4. Go!
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.