Church Planter Resources
We continue to look for resources to help you plant healthy churches — especially those which are FREE!
In this edition of our newsletter we’ll provide some tips and links that continue this theme.
But before jumping into the details, I want to express my appreciation for the leaders that help make our Exponential East Pre-Conference a huge success! The room was packed with over 100 church planters as our panel of experts (Aubrey Malphurs, Phil Ling, John Worcester and Brett Andrews) provided great wisdom and insight from years of experience in church planting. Thanks to Creed Branson for moderating the coaches panel and Pat Furgerson for his detailed explanation of building momentum and leading during Q&A wrap-up times.
Presentation slides for most of the Launching a New Church sessions are here: Free Downloads
If you haven’t made it to Exponential before, don’t miss out! It’s a great time to learn and connect with other church planters from around the world!!
–Dale Spaulding, Director
May 2016 – Contents
- FREE Church Planter Self-Assessments
- Don’t Skip the Assessment Process!
- Launch Plan Tip #288 — Select Church Name
- FREE eBook: Launch Strong
- Expo Regional at New Life Christian Church
FREE Church Planter Self-Assessments
Self-Assessments are simply measuring your responses in one venue and using them to predict how you perform or respond in another venue. We use assessments because they can save us time and effort in learning to appreciate and appropriate the areas in which we are wired to best function.
All of us have an A-Game, a way of leading and ministering that is unique to each one of us. So a variety of assessments can help us understand ourselves from different perspectives and we aren’t just categorized into one of several different types of leaders.
In other words, through multiple assessments we can understand the nuances of our unique style of leading or ministering.
We have included two types of self-assessments free of charge: DISC and Spiritual Gifts. Every assessment can be helpful if you 1) understand what it is designed to assess and 2) the limitations of the assessment instrument. These tools are easy to take online here:
- DISC Profile
- Spiritual Gifts – English
- Spiritual Gifts – Spanish (PDF)
- Spiritual Gifts Workbook – Spanish
Of course there are more rigorous assessments available for purchase through several vendors, but these will help you on your important journey to understanding your unique and wonderful personality and special gifts. Be sure to read our tutorial where Greg provides some additional details.
Don’t Skip the Assessment Process!
One of the most dangerous things you can do is move forward planting a church without solid confirmation of your calling. Church planting is not for everyone. The Multiply Group provides a two-step process of assessing potential planters. First is an online pre-assessment to help you gain an understanding of your strengths and experience. Second is a two-day in person retreat for you and your spouse to have a safe place to process your call. A local team of assessors will give you feedback, insights and suggested growth recommendations to help maximize God’s call on your life.
Check out The Multiply Group and Mac Lake’s thoughts on Church Planting for more details.
Launch Plan Tip #288 — Select Church Name
It’s hard to overemphasize the importance of selecting a good name for the church Christ has entrusted you to build.
One of the many tasks associated with starting a new church is choosing a name that reflects the DNA of the church — your mission, vision and core values — all bundled up in a simple word or two. Sound like a daunting task? Many church planters struggle with this significant step.
Here are some thoughts about selecting a name that you might find helpful: Selecting a Church Name. This is a process that takes time, so don’t expect to walk away with the best name right away. In fact, if you have a name you love, you need to let it rest, try it out on others and get feedback from a variety of perspectives.
FREE eBook: Launch Strong — A Planning Guide for Becoming a Multiplying Church
by Brett Andrews and Dale Spaulding
Download this free eBook and learn from this great resource (ok…we’re a little biased!).
Launch Strong will help you plan step by step with God. For some, planning is something you know you need to do, but you just don’t like to do it. Others may feel like the more you plan, the less spiritual you must be. And some spend so much time thinking and planning that they never actually get much done. Somewhere along the spectrum, there is a Godly way to plan.
Exponential Regional hosted by New Life Christian Church
Register Here
New Life Christian Church and Passion for Planting are excited to host the Washington DC Exponential Regional here at our home church. Regionals are designed to be more accessible to church leaders in local geographic areas, especially for leaders who are unable to attend Exponential’s national events OR need a more affordable option to bring their entire team! These regional gatherings include breakout conversations to help unpack the main session content in more detail and are shorter in length to help leaders save travel expenses. BUT, they’re still filled with the full punch of the national event theme. These gatherings include 5 main sessions and 4 conversation breakouts.
Join hundreds of leaders for inspiration, encouragement and equipping at Exponential’s Washington DC Regional church planting conference at the nZone in Chantilly, Virginia. Register early as space is limited at these smaller, more intimate gatherings.