that is part of a network of churches called Eastlake Church Network.

This is a look at our phased regathering plan of neighborhood churches.

For the last 11 weeks, we’ve all been doing home churches, and we’ve been watching with our families or our roommates.

Listen at 1:45 for how this is playing out.

Phase 2 is neighborhood churches gathering together and joining together in a community of a dozen.

If you are listening as a leader or thinking of launching one, this is for you. You will learn how to roll this out and how to connect with your teams.

Start with a recorded video, recorded podcast, or a writeup about what is a neighborhood church. Give them a 1-page document or a landing page that details what a neighborhood church is.

Listen at 4 minutes for what this looks like.

“Give everyone the what before you give them the why before anything else.” – Mingo

Step 2 – Rightly prepare for the volume of churches.

If you are launching 1 church or 100 churches, you need to identify neighborhood churches. It’s very similar to a “groups” model, but it is more robust. You are giving the Sunday sermon to the neighborhood church.

“Being connected to a team makes you know you aren’t alone.” – Robert

You should meet with your leader once a week. You’d meet close to where the site meets at a coffee shop. But a lot of the time, the leaders are seeing how they are doing.

Listen at 7:15 to what Robert did at his first time serving at a microsite with restaurant background.

Robert started as a volunteer just helping then moved to the neighborhood host, then a service host, and then he was coaching 8 churches at the same time.

“The best leaders have a working experience themselves. They need the practical experience of running a neighborhood church themselves”. – Mingo

Some you help more, but many will be good with less coaching, and they don’t need you.

Identify a coach or a set of coaches who have made missions trips. These people are coolers and who can see clearly in chaos.

Step 3 – Make Personal Asks

Provide a signup funnel for current viewers and attenders to launch a neighborhood church.

Listen at 11 minutes to hear different examples of what this looks like.

When you make a personal ask, the commitment is so much more profound.

Be ready to host a training for everyone interested.

Step 4 – Host a Zoom or have them listen to these five podcasts.

Call it “training,” and people will take it more seriously. It is formal. Tell them you went through the training, and I’m confident for you to start. Have a call that is before Sunday. Have a group call to answer questions or clear the air for any bottlenecks and set the trajectory for the services.

Then let your neighborhood churches RUN. Whether they crash and burn. They will learn things by trial and error.

“God is big enough, and He can manage the moment.” – Mingo

Your job is to support and celebrate that someone tried. Whether its a success or failure.

Here are some form questions at 15 minutes. These 4 basic questions can help your team get better and better every time you execute a neighborhood service.

“Not everything is started has to continue forever.” – Mingo

Give your neighborhood church 6 solid weeks to figure out their rhythm. At 8 weeks, a neighborhood should be thinking about an appreciate having sister sites.

Listen at 18 minutes for how to serve a community great then move to another neighborhood church.

You may have someone who is a helping hand who can move to an apprentice to lead your site so you can exit. Then they are praying for the team and building relationships.

“Taking care of your team should be your first priority, then they will take care of anyone who will show up.” – Robert

Always have a few people that you can trust to say, “you’ve got this.”

“This is the biggest opportunity to build loyalty and love right now.” – Robert

You don’t want this to be a people burner for the sake of having x number of churches. Make this a discipleship model and light up spiritual gifts.

Get more info at mingo@torreypines.church, and we hope this encourages so you can formulate your own ministry reentry plan. This is A PLAN, not THE PLAN to have more courage at the end of your day to do what God has called you to do.