What Are We Looking for When We Assess Church Planters?

Planting a church is one of the hardest, yet one of the most rewarding, works to which you will ever give yourself.

It takes a certain type of profile. Not everyone is green-lighted. And that's okay. That is why the body of Christ must work together to build (and advance) the mission of the church. 

Our Eastern Europe Team Leader, Taras Prystupa, often says, "If you drive fast, then you might make a good church planter." 

What I think he means is that church planters are often ambitious men. They sometimes can have multiple irons in the fire. They move at a fast pace. They kick up lots of dust. And they often have a high social and emotional intelligence about them. Sometimes they aren't always the most sensitive and caring.

More than this, though, they need be gospel-centered in their identify and character. They need to lead their families well first. They need to rightly handle the Scriptures. Rightly exegete their context. Rightly exegete themselves. And so much more.

Because the list is never ending, and intentionally so, we use three categories for assessing potential church planters -- Head, Heart, and Hands.

HEAD -- Knowledge of the Bible and Foundational Theology

It is here that we see one's ability to rightly handle the Scriptures. What is more, we look at a potential planter's quick recall of key biblical texts, the ability to quickly outline a book of the Bible from memory, the ability to tell God's redemptive story from beginning to end, and so much more. 

HEART -- Gospel Motivations and Gospel Fluency

In this category, we look for clear gospel identity in Christ. We want to see a deep need for the grace of Jesus in a planter's life. Our hope is to see confidence rooted in God's grace and truth in their life, not their personality, gift set, or even experience. Furthermore, we want to see an aroma of gospel fluency in how they live, teach, and lead.

HANDS -- Leadership Experience and Strategic Thinking

This final category is a rearview mirror look into the past leadership successes and failures of a potential church planter. It is here that we can see their ability to think strategically about process and the ability to simplify hard truths. We also hope to see a strategic ability to reproduce strategy into others. 

Where Do We Go From Here?

Because no one is perfect but Jesus, nobody gets a perfect score. The goal of an assessment is to see clear strengths, needed growth areas, and weaknesses uncovered.

From here, we provide Assessment Reports (ARs) that show the strengths of a potential planter, growth areas to work on (i.e., work/rest balance), and weaknesses (gift-set deficiencies) to build a team around... or even where, or in what role, to join a church planting team.

All for the glory of God.