Video Transcript: Basic Church Planter Assessment

Hello, my name is Ben Ingebretson. And welcome to this training session on  basic personal assessment for church planting, we're gonna be talking about  developing your own growth plan as a church planter. And this is an exciting  

opportunity in your life to start thinking about, am I gifted to be a church planter,  or a confirmation of that call that church planting, or beginning to discern a  pathway to that church planting. So if you fit any of those categories, this is the  right place for you to be today. To talk about Churchill church planting  assessment, I have a few assumptions. A church planting is unique, requires a  unique set of gifts in the planter leader. And you know, everyone is unique, we're all uniquely designed by God and church planters fit that category as well, we  we don't want to push people into church planting that don't have the gifts that it  requires. It tends to be damaging on that person, it can certainly not be a  positive experience for people that are, are following that person. And so really  discerning the human factor in church planting is the key success determinator  in and I put it this way, the number one factor in church planting success is the  planting leader. And the assessment of the planter is best done by a team of a  couple of folks seeking human wisdom and spiritual insight. And today's training  hopefully will, will help you along with the team in that process of discernment.  Assessments not a once and done experience that we all grow. And I've worked  with people who have not been gifted as planters at the moment of their first  assessment, but who have demonstrated that gifting later. That's because  church planting is primarily about a set of behaviors. And those behaviors can  be possessed by many folks, and developed, developed and cultivated over  time. So we're I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit. Let's just let's go back and  talk about a few foundational things in assessment. Number one, is there a call  on your life to be a church planter? You know, the book of Ephesians says that  some are given to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and some teachers and, and church planters tend to be those with the apostolic  and evangelistic kind of gifting. That word apostle means that one was sent with  a message that's the meaning of the Greek term. And, and church planters  definitely have this urgent sense of being sent. And in that being sent, they feel  a calling to move out with the gospel, they have an evangelistic gift, usually, if  you're not called a church planter, and you shouldn't be doing it. Some of us  may feel like a church needs to be planted. And so we could be a great support  to a church planter, some of us feel that, you know, we ought to be a church  planter. And so maybe we should explore that. But need and ought are not  adequate in discerning calling. That's not to say that they're irrelevant, but but  need and ought are not adequate to the real stresses of being a church planter.  That sense of calling that God has designed me and led me to this moment, I  feel compelled to move out with a gospel message and share the gospel and  plant a church. These are our indicators of calling. And so secondly, is the  planter spiritually, emotionally physically prepared for the challenges of church 

planting? Church planting is hard work, and it's stressful. Paul says to Timothy a  leader shouldn't be a novice. That definitely applies to church planting. being  spiritually and emotionally and physically prepared because of the rigors on all  of those levels is critical in determining your readiness to be a church planter.  You may have the gifts but this may not be the right time. So give thought to that or, or how about this question is the planter in harmony with those who may be  sponsoring the church plant? You may feel called to plant a church. You may  feel called to plant a church in partnership or partnership with some folks that  want to support you in that but you may not be in harmony with those people,  their expectations, their philosophy, their way of thinking about church planting  may be different than yours. And so it's really critical that you clarify that. Or you  are going to become part of a problem down the road. And so having a level of  agreement between partners is critical. Or how about this fourth one does the  planter have those who would speak well of them and their fitness for church  planting? You know, all of us have folks that have watched us mature in ministry, and to have some folks that say, you know, I have observed you and I know of  your work and experience, and I could, I could certainly speak well of you and  your fitness for church planting. If, if the people around you can't imagine you  being a church planter, then perhaps that is an indicator for you to slow down a  bit. If the people around you can see you doing that, if they see that church  planting that vigor that outward sent style, that evangelistic passion, that people  orientation, then perhaps, that is a calling, and so that support of others and  confirmation of gifts is needed for church planting. Number five has the planter  mastered the basic skills of ministry, church planting is a certain set of skills  highly relational, highly outwardly focused entrepreneurial, starting a ministry  from scratch, those skills can be trained. But they're best when they're trained  on top of preaching, and teaching and leadership and shepherding and  evangelistic gifts that are already in place. It's not a good thing, to have to train a church planter how to preach. Because the other duties of ministry are usually  pretty challenging. And the duties that are associated with church planting are  pretty challenging. And so preaching ends up being just one more thing to cram  into the schedule of a busy church planter. So I recommend that the church  planters have some experience in preaching and experience and leadership and experience in shepherding in evangelism so that they come with some basic  skills in place. None of us are perfect at all these. But hopefully, we have a  foundation and are the circumstances of the plant best suited to the planters  effectiveness. Circumstances of the plant. I'd like to think with you for a few  moments, about risk factors in relation to circumstances. I brought along eight  key risk factors and planter effectiveness. I would love to have you take a few  moments and reflect on each of these as you think about the unique  circumstance that you may be planting in. And and then how would you score  yourself on a scale of one being low and 10 being high? So take the first one 

