The 5 Capitals--a Tool for Planting Churches

by Jared King, Missio Church, Seattle

I am not much of a handyman. In fact, my wife is the handyman around our house. But even I  know that having the right tools makes building much easier. And it certainly is true of building a church. The difficulty in church planting is that there are more tools now than we know what to do with. It seems like every week someone comes out with the new “latest and greatest” tool to help you form teams, lead people, disciple leaders, and raise funds. The hard part is discerning the tools that are right for you in your season.

The 5 Capitals

Mike Breen’s 5 Capitals is the tool that has been most useful to us during our groundwork phase of church planting in Seattle. It is a tool to help you understand the nature of connection between yourself and individuals, organizations, nonprofits, churches, ministries, etc. It’s easy to form relationships and connections that produce little substance. The reason most of our connections produce so little fruit has less to do with the heart of the connection, but, rather, a lack of understanding the nature of the connection.

Breen outlines five different capitals that we are in charge of stewarding for God’s Kingdom as disciples of Jesus. What are the 5 Capitals?

Physical Capital

• Time
• Health
• Space

Spiritual Capital

• Kingdom Wisdom
• Authority

Financial Capital

• Money
• Resources

Intellectual Capital

• Ideas
• Creativity
• Knowledge

Relational Capital

• Relationship database
• Relationships you can count on

Any business owner or church planter knows to invest in making connections. This tool helps to clarify within relationships how two partners can work together to advance kingdom work. It changes conversations from, “Hey, we should get together more often to encourage each other,” to “Please use our copy machine whenever you need to print anything. And thank you for babysitting our kids last week!” Building anything of substance requires all 5 Capitals. You can either try the uphill battle of growing your own capital, or, identifying where you can invest in others and how others can invest in you.

Try this...

1. Make a chart with two columns for each of the Capitals
   • Write down “What I Have to Invest” in one column, and “What I Need” in the other. For each Capital ask yourself, what do I have to invest in other people, and what do I need to raise this Capital? For example:

Physical Capital

What I Have to Invest...

What I Need...

40 hours a week
Good health

Childcare, because often those 40 hours come with a kid in tow
Someone to help build a website so I can spend more time developing systems

Relational Capital

What I Have to Invest...

What I Need...

A long list of relationships

More fully committed relationship to whom I can start handing off pieces of the mission and vision

1. Build your plan of action to use “What I Have” to grow “What I Need.”
   • Ask questions like these:
     • How do I raise my Spiritual Capital with the relationships I have?
     • How can I use my highest capital to grow some of my lower capitals?
     • Which is my lowest Capital and how can I raise it?
     • How and in whom can I invest my higher capitals to promote Kingdom work?
   • Example:
     • “I want to raise my spiritual capital in my neighborhood by serving my local school, but don’t know how. I know Chris who runs the Union Gospel Mission that does a citywide School Serve Day. I can invite him to introduce me to people at my local elementary. But I need more time and energy to serve in this capacity, so I can’t do it alone. I have a relationship with my neighbor Matt who owns a painting company. I can invite him as a part of our church’s initiative to serve by using his Intellectual Capital.”
2. Continue reassessing your connections and building your Capital

The 5 Capitals Tool played a significant role in combating feelings of isolation and inadequacy in our first years on-site. In a post-Christian city with limited spiritual resources, this tool gave us insight to the significance of relationships, glimpses into God’s work in this city, and a relief that it’s not up to us to do it all.