The four C’s of Connection in Church Planting, and Every Collaborative effort
Nathan Hawkins Stadia Regional Executive – West
Collaboration is a buzz word. Cooperation is all the rage, especially among millennials. It can be fun, it is necessary to get certain things done, especially in Church Planting. Rarely is this exciting and complex method considered as a process or on a scale. Here are what I share as the four C’s of Connection in Church Planting, they also apply in every collaborative effort. I’ve certainly adapted and adopted these ideas from many, the fact that I cannot correctly attribute them is one of the issues with collaboration.
Each C is a step on a scale towards complexity, with corresponding potential greater risk and reward. Communication and coordination must increase for progression.
1. Compete – Are we working toward the same end? Does blowing out your candle cause mine to burn brighter? Is it a zero-sum game where for me to win you must lose? Some things are rightfully competitive; Kingdom Expansion, Church Multiplication is not about competition. Our friends at New Thing Network talk about the four A’s of Movement: Awareness, Agreement, Alignment, and Accountability. New Churches are not competition for one another or existing Churches; we need to agree on this before we can align any further.

2. Complement – Every person and organization has a mission, a purpose or objective that drives them. Our missions are like fires we’ve been entrusted to tend. We can add fuel to another’s fire based on our expertise, abundance, and Kingdom-mindedness. Complementing another may not cost much, it does not mean integration. In fact, complementary efforts involve strategic alignment versus redundancy, recognizing the value of other’s work and helping them do what they do best. To complement is to add value without any reciprocation, it is a gift.

3. Cooperate – Thoughtfully and intentionally aligning two or more fires can mean situating them closer together so they collectively are more visible, or spacing them out so they can light a longer path. Strategic proximity requires increased communication and coordination, but it still does not necessitate integration. For example, when Stadia helps churches host Church Planting Residencies, we encourage them to cooperate by bringing residents together for strategic shared learning, but not to collaborate by sharing or swapping residents. Cooperation is alignment in the same direction without intersection, like rails. It does not even always require alignment on distance (where) or speed (when), cooperation is about the way (how).

4. Collaborate – The highpoint of connection involves at least some integration of effort, and often resources. This is painfully difficult and often why collaboration breaks down early on. Progressing from the relatively low bar of recognizing we are not in competition to the high bar of integration is facilitated by complementary and cooperative intermediary steps. Collaboration involves continual and mutual reprioritization of the mission. Integration reduces redundancy, it is about stewardship, yet it is often inefficient initially. Time and continual realignment prove collaboration is most effective for long-term initiatives. Ego is the enemy of Collaboration.
Trust is the foundation collaboration is built upon, it is developed as we endeavor and experiment openhandedly, make adjustments, graciously moving through stages together. This process can only be expedited through shared liminal experiences, more often it takes time, in either case it can be painful. I am convinced collaboration is worth the cost. Nothing is more God honoring or Kingdom minded than believers working together. Jesus prayed for collaboration in John 17, that we would be unified so that the world would know God’s love. What else is worth collaborating for?
Next Steps/Reflection Questions
– What are you called to that will benefit from collaboration and where are you at on the scale of the Four C’s?
– What intentional steps can you take to progress on the scale toward collaboration? With who? When? Why? How?
– In areas where you are collaborating, how do you and your collaborators need to reprioritize and realign, individually and collectively, for the sake of the overarching mission?