Who Should We Put in Center Field?

Ray A. Seilhamer
Bishop, 1993-2001

May 1995

We have launched a major effort to start 100 new churches during the next 12 years--50 churches in North America, and 50 in our overseas conferences. We're off to a great start in four important areas.

First, a number of churches have responded to my challenge to consider starting a daughter church nearby. This newsletter contains an article about one of those churches, First UB in Findlay, Ohio. Several other churches have submitted proposals for starting churches this year, and a number of other churches have gone on record as wanting to start a new church sometime during the next five years.

Second, I continually add names to my list of people who have expressed interest in leading or being involved with a new church. Church planting requires a certain mix of gifts and abilities, and I'm pleased to see such people surfacing.

Third, we're trying to raise a $1 million Church Planting Endowment Fund during the next five years. The interest from that fund will go toward helping new churches get rolling.

Fourth--and this is the point you've not read about to this point--we're developing strong strategies and policies to help us success. The Church Planting Leadership Team is taking a thoughtful, cutting edge approach. Our denomination has seen too many failed church plants in the past. We're committed to changing that.

I am amazed at the resources available today for church planting. I'd like to mention four important resources we will use.

Screening of Church Planters

Can you imagine putting Shaquille O'Neal in center field for the Mets? That's not his game. He's a basketball player. But that's what we too often do in church planting--we put gifted people in roles which don't maximize their gifts. That's why we need to thoroughly screen people before sending them onto the playing field. We intend to take advantage of the many assessment tools available which can identify the key characteristics needed in church planters. We will require all new church planters to go through an extensive assessment process which, though not foolproof, will help us determine who is and isn't cut out for church planting.

Boot Camp

Every church planter will undergo a form of pre-season training. We'll send both husband and wife to a church planting "boot camp" for thorough, skilled supervision to prepare them for their new venture, and to help them deal with some of the problems they will encounter.

New Church Incubators

Great teams need great coaching. After you've identified someone with the skills to play center field, and after pre-season training has laid the foundation. Now we need personal coaching. The New Church Incubator is how we'll do that. Each planter will identify a mentor who will maintain a long-term relationship of support and accountability. Then once a month, they will meet with at least two other church planters and mentors for a training session. Some of our present planters are involved in NCIs; for instance, Brooks Fetters in Fort Wayne meets in a New Church Incubator with planters from two other denominations.

Church planting can be a lonely pursuit. The New Church Incubator enables the planter to experience the support and shared struggles of others on the same playing field.

Church Parenting Networks

The baseball strike shows that team owners lack good relationships with their players. Fortunately, church planting "ownership" has a better track record. Perhaps the latest resource involves mother churches which network, across denominational lines, to support each other in the task of parenting a daughter church.

Nothing like these resources existed when I planted the Devonshire and Emmanuel churches in the 1960s and 1970s. I didn't go through an assessment process to see if I really had the gifts for planting churches. Nor did I benefit from anything like a boot camp, New Church Incubator, or church parenting network. These are tremendous resources, and I'm glad we've latched onto them.