What is Drawing Church Planters to NewThing?
I recently had lunch with a church planter who is about to dive head-first into launch phase. His church will go public in October of this year. He is experiencing all the emotions anyone would feel at this point in the journey: anticipation for what lies ahead, questions about how it will all come together, and a touch of fear wondering, “Am I up the task of launching and leading a church?” Then the conversation led to him making this statement: “At the end of the day I know I need to have a healthy launch, but I also want to know that I am part of something bigger; a movement that is more than just one church.”
We hear that comment repeated over and over again from church planters as well as pastors from growing and reproducing churches of various sizes all over the world. There is, without a doubt, a longing within so many spiritual leaders to be part of something bigger than yourself – a movement that could only be attributed to God Himself at work. Statements like these from pastors and a solid conviction from God gives us tremendous excitement for the future of NewThing and what God will do through our movements in the coming months and years.
The vision for NewThing is to be a catalyst for movements of reproducing churches. And we believe there are four values that, if consistently held high, will catalyze movements that will accomplish the Jesus mission. Over the next four months, we will highlight one of the Rs so be sure to check back each month to learn more about why these values are such a driving force in accomplishing the Jesus mission.
Relationships - Hold Us Together
We believe that at the core of any movement are healthy relationships where you love each other and hold each other accountable to be all that God meant for you to be. Every church in NewThing is connected with a small network that meets every month and gathers twice per year with all the churches in NewThing for equipping, celebrating and encouragement. We now have more networks and movements within NewThing than ever before! Strong relationships built on love, accountability and trust is essential to movement-making.
Reproducing - Is What We Do
We believe that reproduction is a unique competency and a gift that God has given NewThing – the ability and understanding of how to reproduce leaders, artists, groups/teams, campuses, churches, networks and even movements! This unique competency is something we have been able to share with more church leaders and church planters than ever before! Reproducing is essential to movement-making.
Residencies - Are the Way we Reproduce
We believe an apprenticeship with a reproducing church through a leadership residency is the most important experience in the life of a church planter. We accept only the top 5% of church planters into this program and they leave a NewThing leadership residency not only knowing how to start a church, but knowing how to reproduce churches and networks. While we set the bar high for becoming a resident, we have now equipped and trained over 100 residents! This is essential to movement making.
Resources - Help Us Equip the Movements
We believe it is important to create resources that equip church leaders and church planters for starting new things and reproducing. This past year we took a giant step and created a number of innovative and much-needed resources like the Apprenticing A Leadership Resident Guide and the launch of NewThing Online. Equipping is essential to movement making.