Thank you for being willing to help train people from your church to become Church Planters! We believe that one of the key values of the Vineyard specifically and of Christianity in general is relationship—relationship with God and relationship with other people. We want our Church Planting process to reflect this value very well. Our process and all of our material is designed with this in mind. We want everyone who utilizes this process to feel loved, valued and understood as we help them to evaluate their involvement in church planting.

Also, we believe that our Church Planting process is to be an act of pastoral care and guidance. Planting a new church can be a scary and intimidating process. The skills necessary to plant a new church are about as diverse as imaginable. Church Planters need experience and some degree of proficiency varied skills such as:

• Selecting a target area and people group
• Developing a well thought out ministry plan
• Gathering and training a core group of capable leaders
• Locating and negotiating a facility in which to meet
• Raising the necessary financial support
• Creating strategies for effective evangelism
• Designing advertising and promotional literature
• Developing ministry strategies for various groups such as worship, children, student, small groups and more

Just as every person who is called to ministry should not try to be a pastor, not every pastor should try to be a Church Planter. Church Planters are pioneers of the faith, catalysts, or entrepreneurs and because of this they need a very special set of gifts and abilities.

Our Church Planting process is designed to help identify the strengths and weaknesses of those specific gifts and abilities, and to provide an atmosphere where the potential planter can continue a process of growth in these areas. We believe that this process will help us to confirm what God is doing in these church planters lives, as well as give us an opportunity to help them develop along the way.

You can help as the Sending Pastor by challenging potential Church Planters in these areas. If at any time, you would like to chat more about how to encourage planting in your church, please contact us!