ABOUT OUR REDEEMER NETWORK CHURCH PLANTING RESIDENCY

WE BELIEVE EFFECTIVE CHURCH PLANTING RESIDENCIES ARE CRITICAL TO PLANTING HEALTHY, GOSPEL-CENTERED, MISSIONAL CHURCHES. MANY CHURCHES DESIRE TO BE "CHURCH-PLANTING CHURCHES" BUT LACK THE RESOURCES OR OPPORTUNITY TO DO SO. REDEEMER NETWORK HELPS OUR CHURCHES BECOME "CHURCH-PLANTING CHURCHES" BY OFFERING A COLLABORATIVE RESIDENCY THAT CONSISTS OF: 

• Two-Year Immersion In One of Our Churches
  • Our residency is largely about immersion in a church planting environment. Residents will be immersed into the life and leadership of one of our local churches that will best develop/prepare the future planter. The local church will play a large role in developing the character and testing the calling of the planter. Church planting residents will be given opportunities to observe, participate, lead, and learn alongside church planters who are 3+ years ahead of them in the planting process. Residents will learn from the past and present experiences of their local church. We place residents within churches based on similar context or location of the city they are hoping to plant in. 
     
  • The local church will be responsible for developing the resident into tested, trained, and qualified elder within the two year residency. 
     
• Collaborative Training Cohorts
  • Our residents are also "cross-trained" through eight training cohorts over the two years of the residency. Our church planting cohorts will help future planters develop biblical paradigms for church planting (year 1) and a variety of skills/competencies needed to plant a church (year 2). Although residents will be immersed in different churches, they will get the opportunity to learn together in community with other Redeemer Network church-planting residents. The cohorts will be led by the most skilled leader, pastors, and practitioners in our network. (More info on how we train planters below)
     
  • Redeemer Network is responsible for developing the resident into a capable, competent, and ready planter within the two year residency. 

ABOUT THE PROCESS

REQUIREMENTS:

• Candidates must be within two years of planting a church and have a proven track record of church leadership. 
• Candidates must meet the qualifications outlined for elders in the New Testament. 
• Candidates must have a robust biblical theology that stands in agreement with the doctrinal distinctives of the Acts 29 Network. »  http://www.acts29network.org/about/distinctives/
• Candidates must be humble, teachable, and willing to take the posture of a servant/learner. 
• Candidates must be self-starters and highly motivated leaders. Much of this residency will be depend on the candidates ability to initiate and engage in both the learning cohorts and local church experiences.
   

EXPECTATIONS: 

• Residents will be open to fundraising year one with the potential of receiving full funding year two.
• Residents will apply and be assessed by Acts 29 nearing the end or upon completion of the residency. 
• Residents will be open to ongoing future partnership with Redeemer Network if planting in Texas. 
• Residents will be prepared to learn from a multitude of different leaders in a variety different contexts throughout the residency.
• Residents will be expected to travel quarterly to visit different churches in our network to learn, observe, and have opportunities to lead. 
   

How We Prepare Planters: 

The information below will give you an idea for our framework for preparing planters. Much of this is built out of our collective experience of planting churches over the last 10 years. Year 1 will look the same for every resident, while year two will be customized to the needs/readiness of each resident based on ongoing assessments.
 

Year 1- Shaping biblical paradigms for church planting

Planting a church is hard. We have found that a church planter needs much more than just a vision statement and a list of values to hold on to during the early trials of planting a church. We want to help our residents develop deep biblical convictions for the churches they will plant. We want them to have strong theological foundations for the philosophies of ministry, methodology, practices, and values they will pursue. Year 1 will consist of three 12 week courses (socratic in nature) that will force a resident to think critically about what the bible is calling us to in church planting. 

• A Gospel Foundation for Church Planting (12 Weeks)
• Biblical Keys for Church Planting & Strengthening in Acts (12 Weeks)
• Biblical Pattern for Growing & Strengthening Churches in Paul's Letters (12 Weeks)

Year 2- Sharpening Skills for Church Planting

Every church planter is unique. We want to dig into the gifting, skills, strengths, and weakness of each resident and build a development plan to sharpen the skills needed to successfully plant a gospel-centered, missional church. Some of this development will happen through Redeemer Network training cohorts (4 per year), while other parts will come from ongoing coaching and a resident's development through their local church immersion. Below are some of the skills and practices we look to develop in our church planting residents.

• Personal Health & Self Care: Spiritual, Emotional, Physical, Financial Health
• Family & Marriage
• Missional Leadership
• Leading Teams: Sharing Leadership, Hiring/Leading a Staff, Creating Healthy Team Culture, etc.
• Organizational Leadership: Structures, Processes, Finances, Fundraising, Legality, etc.
• Pastoral Leadership: Gospel Shepherding, Preaching, Teaching, Counseling, etc. 
• Developing Deacons & Elders
• Gatherings & Sunday Liturgy
• Discipleship and Gospel Communities
• Seeking Justice & Engaging the Marginalized in Your City
• Growing in Diversity & Generosity