Choosing the Core Group
Foundations for a healthy church plant: three groups, three levels of commitment, a personal invitation, and the case for people from outside the church
The most consequential decisions in church planting are made before the first public meeting. They are made in the quiet, prayerful work of identifying, inviting, and forming the small group of people who will carry the church's identity into every dimension of its future life. That group, the core group, is not merely an organizing committee. It is the church in embryo. Its theological convictions, its missionary instincts, its relational patterns, and its spiritual maturity will reproduce themselves in the congregation that grows out of it, for good or for ill.
Adventist church planting has been weakened by a persistent tendency to rush through this formative phase. Eager for visible results, a building, a sign, a Sabbath attendance figure, planters often gather groups in haste and assume that the participants already have the theological depth and missionary orientation a healthy church needs. That assumption is almost always wrong. A church planted on an unformed core will spend years trying to correct cultural deficits that a few more months of deliberate formation at the beginning would have prevented.
A new church attracts good people. It also attracts a particular kind of person worth recognizing before it is too late. It attracts those who want control and have found no room for it where they are. It attracts the frustrated, who mistake dissatisfaction with their own church for a calling. It attracts those who enjoy doctrinal controversy and are looking for a new audience. And it attracts, more often than one would like, those who need ground where their reputation has not yet arrived. Such people are not interested in expanding the kingdom. They are interested in their own, and a newly started plant is the easiest place in the world to install it: there is no history, no institutional memory, and no one who has seen the story before. Emilio Abdala, writing for Adventist planters in Brazil, warns that plant projects without a core of believers generally fail, and that those who are dissatisfied with their previous church or who want leadership positions no one has recognized should not be accepted onto the team.¹ That is why selecting the core group is the most consequential decision of the early phase. Where there is no mature leadership, there is no strong church.
The architecture of selection
Church planting is not a general call; it is a strategic one. The planter does not stand before a congregation and ask for volunteers. He identifies, prays over, and personally invites those whose character, gifts, and spiritual trajectory align with the mission. Jesus modeled this approach. Before launching his public ministry he spent a whole night in prayer and then personally chose twelve from the wider circle of his followers (Luke 6:12–16). The choice was deliberate, prayerful, and strategic, neither impulsive nor democratic. Ellen White's account of the ordination of the Twelve dwells on the same deliberateness.²
A planter selects three distinct groups, and confusing them is the source of many later problems.
The core group is the nucleus of pioneers: the people who share the planter's vision at the deepest level, lead the strategic planning, model the values of the new community, carry the heaviest share of sacrifice during the formative months, form the leadership of the new church, and remain after the launch. They are not simply the most available people but the most aligned, men and women whose hearts have been taken by the mission and who show the capacity to grow into its demands.
The launch team gives operational and logistical support during the public opening of the plant. It exists to establish the rhythm of the first weekly services and is oriented to tasks, so that once the task is done it can dissolve without any sense of failure. Some of its members will move into the core group as their commitment deepens. Others will finish their service after the launch and move on.
The prayer team sustains the whole effort through intercession and, often, financial support. Its members will not be at the meetings, and they make no operational decisions, but their spiritual contribution is indispensable. No plant flourishes without a foundation of persevering, faith-filled prayer.
There is a practical reason to have both a core group and a launch team. Churches that work only with a core group tend to begin small and stay small, and the reason is not spiritual. People who live and work together for many months form strong bonds and begin to protect them. The group turns inward. That would be wonderful in any other circumstance. It is a problem when one is trying to launch a church.
Three levels of commitment
Not everyone who shows interest in a plant is ready for the core group. Discernment requires an honest assessment of each candidate's readiness, and a personal interview helps discover where each person fits.
Full commitment marks those who are deeply invested in the mission, willing to sacrifice time and comfort, and prepared to grow through the inevitable difficulties of the planting process. They are candidates for the core group.
Partial commitment describes people who are genuinely interested but not yet ready for the demands of the core group. They can serve effectively on the launch team and, with continued formation, may move over time into deeper involvement.
Peripheral support marks those who believe in the mission and will contribute through prayer and giving but have no real availability for direct operational involvement. They form the prayer team.
None of these levels is spiritually superior to the others. They describe different availabilities, and treating them as a hierarchy produces needless guilt in people who are being honest. The assessment is not a judgment of spiritual worth but an honest reading of alignment and readiness. The planter serves candidates well when he places them where they can flourish rather than where they will be overwhelmed.
The personal invitation
The selection process begins not with announcements but with conversations. No one is invited to a core group by announcement, by an appeal at the end of a sermon, or in a crowd. The call to plant is not a pulpit appeal, and a team recruited in one emotional evening dissolves in three months. Paul did not recruit through mass campaigns. He identified people with specific gifts and callings and invested in them personally (Acts 16:1–3; 2 Timothy 2:2).
