Frequently Asked Question About Church Planting
1. Isn't church planting risky?
Anything worth doing involves risk. Serving God requires taking risks based on our FAITH in God and his unique calling in our lives.
Our FAITH in God's calling can be confirmed by FIT: is church planting a good fit for your personality, strengths and passions?
We have a number of Pre-assessment Tools to help you get an initial confirmation of church planting as a fit for you.
2. How do you determine a person's "Fit" for church planting?
Church planting is a strategic investment of human and financial resources. We do all we can to wisely steward those kingdom resources for a greater harvest!
After a personal interview with you, the next step is to send you to our Church Planting Assessment Center. This is a four-day experience with a group of Church Planting candidates to assess their fit and readiness to plant. This has been an incredible learning growing time for almost everyone who has participated.
To schedule an interview please contact.
3. Do I have to have a seminary degree to be considered for church planting?
No. However Bible or Pastoral training on a Bachelor's level is required, with some exception for individuals who have had solid ministry experience in a healthy training-model church.
For those who have not completed formal training, we will require a plan for working toward it. Whatever your training level, we recruit planters who have clearly developed set of doctrinal beliefs that align with our movement, and who want to be part of our movement to plant healthy reproductive churches.
4. Do I have to raise support?
Just about everybody in our movement raises support, including staff and other leaders. The amount of personal support depends on your lifestyle. Some prefer to work bi-vocationally, or have spouses who work full time. We have training and coaching to help you effectively raise funds for your project.
We encourage people to get a head start in raising support even before they arrive on site. Once you have raised an agreed upon percentage of your total support, you can move, get your family settled in the community, begin forming a core group, and continue support raising.
We are structured to work through "Lead Teams" and "Parenting Churches" along with District financial support to reduce the burden of fundraising and deploy planters more rapidly. (Ask us about the 3 models for supporting church planting projects)
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5. What about denominational affiliation, and the 'Baptist' title?
We are a Baptist organization out of conviction, and for cooperation. With the Baptist General Conference, a very mission focused organization. Our goal is to reach un-churched people for Christ.
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Among the un-churched, denominational titles are usually more confusing than helpful. We expect that our churches freely inform their congregation about our denomination and participate with us in cooperative mission.
6. What kinds of churches do you start? What models are used?
The mission and the message are unchanging and clearly communicated in the Bible. There are also principles and practices that set the boundaries for what a biblical church looks like.
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However, models focus more on specific methodology and structure. Our district contains a variety of models of churches. The model chosen is a function of what might work best in a given community, or target group, and fits the planter.
The Lead Team or Parenting Church (es) would likely have insight and input on models that fit the area. Visit some of our church plants online!
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7. What kind of training do you provide?
We offer training called "First Steps" following the Assessment Center. There are also regional church planting boot camps. We provide ongoing training through Training Modules available through our Website, in-house training events, as well as cross-denominational training events.
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8. What kind of support is available for church planters?
We strongly believe that planting is the healthiest and most effective when it is done in the context of a supportive community of leaders. This is why we primarily plant through Lead Teams and Parenting Churches.
When adopting a planting project or doing a re-birth project, we also will connect those projects with existing Lead Teams and churches.
There is also a network of planters nationwide through TeAmerica that provides a wealth of planting experience, and resourcing through the 7 strategies that have been developed over a period of many years, through the experience of hundreds of church plants.
You will also have a Planting Coach who will meet with you formally on a monthly basis, in person, e-mail and by phone. Your coach will be trained and experienced in order to help you be your best as a planter, and plant effectively.
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9. Can we bring other team members with us?
Absolutely! According to a Forbes Magazine study, entrepreneurial ventures which were partnerships of at least two people were four times more likely to succeed than sole proprietorships. Many of our church planters bring "ministry partners" with them. Value and agenda harmony and funding issues are usually easier to settle, leading to a smooth transition into church planting.
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10. What happens if I fail to plant a church?
If you have chosen to plant in our movement, you are less likely to fail at your mission. Everyone does many things they've never done before. Sometimes we fail. But failing never means you are a failure. It only means that there is a better fit for you out there, and God never wastes pain. If we let Him, our experience and learning can be foundational for greater effectiveness. We will help you transition into other ministry placement opportunities.
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11. What is the Sunergeo Privacy Policy?
Sunergeo is committed to protecting your privacy and establishing a trusting relationship with its users and partners. We do not sell, trade or rent your personal information to others. Your privacy is very important to us, and we want you to be assured that our privacy practices are held to the highest standards. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for this site: www.sunergeo.org.
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