The Kairos: Church Planting Support mission is to recruit, equip and support church multiplication leaders to strategically plant new church planting churches of Christ in order to produce regional church planting movements.
Starting new churches is an exciting adventure in the kingdom of God. Church planting is an area of ministry attracting a growing interest. But church planting is also a demanding and risky venture. It requires leaders with vision, experience and commitment. Research on church planting in the United States (Stetzer, Planting New Churches, 2003) also shows that church planters are more successful when they work within a planter care system.
Kairos: Church Planting Support provides you a planter care system to help you plant dynamic, relevant churches. We connect you with people and resources to confirm your call, build your confidence and support you as you plant transforming communities exhibiting God's kingdom on earth!
Check out our assessment, training and coaching/mentoring resources to learn more!
Path for Church Planters:
INVESTIGATION: Discovery Lab
Reading
PREPARATION: Training Lab
GO! Coaching/Mentoring
Do you have a heart for church planting? Follow the links above or contact Stan Granberg, PhD, Executive Director of Kairos: Church Planting Support to begin exploring how God may be directing you.
1. Consideration: Self-assessment
Successful church planting leaders have skills and personality characteristics that are somewhat distinct from those who minister within established churches. These are the kinds of differences Paul describes in Eph. 4:11 as he lists different kinds of leaders whom God supplies for different kinds of ministry within the church. How has God prepared you?
Take the self-assessment as your first step in preparing for church planting.
download Planter Self-assessment below
When you complete your self-assessment e-mail your results to sgranberg@kairoschurchplanting.org. At your request we will set up a phone interview and talk about next steps.
Explore how Kairos helps you get direction and confirmation with Investigation: Discovery Lab
2. Investigation: Discovery Lab
Direction and confirmation are two powerful life tools. Discovery Lab is designed to provide you both these tools. It a behavioral assessment to help you, as a church planter candidate, gather information about yourself to see more clearly where you might best serve the kingdom with your abilities and skills. The final outcome of Discovery Lab is a Church Planter Profile summarizing your character traits, ministry skills and readiness for church planting.
The assessment process begins with the MBIF (Missionary Biographical Information Form). Kairos uses the MBIF with other mission organizations partnering with Missions Resource Network. This extensive application elicits background information and references. Prior to inviting you to the Discovery Lab Kairos talks with your references, looking for confirmation that others see you as a potential church planter. When you receive your invitation to Discovery Lab you will also be asked to make a $200 deposit for the Enrich (marriage), Myers-Briggs (personality) and Winslow (leadership) inventories which become part of your CP Profile
Discovery Lab is a 4 day behavioral interview of 4 or 5 church planting candidates and spouses, conducted by an interview team of Kairos staff, mental health counselors and other invested people. Discovery Lab includes interviews over the 13 competencies associated with effective church planters, presentations, and team-based projects. The results of Discovery Lab are collated and presented to you verbally in an exit interview and in writing in the CP Profile. The results of this multi-perspective profile will help you as a church planting candidate:
Cost: $750 per couple (includes $200 deposit).
Next, Explore how Kairos helps you prepare for the challenges and adventure of church planting with Preparation: Training Lab
3. Preparation: Strategy Lab
Wise church planters do everything they can to prepare themselves for the challenges and adventure of church planting! Strategy Lab is a week-long event with fellow planters where you develop support relationships while preparing your essential strategy plan.
At Kairos we recognize that there are different types of churches and that planters come with different gifts, abilities and callings. Our intent is to help you plant the church God is calling you to plant and which fits the context of your ministry.
While there are different contexts and approaches, there are also common ideas and processes upon which new churches rise and fall. It is crucial for every church planter to have a clear understanding of these processes and pitfalls. Strategy Lab is a compilation of practical tools and contemporary insights that will enhance your ministry and set your church planting venture on a positive course to reach your city and the world with the gospel of Christ.
At the completion of Strategy Lab you will:
Next, Explore how Kairos helps you gather a personal support team with Go!: Coaches and Mentors
4. Go!: Coaches and Mentors
Church planters are not meant to work alone!
In fact, building teams is one of the primary skills of successful church planters. The first team you need to gather is your personal support team: your planting coach and your spiritual mentor. Kairos will identify a planting coach for you who shares your values and vision. Your coach will help you sharpen your strategy plan, foresee the obstacles, twists, and turns ahead, and help you discover answers to the questions you confront. Coaching is not about completing a program. It is about connecting relationally with a like-minded person with experience who can share their wisdom and insight with you.
The demands of church planting can overwhelm even the strongest person. Church planting will make demands on your spiritual, emotional, and physical health and your relationship with your spouse. A spiritual mentor is a person whom you recommend to Kairos, someone who has been important to you and your spiritual development. Kairos will help you and your mentor learn how to take care of your health and to continue your spiritual formation as a person of God. Your mentor acts as a confidant. Your mentor will keep an eye on the four dimensions of your health (spiritual, emotional, physical and couple). Mentors also provide personal support as you plant your new church; your mentor will be your biggest fan and be there for you in times of need!
Our experience has made us believers in the benefits of planters working in an expansive network of other church planters, planter coaches and spiritual mentors. We recommend that church planters maintain an active relationship with a planting coach and spiritual mentor for at least the first two years of the new church plant. The success rate for planters who have been assessed, trained and supported with coaches and mentors is over 80%! As you gain experience through your church planting and connect with what God is doing in the world, we look forward to you one day being a planter coach to pass on your expertise to another emerging planter!
Next, Explore if you are ready for church planting: Download the Planter Self-assessment and e-mail your results to opportunities@kairoschurchplanting.org.