The conversation is personal: a meal, a visit, a coffee at home. It has four parts. Share the dream: what God has been showing, why this church needs to exist, and what will be better because of it. State the values that will be non-negotiable in this church, the theological and cultural DNA that will distinguish it from a generic religious gathering. Show the projected vision, where this is meant to go. And say plainly what kind of people are needed, including what it will cost. Honesty about the demands of planting builds trust and filters out those who are not prepared for sacrifice. Then stop. Ask the person to pray before answering. Give time. Leave them free to say no, and make clear that no is a legitimate answer, not a spiritual failure. Ask them to pray for the project either way, and to suggest names of people who think as they do.
A planter needs three versions of the same story: one of thirty seconds, one of three minutes, and one of thirty minutes. All three will be needed, in different settings, and almost never with warning. The discipline forces clarity and ensures that the vision can be communicated well in any setting. In the long version, show both the best and the worst of the place where the church will be planted. Those who enter knowing the worst do not give up when it appears.
One final caution. Do not accept anyone because of social, academic, or professional status. One is planting an embassy of the kingdom, not a club of influential friends.
Characteristics of core group members
What qualities should a planter look for? The New Testament supplies the basic criteria: faithfulness, teachability, and the capacity to pass on to others what one has received. Paul told Timothy: "the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2). That single verse holds the DNA of multiplying leadership development, four generations of transmission in one sentence.
Beyond that biblical foundation, effective core group members share several traits. They are missionally minded, turned toward those outside the church rather than preoccupied with internal comfort. They are teachable, willing to learn new approaches and to let go of assumptions that hinder missionary effectiveness. They are growth-oriented, committed to their own spiritual development and to that of others. And they are resilient, able to endure disappointment, conflict, and fatigue without abandoning the mission.
People from outside the church
Here almost every reader stops. If you want to plant a church for the community, it is essential to have people from the community in the core group. If you want a church only for Adventists, include none.
The reason is ecclesiological before it is strategic. The church being planted does not exist for Adventists; Adventists are already the church. It exists for those who do not yet know Christ. And the practical reason is just as direct: the composition of the core group is a caricature of the future church. Whatever is inside it in the first year will be inside it in the tenth, enlarged.
This does not mean that core groups should do without mature believers. It means their composition should be deliberately mixed, experienced disciples alongside newer ones, long-time Adventists alongside people still discovering the faith. That mix creates a culture of discipleship from the beginning, because the mature members are immediately engaged in the work of formation instead of simply attending meetings.
An objection: is this not reckless?
Many pastors will find this alarming. A core group shapes the culture, the leadership, and eventually the doctrine of a new church. Placing people who are not yet Adventists, and some who are not yet Christians, in the nucleus seems to risk diluting the identity of the church before it is born.
The objection deserves two honest answers. The first concerns the evidence. What supports this recommendation is the accumulated experience of planters, not a systematic study. It is a conviction from the field, and I present it as such. The second concerns what these people actually bring. They do not arrive with Adventist DNA; no one can have that without knowing Adventism. What they bring is more interesting. They arrive without the habit of the consumer member. They have never learned to be spectators at a service, because they have never been to one. They do not expect to be served. They do not know there is a passive way of being church. That absence is the asset, and it disappears quickly if the new church teaches them otherwise.
Three safeguards keep the recommendation from becoming reckless. They go through the same interview as everyone else; being not yet Adventist excuses no one from spiritual vitality, a coherent way of life, or the capacity for relationships. They know exactly what they are entering: this will be a Seventh-day Adventist church, with this doctrine and this system of government, and they decide to take part knowing it. People who enter informed and choose to stay tend to become strong disciples and leaders. And their role fits their formation. Belonging to the nucleus and helping shape its culture is one thing; teaching doctrine or holding an office the Church Manual reserves for members is another, and the second has its proper time. That is not distrust. It is the same standard we apply to anyone in formation.
The decisive importance of cultural DNA
The composition of the core group determines the culture of the future church. The principle can hardly be overstated. If the core group is turned in on itself, the church will be turned in on itself. If the core group measures success by attendance, the church will measure success by attendance. If the core group sees the planter as the main minister and itself as a passive recipient, the church will reproduce that dependence indefinitely.
If, on the other hand, the core group is turned outward, evangelistically active, and committed to the priesthood of all believers, the church will inherit those qualities as its default culture. Ellen White's conviction about the whole church applies with special force to its embryo: "The work of God in this earth can never be finished until the men and women comprising our church membership rally to the work and unite their efforts with those of ministers and church officers."³
The planter's responsibility, then, is not only to select people but to form a culture. That formation happens through continuing, deliberate processes: weekly gatherings that combine theological study with missionary planning; shared experiences of outreach and service that build community identity; honest conversations about values, expectations, and accountability; and the constant example of the desired culture set by the planter and the first leaders.
