In my 27 years of involvement with church planting I have noticed seven common mistakes new churches should guard against. They are—
- Pastoral dependency; wanting their own pastor from the beginning
- Tithe diversion; not remitting tithe to the conference in a timely manner, or not recognizing the Biblical distinction between tithe and offerings
- Doctrinal disharmony; avoiding the unique message, identity or mission of Seventh-day Adventism
- Premature birth; core group does not yet have one or more of the following- unity, experienced church leaders, recognition of sacred things (marriage, tithe, Sabbath), outreach experience, commitment to worldwide mission & message of Seventh-day Adventist church, soul winning plan, spirit of cooperation with conference leadership
- Disconnection from SDA Education; not taking steps to be involved in the governance and/or financial support of the local SDA school(s)
- Isolation; Church and/or pastor does not connect regularly with other SDA activities and leaders in the area
- Lack of clarity on church organizational issues- e.g. how each of these issues is handled in the Seventh-day Adventist Church and why- membership, ordination, baptism, assignment of pastoral care, accountability of local leadership to the congregation, accountability of pastors to the constituency, etc.