Coming to you live from Trinity School for Ministry, 6/18/10, morning session
Mrs. Jenni Bartling – Will The Real Church Planters Please Stand Up?
Goal: Having the right person in the right place at the right time
Common Characteristics of Church Planters
Knockout Factors (first 6) – without these fuggedaboudit
- Visioning Capacity – the person generates vision, initiates plans, and builds significant projects from the ground up. More than just a dreamer, has a vision of what God wants and goes for it. Has faith in what God can do.
- Intrinsically Motivated – has the ability to be a self-starter. High energy, manages large workloads and significant responsibility, maintains commitments. Especially important if the person is bi-vocational.
- Creating Ownership of Ministry – passing on the baton of ministry so that others can continue the race. Able to replicate him/herself, values coaching, instills congregational responsibility for the growth and success of ministry. People feel ownership in the church. Willing and able to delegate.
- Reaching the Unchurched – consistently reaches out to the unchurched, and influences them towards relationship with Jesus Christ. Intentionally builds relationships with non-Christians. “Gets” the unchurched. Strong communication skills with the unchurched; feels comfortable with them.
- Spousal Cooperation – collaborating as a husband and wife in marriage and ministry. God first, family second, congregation third. Clear expectation about ministry roles. This is considered the #1 item.
- Effectively Builds Relationships – initiates and builds relationships, constructively handles criticism and relational difficulties, has a strong social network, expresses compassion for the needs of others.
These characteristics tend to be innate — people are wired this way. The next seven can be learned or coached.
- Committed to church growth, both numerically and spiritually. Implements church growth principles in an effective manner.
- Responsiveness to the community. Finds the community’s unique pulse and character. Develops need-based ministries. Builds the church via community outreach.
- Utilizes giftedness of others. Coaches others to serve in their area of giftedness. Matching gifts to needs.
- Flexibility – Stays on course despite unexpected events and disruptions. Effective multi-tasker. Not giving in to the tyranny of the urgent, but responsive to issues.
- Building Cohesive People Groups – uses small groups effectively to accomplish ministry objectives; effectively resolves group conflicts; conscious of the morale of the people; promotes assimilation into the body of the church.
- Resilience – staying the course in the face of major setbacks, disappointments, and opposition. Optimistic and tenacious when convinced they are in God’s will. Relies on support system during times of crisis, setback, and disappointment. Bounces back quickly from loss or discouragement. Non-vindictive.
- Exercises faith – strong and vital relationship with God and willing to take significant faith risks. Maintains one’s spiritual vitality. Is convinced of church planting call. At first only the church planter is able to see the new church.
Recommended Book: Training for Selective Interviewing – Charles Ridley and Tweed Moore
Acts 29 – 10 Top Qualities
- Spiritual Vitality
- Strong Marriage and Family Life
- Theological Clarity
- Missional Lifestyle
- Emotional health – if not, seek counseling before starting a new church. Having a church baby doesn’t solve personal problems any more than having a baby saves a marriage
- Entrepreneurial Aptitude
- Disciple-making Skills – Lone-ranger mentality does not work here.
- Leadership Abilities – Before God builds a church plant He builds a church planter.
- Clarity of Strength of Calling – compelling personal call
- Relationship Building
Gather in groups of three, and pray for God to raise up workers for His harvest field. Pray for yourself or any names He has brought to mind to you.
Question: How many people do you find who have all these characteristics?
Answer: No one scores high in all these categories. If the score is medium or low, recommendations are made to help build the score. The report is only an indicator, not the final word. It can also point in the direction of any alternatives or other roles on a ministry team.
Audience Comment – re: the verse “The harvest is white” – ripe color is actually yellow. White means it’s about to go bad – must get it within a week or the harvest is lost forever.
So you feel called to plant?
- Gather a team of intercessors
- Get involved in missional/outreach ministry opportunities
- Read about church planting
- Schedule a discernment interview
This is the biggest load of crap ever!!
I demand that the fucking church refrain from interfering with me and God.
Period.
The end.
The ‘junk’ listed above is the worst kind of ‘corporate-speak’ from the fucking 1990s!
You ass-clowns would find a way to ‘forgive’ British Petroleum. Even if you had to jump backwards out of your asshole to do it.
FUCK THAT SHIT!!!
It’s simple.
Church follows rules that I issue.
Church follows rules that I issue.
Church follows rules that I issue.
The new Protestant reformation/rebellion is defined as:
Fuck you.
Fuck you.
Fuck you.
Churches and religions have proven to be most weak. I have begged Katherine Sciori for a certrificate of ex-communication.
ArchBishop Sciori and Episcopal Church USA, have been mute.
Weak.
Worthless.
Hey Mr. Tubbs,
Why don’t you use a vocabulary that expresses your views intelligently and drop the coarse language. I minister to inmates that are more respectful than you. This is a public forum not a locker room. Go talk to your wife that way. The rest of us don’t want to hear it. I demand you quit interfering with decent and civil conversation! Just how many churches have you planted anyway?
Fed up with cro magnons
I demand that you stop trying to ‘plant’ anything. Fed-up with pompous, destructive, hate-driven seminarians!
Are you seriously going to attempt to graduate from your sad little seminary, with your junior league ‘ministry’ certificate and attempt to ‘church’ Americans like me with unfortunate ‘cro-magnon’ comments?
Re-think your whole life plan. Fast.
How dare you attempt to lecture an American on ‘coarse language,’ on ‘locker-room’ talk?!
How dare you?!!
That is the most un-American, un-patriotic set of statements I’ve ever read. The men and boys that died on every battlefield during the Revolutionary War, at the hands of the ‘decent and civil’ red-coats, would react the same as I. What do you imagine those men and boys sounded like? How do you think they spoke? What do you think they were fighting against? What do you think they were dying for?
If you are representative of the condition and state of seminary instruction in America, then I feel doubly convinced that the time and place for church and religion has long gone by.
You’ve wasted so much time and energy in seminary, and I am the reality you will face when you are done. You have no chance of survival, much less success, in any and all of your attempts to keep church and religion alive.
Humans know the living God in our hearts and souls, not in Naves and Altars.
Denny – Thanks for your post!
Douglas – God is not an American or a Brit and the Kingdom of God is not a democracy.
Having said that, exactly who is “interfering” with who? As I’ve said before you have a right to your opinion but this blog is not the place to spew foul language and hatred. How dare you accuse anyone of anything when *you* are the one who came here looking for a fight? You have been treated with courtesy and encouraged to share your experiences but so far I haven’t seen anything but anger and unreasoning hatred. If this is how your God teaches you to live why would anyone need God at all?
I’ll let the above posts stand as they are but any further foul language will be deleted. I strongly suggest trying to get to know the people you are talking to… your posts would be laughable if you weren’t so obviously distressed about something.
“You’ve wasted so much time and energy in seminary”
“Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.” (Proverbs 19:1 ESV)
one parting thought…
one may have “wasted so much time and energy” on a B.S. and M.S. in Journalism if all one can use are four letter words to make a point.