1. We begin with the right CHURCH PLANTER.
This is a person called by God and gifted for church planting leadership. Educationally, we look for someone with a Master of Divinity Degree or who is willing to work towards one.
a. Pre-Assessment: This involves an on-line test and an in-person interview with the planter and spouse. This could lead to a recommendation to the next step.
b. Church Planters Assessment Center. These are held three times a year in various locations. Once you are recommended for the assessment center, your way will be paid in full to the assessment center. Spouses must attend with the prospective church planter. This is a 4-day, 3 night event. Prior to coming the couple takes the Personality Factor Profile, DISC, and other tests on-line. There will be a ratio of 1 assessor per couple at the event. Couples will be recommended or not recommended.
2. We offer the right kind of TRAINING.
a. A Church Planters Training Event is held 3 times a year at various locations. This 4-Day, 3-night event teaches the basics of the “4-Stage” Launch and other important church planting insights. The ECC will pay for the church planter plus 3 others from the team for travel. If additional team members want to attend, they will need to pay for their travel; however, with approval of the Covenant Director of Church Planting, on-site housing, food, and material costs are picked up by the ECC once at the event.
b. Coaching: Each church planter is assigned an experienced coach to walk with them through the first years of the plant. The coach will help the church planter come up with a “well-conceived project” that is culturally appropriate in reaching the community for Christ.
3. We look for the right “CORE GROUP”
a. We try to launch as many PARENTED projects as possible. Parented plants tend to do much better. If we cannot find a strong ECC parent, then we look for a church planter that is “community-based.” This means a church planter that already has extensive networks in the community. We encourage the planter to find partner churches who can help. These partners may be Covenant and non-Covenant Churches.
b. We want the launch team members to be people who have a passion to reach their community for Christ. This is the only reason we start new churches – evangelism.
c. We look for launch team members who can gather the unchurched and help them meet Jesus in an authentic way.
d. While the ECC traditionally has planted churches in the suburbs, we are also developing church plants to reach the following groups: African-American, Hispanic, 2nd Generation Asian, and Post-modern.
4. The right SUPPORT and the right INFLUENCE
The Right Support:
a. 3 Streams of external support.
The Covenant, the Conference, and the parent/partner church(es) give external support of $40,000 each for the church plant, for a total of $120,000. This external support is a grant that starts out higher in year one, and then is phased out… until the new church becomes self-supporting after the 3rd year. We typically won’t start a new church unless there is a parent church or a cluster of partner churches. See Parenting docs for more info.
b. Plus, we encourage a 4th Stream of external support. This comes from fund-raising by the church planter.
The Right Influence:
a. It’s not just about financial support, but those who are “supporting and encouraging” the planter and the new church.
b. There is a growing “camaraderie” among church planters in the Covenant. In addition, the ECC is being strongly influenced by church plants. On any given Sunday, 33% of those worshipping in an EC church are in a church that’s less than 10 years old.
“Church Planting is the closest thing to a guaranteed method of Evangelism known to man.” Lyle Schaller
We have seen the truth of this statement in the ECC:
- In all evangelical churches in the US – there are 3 people won to Christ per 100 attenders each year.
- In all Evangelical Covenant Churches in the US – there are 7 people won to Christ per 100 attenders each year.
- In all Evangelical Covenant Church Plants – there are 12 people won to Christ per 100 attenders each year.
- In church plants in the Great Lakes Conference – there are 30 people won to Christ per 100 attenders each year.
More facts:
- After 5 years, the average size of an Evangelical Covenant Church plant is 238.
- The survival rate of Evangelical Covenant Church plants is 85%.
- ECC plants grow primarily through conversions.
- ECC plants are increasingly diverse, with over half ethnic or multi-ethnic.
