Thanks for joining us for a quick dose of Geneva Push advice for the aspiring church planter.
One of the daunting aspects of planting a church can be the assessment process. While it is a detailed and considerable process of interviews, forms and reflections, we want to help prospective planters get the most out of it. Because the assessment process should be a worthwhile time of forging and establishing a possible ministry that you'll prayerfully ask God to strengthen and bless.
To gather loads of information about our assessment process, click here to watch the recent “The A-Z of Assessment” webinar. This valuable session covered a whole range of topics related to assessments, what you can expect and how you can prepare.
But why should you bother?
During The A-Z of Assessment webinar, Geneva Push director Mikey Lynch put plenty of pointed questions to Executive Director Scott Sanders and Greg Lee (a Geneva Push assesser). One was obvious yet : why should a church planter be enthused about filling out paperwork and questionaires?
“Any advice on how to get around to actually filling it out,” asked Mikey. As he acknowledged, there are plenty of “Big Picture” people out there who would think that assessment paperwork should just be filed under “Not Urgent” or “Not Necessary.
Scott suggested dedicating specific blocks of time to filling out chunks of the assessment paperwork, to break up such an important task. Based on what previous applicants had told him, Greg provided two reasons why filling out assessment stuff is actually a help, not a hurdle, to church planting.
Clarity and construction
“Whenever you have a big job to do, the thing that helps you get through it is seeing the value of it,” said Greg. “Even though there is a lot of work in [the assessment paperwork], everyone that I have spoken with that has filled it out, they spoke of two really big benefits.
“One was it gave them clarity; being forced to express things on paper gets them out of your head and it helps you to see you are not as thought as out as you thought you were. So, [the assessment paperwork] is not a hurdle to jump over in order to plant; it's actually a really helpful process for planting.
“The other thing was it draws other people in – you're getting your references; you're talking with your wife – this is actually [helping with] building the team that is going to help you to plant.
“In each of those ways, knowing that it's not a hurdle but a helpful thing, drives you to want to make time. That this isn't getting in the way of planting but is moving you forward as a planter.”
Inspired? You're welcome. For much, much, much and, indeed, much more about Geneva's assessment process, click here to watch the “The A-Z of Assessment” webinar.
– Ed.
