Introducing Online Residency

Historians report that during the Spanish flu pandemic, churches found creative ways to minister to people. Pastors printed portions of their sermons in the local papers. They emphasized home worship, a once common but long neglected practice. They arranged for Sunday school lessons and prayer guides to be delivered to homes directly.

They understood, like we do, that during times of crisis, the church is needed. Our plans may change, but the mission goes on.

We believe this is a time for the church to pivot while still advancing, and so in anticipation of the potential that gathering and travel could be limited at times during the next year, we are preparing to offer a fully online Church Planting Residency for 2020-2021.

Maybe you have felt called to plant a church but you’ve wrestled with whether you should move forward during COVID-19? We believe you should, in hope, wisdom, and expectation, knowing that while your methods may change, there is an opportunity to display and proclaim the gospel in a unique way in this season!

Does this mean we won’t gather? We hope not. We put a high value on the in-person benefits of training and the trips we take to learn from fruitful churches. If we have opportunities to gather wisely, we’ll take advantage of those where appropriate, and we will assume the cost as usual for travel for any resident regardless of contact.

At the same time, we believe we can leverage new online platforms to create the same high impact leadership and training environment as we always have.

If you are an experienced pastor who has considered planting a church in 2020-21 but has wrestled with what it looks like to move forward, we would love to invite you to consider this opportunity. To inquire, fill out this interest form. For more details on residency, visit our plant page.