Church Planting
Living the Book of Acts
We understand the challenges involved in starting a new ministry from scratch. We also understand the amazing possibilities. If you’re considering planting a church or are in the early stages, we’d love to walk alongside you through the process.
We can help you understand the different stages of planting a church—from vision to team building to leadership development. We can help you think through the essential issues to consider along the way—including prayer, finances, structure, and outreach.
And if you have a vision for planting not just one church, but many churches– a multiplying movement of churches — then you’ll definitely want to connect with us to be better prepared and resourced for the amazing adventure that lies ahead.
Feeling welcome: My first visit to an Anglican Church
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...
Utilizing the giftedness of others
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...
Reaching the unchurched- the point of church planting
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...
An essential for church planters: Spousal cooperation
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...
Building Body Cohesiveness: The glue of church planting
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...
Flexibility and adaptability: An essential competency for any church planter
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...
Creating ownership of ministry
An essential competency of any successful church planter is the ability to create ownership of ministry. It’s not just MY church; it’s OUR church. These planters: Make multiplying disciplemakers Recruit and mobilizes others Instill in others a sense of personal...
Church planters must be responsive to the community
The term Dr. Charles Ridley uses for this essential church planter competency is “contextualizing.” A planter who is responsive to the community, “discerns the culture of the local context and implements redemptive ministries that meet the needs of people.”...
My recommendations for discipleship processes
This blog post is adapted from an excerpt from my latest book, The Church Planting Journey. In any healthy ministry, there needs to be a strategy in place for passing discipleship along from one person to the next. Here I cover a few of my most important...
Visionizing capacity: not just a dreamer
An essential quality for church planters is that he or she has a visionizing capacity. This doesn’t just mean having dreams. There are lots of dreamers. But a church planter has the dream and gets others to buy in and live it out. It means taking the dream and...