The initial vision usually belongs to the planter, and success depends on others adopting it as their own. Verbal agreement is not adoption. Those who have truly taken up the vision show it in life choices, in the use of their time, in ministry commitment, and in energy, all of which can be observed. Those who merely agree with it intellectually but never act on it reveal a misalignment that has to be addressed with more conversation, more formation, or in some cases an honest recognition that there is no fit. Core group members must come to see themselves as church planters and invest in those over whom God has given them influence, as the planter invested in them. If that is not happening, the planter is not building a team. He is creating a culture of consumption in which the product is himself.
Vocational discernment and identifying gifts
Effective formation of the core group includes helping members identify their vocational gifts and understand how they contribute to the mission. The framework of Ephesians 4:11, apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers, offers a comprehensive typology of the capacities a healthy missionary community needs. Alan Hirsch's practical tools for discerning each person's base ministry are useful here, provided the clarifications an Adventist church owes its own convictions are kept in view.⁴
Practical tools for vocational discernment, spiritual gift inventories, behavioral profile assessments, and structured mentoring conversations, can help the planter place team members according to their strengths. The aim is not to label people but to help them discover how God has equipped them for mission and to place them where their contribution will be most fruitful.
The selection process: practical steps
Begin with prayer and fasting. Before identifying any candidate, the planter has to seek God's direction with persevering intensity. Jesus' night of prayer before choosing the Twelve is not only a devotional example; it is a structural principle. Selecting the core group is a spiritual act that requires spiritual discernment (Luke 6:12–13).
Clarify your calling. The planter needs a firm biblical and personal conviction that God has called this church into being. The planter's uncertainty produces instability in the team.
Secure the alignment of your family. The planter's spouse and family need to understand and embrace the vision before it is shared with anyone else. Planting places considerable demands on families, and a divided home will undermine the whole effort.
Identify candidates through observation and relationship. Look for people who show faithfulness in their present responsibilities, hunger for spiritual growth, concern for those outside the faith, and the resilience to persevere through difficulty.
Converse personally. Share meals. Invite candidates into your home. Use informal settings to talk about the vision, explore alignment, and assess readiness. The quality of these conversations will determine the quality of the team.
Choose formers, not consumers. Select people who show the capacity to disciple others, people who will not merely take part in the church but reproduce its values and mission in the lives of those they reach.
Give priority to cultural alignment, not competence alone. A very talented person who does not share the mission's values will damage the culture more than a less gifted person who is fully aligned. Alignment comes before capacity.
How many, and building toward multiplication
There is no exact number, and one should distrust anyone who offers one. Experience shows a simple correlation: a small core group means the church begins small; a larger core group means a larger launch. Abdala advises having at least six families, or between twenty-five and thirty people, in the nucleus before public services begin.⁵ Among the planters we have accompanied, the average has been between twenty and thirty-five committed people present at the weekly training, fewer in smaller towns. It may take several months to get there, but get there. A group that stays small too long grows used to being small, and that habit does not break later.
From its earliest formation, the core group should be oriented toward reproduction. The aim is not to build a single thriving congregation but to establish a community with the spiritual vitality, depth of leadership, and missionary conviction to give birth to new communities. Multiplication, disciples who make disciples, leaders who form leaders, churches that plant churches, is not an advanced strategy for mature congregations. It is the founding posture that has to be present in the core group from the first day. When the group shows ownership of the vision, not mere agreement but active investment in its fulfillment, the community is ready for its public launch.
Conclusion
The core group is the most important human factor in the success or failure of a church plant. Its selection cannot be left to chance, convenience, or the pressure of institutional deadlines. It requires the prayerful, strategic, relational intentionality Jesus showed in choosing the Twelve, and the continuing formative investment Paul showed in entrusting the gospel to faithful people able to teach others.
When the core group embodies the Adventist DNA, prophetic identity, missionary urgency, Christ-centered theology, and a commitment to multiplication, the church that grows from it will not merely survive. It will become a living expression of the remnant's calling, a community sent into the world to proclaim the everlasting gospel and prepare a people for the return of its Lord.
Notes
1. Emilio Abdala, Manual de plantio de igrejas (Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 2014), 28.
2. Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Pacific Press, 1898), 290–91, chap. 30, "He Ordained Twelve."
3. Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9 (Pacific Press, 1909), 117.
4. Alan Hirsch, 5Q: Reactivating the Original Intelligence and Capacity of the Body of Christ (100Movements, 2017), chap. 9, "Tools for the Trade."
5. Abdala, Manual de plantio de igrejas, 28.
Bibliography
Abdala, Emilio. Manual de plantio de igrejas. Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 2014.
Hirsch, Alan. 5Q: Reactivating the Original Intelligence and Capacity of the Body of Christ. 100Movements, 2017.
White, Ellen G. The Desire of Ages. Pacific Press, 1898.
———. Testimonies for the Church. Vol. 9. Pacific Press, 1909.
Comments