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Ministry Backpack Podcast Episode 31 Show Notes:
Summary: In today’s podcast I talk about “Qualifications For Church Planters.”
Today’s show is brought to you by:
Resources and Links mentioned in this episode:
“In my early training as a Church Planter, I received a list of 35-40 qualifications for a being a Church Planter. It was as if you had to be ‘Superman’ or be able to start a ‘Fortune 500’ company.'”
“Most of the lists of ‘qualifications’ for Church Planters are well meaning, but I would say that they are not really ‘qualifications’ for Church Planters, but rather, ‘skills and characteristics that you will need to possess, develop, or recruit others for’ in order to do well as a Church Planter.'”
4 Qualifications for Church Planters:
1. You Are Qualified To Be A Pastor.
(1 Timothy 3 | Titus 1)
“The Church Planter should be qualified to be a Pastor, because ‘Church Plants’ are Churches.”
“Many ‘Church Planter’ problems are actually ‘Pastor’ problems.”
“I’d like to toss out the idea – it’s open to discussion and not set in stone – that Church Planters are really only Church Planters leading up to the launch and beginning of that Church. After that, they are Pastors of a new Church.”
“Established Churches, regardless of size, should be doing the same kinds of things that Church Plants are doing – sharing the Gospel, reaching their communities, honoring God and being a healthy church.”
“The reason that it is so important to understand that to be qualified to be a Church Planter, you need to be qualified to be a Pastor, is because Church Plants are not some strange thing out on the side. They’re not an additional ministry of some kind or para-church ministry – Church Plants are new Churches.”
2. God Has Called You To Be A Church Planter.
“There is a trend in Church Planting organizations in recent years to believe that the reason that Church Plants fail is because they had the ‘wrong guy.’ That may be true in some instances, but it’s never as simplistic as that.”
“The ‘right guy,’ genuinely called by God, can still make misteps, lack support, and have other challenges.”
“The Church Planter himself, needs to have a deep sense that God is calling him to plant a church, regardless of outside support.”
“God’s Calling trumps everything – it trumps your ability, your past, and your failures, because God can equip you for anything.”
“Assesments are good for ruling out ‘bozos.’ Although, God in Scripture, called a number of ‘bozos’ along the way…He has called and used people who didn’t seem qualified when He called them.”
“Assessments are helpful for clarifying ‘glaring reasons’ you should not be planting a church. Things like: You’re mad at your Pastor, you think you can do it better than everyone else, the timing is wrong, you just want to get a bunch of Christians together, or your spouse is completely against the idea.”
“It’s not so much about being ‘cut out’ for Church Planting or ministry, it’s that God is ‘calling you out and cutting you out’ for Church Planting or ministry.”
“God equips you for what He calls you to.”
“God’s calling on an individual is sometimes hard to clarify, externally”
“There are times that God calls someone to do something and no one supports it.”
“At a bare minimum, you have to be able to say, ‘I have a burden in my heart that God is clearly calling me to do something and I can’t shake it. No matter where I turn, no matter where I go, God seems to continue to remind me and put this on my heart. It becomes unmistakable.”
3. You Are Willing To Make Sacrifices.
“You need to ask yourself, ‘What if I don’t raise the money I think I need, or gather the number of people I think I need or get the kind of support I think I need?”
“Is your own personal list of things going to be the ‘deal breaker?’ What are you willing to sacrifice?”
“What are you willing to sacrifice in order to follow through on what you have sensed God leading you to do?”
Hebrews 11:6 – “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him, must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him.” – NLT
“This verse is not only true regarding our Salvation, it is also true as we are following God. He is pleased with faith.”
“Sometimes we have to step out and faith, and we won’t see Him provide until we do step out in faith.”
“Where God guides, He provides – but not always in the way that we expect or ask for. He sometimes provides in completely different ways.”
“What are you willing to do, and what are you willing to do without in order to follow through and plant the church God is calling you to plant?”
“Determining your level of willingness to sacrifice is a great internal question and validation for figuring out if you should be planting a church or not.”
