When I was visiting New Zealand in my 20s, I attended my first Anglican church service. I was uninitiated in this tradition and found myself fumbling along, trying to figure out what I should be doing with all the various hymn books and prayer books. I was a believer...
A hallmark quality of successful church planters is being able to bring out, develop, and use the giftedness of others. Most planters and pastors would say they value people using their giftedness, but fewer are willing to invest the time needed to facilitate that...
Church planting is not intended to be a means of collecting people who are already Christians and rearranging them. It’s a means of reaching out to people who need and want to know more about Jesus and bringing them in. Therefore, it only makes sense that one of the...
Of the hundreds of church planters I’ve coached over the years, the vast majority have been married. The impact of church planting on a marriage and family is significant. It can put stress on the relationship, and kids can feel in a fishbowl as if everyone is...
One of the 13 core competencies of a church planter is “building body cohesiveness.” Dr. Charles Ridley, developer of the church planter profile, refers to this one as “the glue.” This competency highlights that hard-to-put -your-finger-on quality of being able to...
In this series of blog entries, we’ve been walking through some of the 13 essential competencies for church planters, developed by Dr. Charles Ridley as part of the church planter profile. This one is called “flexibility and adaptability.” While those may initially...
