THE CLUSTER CHURCH PLANT CONCEPT
This concept is accomplished when a number of sister churches band together to plant a mega church that is large enough to hold at least 300 or more and is located in an area that will draw middle-class professional people. The churches need to work together to be able to have enough funds to buy a parcel of land in a good location. Land that will attract the professional people of the city will cost from $10,000-$25,000.

STEERING COMMITTEE DIRECTION
There must be a steering committee comprised of an experienced missionary and several ministers or laymen that understands the culture, have cross-cultural gifts and the knowledge of what makes a local church grow. Members of the committee need to meet each quarter to give the church planter encouragement and direction.

The church planter needs to understand that the funds will be given in a pro-rated manner. Typically, the planter is given a $600 monthly income, which is reduced 20% after the first year if there is a church building. The subsidy runs for 3-5 years. This will motivate him to work hard to fill the church and will help the local church members know that this is a partnership effort where they are in charge of the church and that soon they will be on their own. Ownership is vital to communicate to the national people in planting a self-supporting church. 

The church plant needs to be large enough to generate sufficient funds to easily pay the minister's and staff's salary and so they will be able to help start mission churches in other areas of the city. Most importantly, they will be big enough to impact the city for Christ. For example, there are over 50 evangelical churches in Nuevo Laredo and only two are over 300. The local unsaved people usually can only name these two churches.

REACHING PROFESSIONAL PEOPLE
The church planter must spend a minimum of twenty hours in sermon preparation to be able to bring something fresh to each service. (The people in most small mission churches in Mexico can tell you what the minister will be preaching since they do little preparation. No wonder there are so few professional people attending.) Professional people observe the small things, like the type of pews, PA, etc. The professional approach does not have to be expensive, just organized and neat in appearance. The local congregation should make steady improvement from the offerings of the local people. Usually the mission organization only builds the shell of the church and then lets the local church members finish the church building.

A BIG FACTOR
The worship services should fit into the culture, rather than sound and look like an American church. The Mexicans really enjoy clapping their hands while they sing. Some American groups have told them that this is too Pentecostal and the result is that they usually have small struggling churches where their people will eventually visit other congregations and enjoy the worship service so much that they leave the original church. A good number of people in the Las Palmas Christian Center in Matamoros have come from other churches due to the great music and praise service.

ADVANTAGES
This approach enables the mission organization to get a church started and then turn it over to the congregation after five to seven years. Then the mission organization can be free to start another church with the help of this strong local church. This type of church can also help finance other mission projects. There are distinct advantages in having professionals such as lawyers, teachers, doctors, etc. making up the membership of the church. Upper-class people will not stay in a church made up of all lower class people. The KEY is to target the professional people and yet keep the doors open to everyone. The ground is truly level at the foot of the cross! It also encourages the American churches to support missions as they can see that their money is accomplishing great things for God and that these church projects truly have a future.

DISADVANTAGES
It is not easy to get enough churches together to raise the funds to plant this kind of church. It is hard to find the key individuals to form a steering committee and be willing to make a commitment to meet quarterly with the church planter. They will need to help him make the hard decisions that a mega church plant requires. It is so much easier to plant a small church in a rural area or a poor colonia. Not all ministers have the ability to reach the professional people for Christ. The poor people seem so much easier to reach and to bring into the church. Most of the poor, in Mexico, do not help themselves. Many Americans feel that there is more compassion in reaching the poor and helping them. Our approach is to reach those who will make the church strong and then help the Mexican church reach out to the needy areas. This is being done in the Las Palmas Christian Center with the Aztec Indian ministry.

FUNDS SENT TO THE CHURCH PLANT
Funds should be sent through the chairman of the steering committee so that he is sure the money is being used as planned. The funds are given to the church planter the first year. Thereafter, the funds are given through the local church planting board. The church planter needs to learn to work through and be accountable to a church board. This also teaches the local members their responsibility of working with the minister as a team in building their church.

FINAL CHURCH PLANT GOAL
Have a strong self-supporting church that keeps growing and planting other self-supporting churches. More unity of purpose needs to be generated within the supporting churches so that Mega churches can be planted throughout Mexico and around the world.