4. You Are Willing To Learn And To Prepare.
“God may be calling you to plant a Church, but the timing may not be right. But regardless, the call to plant is also the call to prepare.”
“Being qualified does not necessarily mean you are ready.”
“Being willing to go to training, spend time with other Church Planters and be teachable are evidence of God’s calling and your qualification to be a Church Planter.”
“The ‘big two’ qualifications are that you are qualified to be a Pastor and that God has called you. Because if God has called you, He will equip you, you will learn, you will pick up the skills that you need or you will bring people around you who are strong in the areas that you are weak in order to build a strong team for Church Planting.”
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Starting new churches is one of the most important things that Pastors and Churches should be praying about and considering.
“We want to saturate the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ – and to do so, it’s going to take new churches of different types and styles. It’s going to take many ordinary people who God calls out and equips, who go out into the harvest and reach people for Christ.”
“Is God calling you to start a Church?”
Join the conversation on this topic by commenting or leaving questions below. If you have a question that you’d like to have heard on the podcast, record your question, and upload it to Google Drive, Dropbox, Box or some other cloud based site and send the link to Hello@MinistryBackpack.com
Music Provided by “Artist Unknown” – https://artistunknown.bandcamp.com/
& “Rasputin1963”
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Johnny Leckie is a Christ Follower, Husband to Leona, and Father to Matthew, Melissa & Michael. He is also a Church Planting Pastor, Musician, Artist, & Blogger. He’s a big fan of Coffee & Bacon and is currently planting a Church in Aurora, Colorado called Compass Church. He is the founder of MinistryBackpack.com.
I’m a retired teacher that has recently moved back from Toronto to French Canada, to a smell City named Granby, Quebec. The population is about 70000 people and mainly French speaking.
Let me add on a more personal note, that I always deeply felt along with my wife that my calling had been to serve God as a Church planter. Prior to being a teacher, I did plant 2 Churches as a full time minister.
Through a series of events, I wrongly came to believe that this calling was over or that it could take a different shape. A teaching position in a public High School seemed to be the way to go. It is true that, as a teacher, I was able to promote the GOSPEL in a strong Catholic School system (more like a fortress) through prayer cells involving personnel and students, presenting the Gospel message to whole classes, etc.. It slowly dawned on me though that this new form of Christian service presented some real limitations.
First, I felt somewhat limited in my options to expand beyond strictly short personal interactions due to restrictions imposed on teachers in their dealings with students outside the School context. Second, on top of the time constraints, was the severe hostility shown to me as an outspoken Christian by those who were Catholics in name only. And there were many of them. It became, at times, open persecution.
The end of this painful chapter coincided with our retirement and our returning to our place of origin, that is French Canada.
To make this story short, let me share with you that one our goals in returning to Quebec at that point in time, was to open a beach front for the Kingdom by establishing a house Church at our own expense in our new and rented residence. The Lord has graciously permitted us to start a bi-weekly bible study in our living room with the participation of a couple from our new neighborhood. Our owner and his wife have moved next to our house which seems to indicate a willingness to get closer to us. This has the potential to become a small community of believers.
We now face a dilemma: the same owner wants to sell our house in order to solve some financial problems of his own. We don’t have all the money needed to make this purchased a reality. Since our study group is not ready to tackle this need due to their spiritual level of maturity (the subject of money is very much taboo due in part to their Catholic background in our culture), we request your help to fill the gap. Gifts totalling up to $20,000 added to our own contribution ($50,000) would allow us to get a at the place and the right mortgage easily and keep the house which is equipped with a large basement to accommodate a sizeable group of people (between 10 to 15). By the way the asking price is $265,000.
I do hope that this present request is posted at the right site and fits in with the goal of MinistryBackpack.com.
Please, let me know if I need to change or target a different audience. Thank You!
In the name of our precious Lord Jesus-Christ!
Grace and Peace to you, Pierre. Thank you for sharing your story! Ministry Backpack is not a Church Planting funding site, but you are welcome to post this request here for others to see and perhaps respond to as they are led. Blessings!