EssentialChurchPlanting.com

Charles Ridley conducted a study of church planters in the United States and Canada. His subjects in the study represented 13 Protestant denominations.  Based upon his research and subsequent field testing, he developed a list of 13 prominent performance dimensions. For over a decade, these dimensions have been used to select church planters. Here is his list of dimensions and their definitions.

1. Visionizing Capacity: Ability to project a vision into the future, persuasively sell it to other people, and bring the vision into reality.
2. Intrinsically Motivated: Approaches ministry as a self-starter and commits to excellence through long and hard work.
3. Creates Ownership of Ministry: Instills in the people a sense of personal responsibility for the growth and success of ministry and trains leaders to reproduce leaders.
4. Reaches the Unchurched and Lost: Ability to develop rapport, break through barriers, and encourage unchurched people to examine themselves and commit to a walk with God and lead people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
5. Spousal Cooperation: Creating a workable partnership that agrees on ministry priorities, each partner’s role and involvement in ministry, and the integration of ministry with family life.
6. Effectively Builds Relationships: Takes the initiative in getting to know people and deepening relationships as a basis for more effective ministry.
7. Committed to Church Growth: Values church growth as a method for building more and better disciples; strives to achieve numerical growth within the context of spiritual and relational growth.
8. Responsiveness to the Community: Adapts the ministry to the culture and needs of the local residents.
9. Utilizes Giftedness of Others: Equips and releases people to do ministry according to their spiritual gifts.
10. Flexible and Adaptable: Ability to adjust to change and ambiguity, shift priorities when necessary, and handle multiple tasks at once.
11. Builds Group Cohesiveness: Enables the group to work collaboratively toward a common goal and skillfully handles divisiveness and disunifying elements.
12. Demonstrates Resilience: Ability to sustain oneself emotionally and physically through setbacks, losses, disappointments and failures.
13. Exercises Faith: Demonstrates how one’s convictions are translated into personal and ministry decisions.

How well do you fit into the shoes of a church planter?