does the location fit the planters culture and background experience? You see,  you're going to do best planting in a place where the culture and experience of  your life is fairly similar. It's not to say that you couldn't plant in a place that's  very difficult different. But it's going to be less risky for you to plant in a place  where the environment is similar. So would you say your risk is low in that area  or high? Or how many ministry partners will join the plant from the very start?  You're going to do better if you have a good squad of 4, 5, 8, 10, 15, 25 people  who will jump on board with you in planting this ministry from the very get go.  The more people you have to recruit from the very start, the harder it is. So how  would you score yourself one being you know what, I'm a low risk in that area. I  have a lot of people that are supporting me right now. Or 10 being high. Or how  many pre existing contacts in the location are open to joining the plant. If you've  lived in the area that you're going to be planting in for a number of years and  you know a lot of folks and they're all excited about you planting the church and  they're going to be the first ones to sign up. And they're they're saying they'd  love to be a part of that experience. You're going to be a low risk in that  category. If you don't know hardly anyone if you have very few contacts in the  community that Your joining to plant then you're gonna be at higher risk or  higher on that scale? Or how near is your family or friends to the location that  you're planting in? Yeah, one, my family and friends are nearby, they're there to  support me, I can get time away with them just to refresh myself and my family,  or 10 Being is a long way to any family and friends. And I'm kind of all out alone  in a place without their support, that's a higher risk kind of a situation. Or how  about number five? How close are you to other churches that are supportive of  your planting work? One would be I'm very close, there's either a few churches  that are highly supportive or a lot of churches that are reasonably supportive of  my planting effort, I'm going to get a lot of support from them. Or, or number 10,  is, if I were to rate myself higher, there are very few churches around that  support me. I feel very alone in terms of other churches in their support. How  much financial support we receive for your work. church planters need time to  do ministry. And time sometimes can be provided through salary and through  some fat funding support. If you're a one, then you've got significant support to  help you so that you may be bi vocational but you can get some additional  financial support for the the costs of ministry from other supporters. 10 being  you know, I, I have no financial support, and I'm gonna have to entirely fund this  through my own gifts and through the tithes and offerings that come from the  new attendees. How much ministry success have you experienced as a pastor  and a planter? One would be I've experienced very little success in my ministry  or 10. I've experienced a lot of success, church planting calls for self confidence. And if you're struggling with confidence, it's going to be harder for you. And, and  that scale measures that. And finally, how strong of a Ridley Assessment score  does the planter have? We're gonna talk about the Ridley assessment score in 

the next training tape on assessment that we that we provide. But it is a detailed look at the specific behavioral qualities of successful church planters. And and  so these eight areas together, give a picture of how much risk you'll undertake in being a church planter. Every ministry venture involves risks. Some risks are  well taken on other risks are foolish to take on someone else should be doing  that because they're better at it. Someone else should do it because they're in a  better position to be successful. And this risk assessment is one way of looking  at the issues that surround success in church planting. Now, let me share with  you a few key principles and developing a growth and readiness plan in terms of your development as a church planter. Number one, don't rush God. Oftentimes  church planners are in a hurry to plant, they're in a hurry to move out. There's an urgency that goes with church planting. But that urgency sometimes can cause  you to move before God's ready to deploy you into that kind of ministry. So take  some time and make sure that you're in sync with God's development for your  life. And you can discern that through others. But there's many many good times in life to plant a church and it may be that a few years from now would be a  better time for you than right now. Or it may be that this is the right time number  two get a good mentor have someone training you make sure that it was a Paul  in your life as Timothy had a Paul. Find a good mentor someone that's planted a church before and and pick their brain asks them for wisdom seek insight from  them. Get a good mentor. A good coach get experience a worship at church  plant, observe a church planter. get experience in ministry wherever you can.  Church Planting thrives on experience. And and you need to get a lot of it.  Before you launch off and plant your church experience and leadership,  experience envisioning experience and evangelism experience in preaching and teaching, and become aware of your weaknesses, we all have them. The very  best church planters are those that are most aware of their weaknesses. And  when they know what the weakness is, they can then compensate for those  weaknesses. They can then build strengths around them, but others and have  others help them. That's not a sign of weakness, that is a sign of strength.  Whenever you're aware of your shortcomings. Develop a plan to strengthen  your weaknesses. It's one thing to know where you're weak, it's another thing to  begin to work on growing in those areas. So work on that area and asked for  feedback and input. There's nothing more valuable than the input of someone  who isn't necessarily going to be your follower. You know, it's a person who  might not follow you. But who has insight into where you're weak. Who can be a  very, very valuable person, if you can find out from them where it is that they see weakness in your life, ask for feedback. Could you give me some feedback?  There's there's a very, very valuable resource in others who are willing to give it  to you. And stay humble. God rejects the proud but gives grace to the humble.  That's what Scripture says. Humility is always an asset in ministry. It's whenever  you think you have all the answers whenever you think you've got all the all the 

solutions, and whenever you think that you're always going to be a success,  that, that you're having a hard time hearing the wisdom of others. So stay  humble, stay teachable, stay open. In fact, here's a key scripture. I Peter 5:6  says, humble yourself under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due  time. That's a good lesson for church planters. That church planters have to  again and again, put themselves in a positions of learners and of humble  listeners. Because even though God may have given you a vision that God may  have taught you, and God may have prepared you to plant a church, there's  always going to be a new reality that you need to discover in that process. And  you're going to be at your very best whenever you're willing to humble yourself  and to ask for wisdom and ask for help. So that's, that's one scripture. The other  scripture in I Timothy is don't let anyone look down on you because you're  young. Don't let anyone look down on you because you're, you're inexperienced, but rather be an example to others in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity.  Lead up, Paul teaches, Timothy, lead above your current level. Be an example.  Don't look down on your youth. You may come to this and say, Well, I've never  planted a church before. I've never, I've never been the leader of a large  ministry. I've just done small things. Well, don't look down on that. God will use  that God will use everything in your life, in the planting of a new church. And so  with a kind of humble, confidence, move forward, discerning the future, in the  partnership of others, open to where God is leading, seeking wisdom,  minimizing risk, asking God where's the best place for me? Where's the slot?  The space, the place in your vineyard that you would have me cultivate into a  new church start. God bless you