Helping Planters Prepare for the Harvest

This past week my ministry as Church Planting Coach took me to the Church Planters Bootcamp held on the campus of ACTS Seminaries at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC, Canada. 19 students gathered for five days of intensive orientation and training in how to plant a church. It was my privilege to be the professor of record, help with administration, help teach two of the training modules, and help coach the students. These students were from across Canada and included Free Church District Superintendents, a district church planting team, church planters and seminary students interested in church planting.

During the week, it became obvious that God is up to something. Many years ago I served as a District Superintendent in the Canadian Free Church and dreamed about something like this happening. I believe God is about to send workers (church planters) into the harvest fields of Canada in response to prayer (Matthew 9:36-38).

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Students worked hard on such subjects such as "Prayer Foundation: Prayer Driven Planting," "Vision Doorway: Where are You Going?," "Evangelism: Win the Lost," "Leadership: Developing Leaders," "Managing Growth and Change," and "Worship." In all, 30 modules covering the nuts and bolts of the beginning stages of church planting were presented.

I had the personal privilege of helping coach a district church planting team in how to develop a strategy for multiplying churches. God also used me to encourage church planters and apply what they were learning. Several EFC Canada leaders are now thinking and praying about having another church planting bootcamp next year so that many more can come. The excitement grows for kingdom expansion through planting missional churches that multiply believers, groups and churches for the glory of God.

Preparation for Bootcamp

I am just finishing my preparations for the Church Planting Bootcamp class that is being held on the Trinity Western University campus in Langley, BC, Canada beginning tomorrow and running through Friday for 8 hours each day.

The Bootcamp is a relatively new training tool for church planters, sponsoring churches and denominational leaders. The goal of the instruction and Bootcamp experience is to train church planters and candidates in the essential steps that a new church progresses through as it begins, develops, launches and grows into maturity. Experienced church planters take the students through a number of different modules of instruction. The nineteen students who will be there will have read three key church planting books. I will be there as the Professor of Record to grade papers of students who take the class for credit.

While I enjoy the academic interaction, I am most looking forward to coaching the students as they interact in small group discussions and in-class application assignments. This means I will be asking them questions rather than providing answers. My goal in coaching is to help them develop the church that God has already planted in their heart. I go as a Barnabas, an encourager and helper who, like the character in the New Testament, helped Paul become the great Apostle, New Testament author and church planter.

What a great privilege it is to be a helper in the ministry of multiplying new churches that will reach new people who will become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

You can read more about the Church Planting Boot camp experience at http://www.efcastartchurches.org/boot-camp/