Planter Expectations

Join the Church Planting Movement

You are committed to reaching your community with the gospel, and so are we. Church planting isn’t just a ministry for individual church planters—it’s a ministry for the whole Church. Send Network is a partnership of people just like you—churches and church planters—planting churches everywhere for everyone.

“Churches Planting Churches Everywhere for Everyone”

Send Network does not plant churches; rather, we exist to support SBC churches in church planting.  That’s why our mission is “Churches Planting Churches Everywhere for Everyone.”  We believe that Sending Churches take responsibility for planting a multiplying church by coaching, commissioning and caring for a particular planter. They are the primary partner of a church planting team.

At Send Network, we aim to…

Seek first the Kingdom – God is at work locally and globally.

Deepen devotion – Without prayer and the Word, we are powerless.

Stick together – We are a family united by a Mission.

Think multiplication – God’s global Mission demands disciples and churches that multiply.

Engage your city – The Gospel changes lives, families and communities.

While we do have expectations and guidelines for planters and their teams, are greatest hope is that they are driven by faith in Christ and submitting to God’s work in and through them on a daily basis.  We believe these values echo what a church plant driven by Jesus and His Mission will embody.  It’s impossible to make a comprehensive list of every scenario relating to these values, but we work to cultivate a culture that reflects these values in every way.  Our expectation for church planters is that they will fully buy in to these values and work to ingrain them into their teams.

NAMB joins with other Southern Baptists in adopting the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 (BFM2000) as its statement of faith.

The first section of the BFM2000 is included here.  The full length version, in multiple translations, is available in the link below.

I. The Scriptures

The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.

Exodus 24:4; Deuteronomy 4:1-2; 17:19; Joshua 8:34; Psalms 19:7-10; 119:11,89,105,140; Isaiah 34:16; 40:8; Jeremiah 15:16; 36:1-32; Matthew 5:17-18; 22:29; Luke 21:33; 24:44-46; John 5:39; 16:13-15; 17:17; Acts 2:16ff.; 17:11; Romans 15:4; 16:25-26; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 1:1-2; 4:12; 1 Peter 1:25; 2 Peter 1:19-21.

NAMB is an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) whose messengers over the years have adopted resolutions on a variety of subjects.

These range from broad concepts of freedom of religion and the separation of church and state to matters of morality and personal conduct. Your personal lifestyle as a NAMB team member/missionary may be more subject to scrutiny than if you were employed by a non-religious, for-profit organization. You will be expected to abide by guidance given to individuals/churches by the SBC and/or NAMB leaders.

• I will conduct myself in a way that reflects positively on Christ and the North American Mission Board.
• I will be a tithing member of record and in good standing in a Southern Baptist or Canadian National Baptist Church.
• I will abstain from the consumption of any alcoholic beverage or illegal drugs.
• I will not view pornography.
• I will maintain financial integrity.
• I will not show affection that could be questioned.
• I will be careful in answering cards, letters, and email notes from the opposite sex.
• If married, other than my spouse or another family member, I will not be at a residence alone, have a meal alone or be in a car alone with the opposite sex.
• I will pray for the integrity of other missionaries and staff members.

Missionaries are expected to do the following during their time as a church planter:

Submit to Assessment & Endorsement with NAMB

• Register interest as a church planter at the Send Me Portal. Once registered, you will receive a follow-up communication and the church planter application.
• Complete the NAMB application and online pre-assessments provided.
• Attend a NAMB approved assessment event.
• NAMB endorsement is given post approval of application and assessment(s).
• Complete the Church Planter Funding Projector. The funding projection is to be established in partnership with NAMB and other church-planting partners.

Engage in the Planter Pathway

• Attend the Church Planter Orientation in Alpharetta, GA. This is a chance to connect with other new planters at orientation sessions across North America. This is an encouraging and culture-building time of networking, inspiration and fun where you will learn more about the Send Network kingdom values.  This is a 3 day, one time event in Alpharetta, GA at NAMB Headquarters for endorsed lead church planters. It is held twice a year, and San Diego lead church planters normally attend the fall option. Check with your San Diego Church Planting Catalyst or Send City Missionary to see if you are eligible to attend, as you need to sign up 60 days in advance.
• Be developed as a church planter through Residency and Church Planter Training.  We believe that’s God’s preparation for church planters begins the moment they accept Christ, and God’s grace even uses mistakes that we made before.  We understand that to be even considered as a church planter takes a tremendous amount of work, experience, training, and perseverance.  At the same time, we firmly believe that the best way to prepare a lead planter and to help his team to get momentum is to participate in Residency & Training.
  
• Actively engage in coaching for the first 2 years of church planting.
• Participate in Send SD Care Events and, more importantly, model healthy personal and family spiritual and lifestyle leadership.  Church planting is not a sprint; it is a marathon.  You’re not going to be able to put health on hold and “focus on the church.”  This is a formula for fatigue, burn out, marital strife, and failure, not just with your church but also with your family.  There certainly are seasons of high activity, but you still MUST maintain healthy practices during these season.  In short, our Church Planting Care Ministry is dedicated to supporting and instilling healthy habits in church planting families and teams.  We don’t expect church planters and their families to be at every event, but we do expect them to model and pursue Christ honoring health.
  

Cultivate Kingdom Partnerships with other Churches

• Communicate regularly, probably monthly, with prayer team and ministry partners.
• Lead your church plant to participate in SBC Great Commission Partnership.  This commitment is expressed by a minimum of 10% missions giving: minimum 6% to SBC Cooperative Program and 4% to other SBC Great Commission causes (including local church multiplication efforts).  Learn more about SBC Great Commission Partnership here.
  
• Maintain a Missionary Portal Profile to encourage prayer & support.  The NAMB Missionary Portal (Check out the NAMB Missionary Portal by clicking here) provides thousands of churches an opportunity to know who you are how they can support you.  It is also a great platform to receive financial support from donors who support your ministry or other endorsed church plant team members. 
  
• Fill out Quarterly Reports.  Part of how we celebrate what God is doing in your congregation is by accurately sharing how God is at work.  In Send Network, we understand it takes all different kinds of churches to reach all different times of people.  We understand that there are also different growth trajectories for different models of churches and planting contexts.  Quarterly Reports help us celebrate God’s working and also find ways to come alongside and support.
  

Planter Funding

The funding provided for church planters is determined using the Planting Projector tool, which assesses funding needs based on leadership capacity, context and church planting model. Funding sources may include NAMB, CSBC, SDSBA, Sending and/or Supporting Churches and personal support.  Talk to your CPC or the SD SCM to discuss Planter Funding for your context.

 Church Planter Endorsements

A church planter is a man who desires to commit his life following God’s missionary call to make disciples, developing a team around a specific plan all aimed at planting a church in a specific location in cooperation with strategic partners.  Send Network endorsed church planters affirm the majority SBC position of reserving the terms “pastor/elder/bishop/overseer” for Biblically qualified men in their church.  During the assessment process, for married couples we evaluate the health, readiness, and calling of the husband and the wife.  Wives of church planters, referred to as planting wives, play a vital role in church planting also.  Additionally, NAMB endorses men and women to serve as church planting team members.