OUR STRATEGIES

As part of a national church planting movement, the Iowa Baptist Conference has adopted the following strategies developed by TeAmerica.

We believe that implementing these strategies will provide an effective approach to discovering, equipping, and supporting church planters and healthy new churches. We seek to turn the following seven strategies into reproducible systems that will start more churches.

Spiritual Dynamics

Jesus said, "I will build my church..." (Matthew 16:18). We believe our mission is spiritual, and therefore our strategies must be first and foremost spiritual. We believe we can best fulfill that mission by seeking the leadership of the Lord through prayer and carrying out His direction through His spiritual gifts.

Coaching

We are providing every church planter with an experienced coach who is a part of a greater coaching team. The coach provides spiritual guidance, emotional support, ongoing encouragement and expertise in ministry skills. Our goal is to see each church planter become a great coach.

Assessment

In cooperation with TeAmerica, we are providing an intense assessment to help church planting couples or individuals clarify their call into church planting, and to avoid misplacing pastoral personnel.

Recruitment

Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few' (Matthew 9:37). We are developing a network of "spotters" for the movement -individuals who know what a church planter looks like and will encourage them toward church planting.

Parenting

For a church planting movement to accelerate and make a significant statewide impact, we believe it must be developing a network of both established and new churches, that will take an initiative to multiply themselves. Iowa Baptist Conference is seeking to develop PCN's (Parent Church Networks) throughout our district. They will provide experienced pastors who have "daughtered" churches to help educate and assist groups of 4-6 pastors in leading their own congregations to reproduce.

Funding

We are developing funding strategies which will encourage churches (and individuals) to provide church planting work funds and assist church planters in raising an appropriate level of personal support.

Training

We believe training is essential for a healthy movement of churches. We are providing ongoing training for church planters in the areas of theological formation, leadership development, and pastoral skills.

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