Cohort Defined: The NWD Church Planting Cohort is a relational training and pre-requisite to planting a church in the Northwest District. The majority of this training takes place online, with three in-person training retreats. The training is focused on coming alongside the church-planting candidate in their emergence as a leader, engagement in the mission of God, and participation in the formation of a new community of faith. Our desire is to be in sync with God s plans for your lifelong development as His disciple on mission. This cohort training will help you to discover the reformation God wants you to go through leading up to planting a church and beyond. Structure: We use a distance-learning approach for our cohorts. Each cohort consists of a small group of church planter candidates and a facilitator of learning, who coaches and provides accountability for your training. The majority of the cohort learning takes place online via our Online Learning Community (OLC), and via webinars and/or conference calls. Sequence: The cohort progresses through a three-part sequence. Each cohort completes sections 101, 201, & 301. These sections are each specifically designed to address formative issues of missional leadership, character, skills and values. Training Retreats: The church planting training retreats take place at the end of each section. These are held at different locations throughout Western Washington, and provide training that helps bring everything you re learning together. These venues allow us to get to know you in person and the story of your journey with the Lord, and discern where God is leading you as it pertains to planting a church. Timeframe: The cohort meets approximately twice a month via webinar or conference call, and meets in person at the end of each section, three times total during the 9 months.
The cohort in most cases will be one year long from start to finish. Each of the sections (101, 201 & 301) last 2 ½ months, with a two-day training retreat at the end. Cohort Learning: The training will be integrated with designated reading materials and reporting, video resources, and "shaping activities." Some of the assignments you ll be doing on a regular basis are listed below: Read assigned books in each section Write a proactive report for each book Complete various shaping activities Participate in discussion forums found in the OLC Your commitment to being a trained Christ-like leader is reflected in the level of time and effort you put into the reading and assignments, and is essential to the success of planting a church. Themes of Cohort Sections: Themes covered throughout the cohort include: kingdom, theology, missiology, ecclesiology, discipleship, leadership, leadership praxis, organizational development, and strategy prototype. Themes of Training Retreat Modules: The modules at our training retreats address the following: mission & witness, culture, contextualization, design & values, vision, community, discipleship, leadership, environment & relationships of grace. Cohort Cost: The Northwest District covers all retreat costs for participants from our district in order to keep the cost of training for candidates as minimal as possible. Those outside of our district or denomination are welcome, and we will work with them and their district/denomination to determine their financial contribution. All candidates are responsible for the books (approximately 4-5 per section), personal assessments, and travel to the training retreats. The Cohort and the local church: The assumption we make is that the church plant candidate is already serving in a local church context. We encourage you to share your discoveries with your pastor and allow for even greater learning and insight by allowing them to be part of your training. We want to create a collaborative approach with the local church and the NWD church planting team.
Training Outcomes: By the end of the training the church planting candidate will have: Examined several theological, missiological, ecclesial and global perspectives regarding the planting of a church. Experienced transformational leadership principles that foster the lifelong development of Christ-like leaders. Investigated Biblical discipleship principles that help facilitate an environment for healthy reproducing disciples within the formation of a new community of faith. Developed lifelong friendships and an appreciation for the communal nature of the Kingdom as a result of participating in adult dialogue learning through the cohort and retreat training process. Completed a church plant strategy prototype proposal that is missionally contextualized, incarnational in praxis, reproducing in nature and congruent with the candidate s leadership capacity.
Cohort 101 Themes: Kingdom, Theology, Missiology Required Books: ReJesus: A wild Messiah for a Missional Church Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery. David G Benner Disciples of all Nations: Continuous Mission until He Comes. John L. Amstutz Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City (Parts 1-3) Timothy Keller Part 1- Gospel Theology Part 2- Gospel Renewal Part 3- Gospel Contextualization Gospel of the Kingdom: Scriptural Studies in the Kingdom of God George Eldon Ladd Recommended Books: Planting Missional Churches: Planting a Church That s Biblically Sound and Reaching People in Culture. Ed Stetzer A Heart for the Community: New Models for Urban and Suburban Ministry John Dr. Fuder, Noel Castellanos & John Perkins
Cohort 201 Themes: Ecclesiology, Discipleship, and Organizational Dynamics Required Books: Love Acceptance & Forgiveness: Equipping the Church to be Truly Christian in a Non-Christian World Jerry cook Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ Dallas Willard Ten Most Common Mistakes: Made by New Church Starts Jim Griffith and Bill Easum Starting a New Church: The Church Planter s Guide to Success Ralph Moore Doing Church as a Team: The Miracle of Teamwork and How It Transforms Churches. Wayne Cordeiro Recommended Books: Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched And The Churches That Reach Them. Ed Stetzer The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission Lesslie Newbigin
Cohort 301 Themes: Leadership Praxis, Ecclesiology, and Strategy Prototype Required Books: The Ascent of a Leader: How Ordinary Relationships Develop Extraordinary Character and Influence. Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, Ken McElrath A Public Faith: How Followers of Christ Should Serve the Common Good Miroslav Volf Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City (Part 5-7) Timothy Keller Part 5- Cultural Engagement Part 6- Missional Community Part 7- Integrative Ministry Sacred Marriage: What If God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy. *OR a marriage book of your choice. Gary Thomas Who is the Holy Spirit? A Walk with the Apostles. Amos Yong Foursquare Handbook of Operations Section on: Council selection & Leading a Council meeting Church Financial Management and Reporting. Recommended Books: Friend Raising: Building a Missionary Support Team That Last. Betty J Barnett
NWD Church Plant Retreats 101 Church Planting Retreat Themes: Kingdom, Theology, Missiology Modules Module 1 Mission of God (Mission & Witness) Module 2 The Gospel (Gospel Centered) Module 3 Know the People-Plant the Gospel (Culture & Contextualization) Module 4 What God Has Done & What He Can Do (Vision) 201 Church Planting Retreat Themes: Ecclesiology, Discipleship, Leadership Modules Module 1 Flourishing Community of Faith (Community) Module 2 Disciple (v)- Devoted Disciple in Community on Mission (Discipleship) Module 3 Leadership Mentoring & Equipping (Leadership) Module 4 Kingdom Community (Environment & Relationships of Grace) 301 Church Planting Retreat Themes: Leadership Praxis, OD, Strategy Prototype Modules Module 1- You, Marriage and Family (Personal Health) Module 2- Team Reinforcing (Organizational Development) Module 3- Foursquare Family- (Covenant and Charter) Module 3- The Enfolding Narrative (18 month written proposal) Typical-Church Planting Training Timeline Cohort & CPR Pre Launch 12-18mo CP Post Launch Coaching 1-2 years