Important ministry isn’t always highly visible. The church planter assessments we do in SENT Network are unseen by most, but they are a significant part of planting healthy churches.
Long before we commission out a church planter, or even before one trains with us, we assess an aspiring planter. We use an intentional process to discern whether we believe one has the God-given capacity and the biblical character traits to plant a church. We also seek to discern whether it is “a fit” for a particular leader to plant through SENT Network and one of our network churches. This discernment process involves prayer, an online planter profile, a written questionnaire, and a day long face to face interview conducted by our assessment team that also includes one’s spouse. Our assessment team asks an aspiring planter questions about his life and ministry experiences. Their questions probe to learn about demonstrated competencies in a potential planter’s Head (biblical & theological understanding), Heart (character & motivation), and Hands (ministry skills & practices). We learn about one’s capacity to “run the race” well as a church planter, and we also surface what further training may be required to do so. Special thanks for the unseen ministry of assessing aspiring church planters being done by the team of Brian Hopper, Craig Fadel, and Bryan Wintersteen.
Please pray for God’s wisdom as we continue assessing potential planters! We just completed two assessments with aspiring planters who are excited to raise-up gospel-centered churches in Baltimore and among the large Ethiopian population in the Silver Spring/DC area. We also have upcoming assessments with those who aspire to plant in Philadelphia, Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and other cities around the Mid-Atlantic. Advancing a big vision requires God’s grace working through many unseen ministries. Assessing aspiring church planters is one of these.
Thanks for your part in advancing the vision!
For the gospel, Mark McGeever