Our Program
Preparing leaders & planting churches across the PNW
We have a dream of making disciples who become missional leaders who plant life-giving, reproducing Jesus-centered churches across the Pacific Northwest and beyond. It’s a God-sized dream!
End to end education and support.
We’ll help you clarify your call and context, embed you in a sending church and engage you in a community where you’ll be trained, sent, and supported not only by your sending church but by your network and our movement.
Training
You will receive theological, missiological and practical training in your network and in larger movement events and experiences.
Residency
You will serve residency at a sending church where you will absorb DNA, practice leadership, begin mission in context, raise support and learn a ton.
Support
You will build friendships with other planters and experience the ongoing support not only of your sending church, but also your network and the movement.
Qualifications
We are looking for these qualifications. Please notice that you do not need to have formal theological training, such as a Bible college or seminary degree. Obviously, we would be pleased if you have one! But if you don’t, we offer excellent training, and have opportunities for formal degrees should you desire one.
- Character: emotionally healthy and mature, a learner, self-starter, disciplined, good follow-through, self-aware.
- Chemistry: social intelligence, able to work well with a variety of people, and resolve conflict.
- Calling: a growing relationship with Jesus, fueled by consistent spiritual practices, resulting in a passionate sense of calling to mission.
- Competence: spiritual and natural gifts that equip you for this role, with an emphasis on leadership, teaching/preaching, and disciple making.
How we select
There are two ways to express interest in becoming a resident. First, by our invitation. If we know you and know that you have the qualifications we are looking for, we may invite you to apply. Second, by your initiative. If you believe God may be calling, you can apply. Either way, fill out the form found on our website. We will review your application, and schedule an initial interview.
Interview: A couple of our pastors will interview you as an initial assessment of your readiness. It is a behavioral interview, meaning that we will ask you for examples of what you have done in specific areas. If we feel that you have potential, we will set you up for an assessment.
Assessment: We require an objective third-party assessment. For example, we may send you to Stadia’s multi-day assessment (there will be no cost to you). Stadia will send us a detailed assessment of your qualifications, experience and preparedness, including a plan to address any weaknesses they spot. We will use this assessment to shape your individual residency.
How our program works.
Here are the broad brush strokes. Specifics vary with your sending church.
How are residents funded?
Since one of the skills required to plant a self-sustaining church is fund-raising, residents must raise at least half of their funding. You will be required to create a budget for the year for you and/or your family, and raise at least half that amount by asking friends and family to support you. Where does the rest of the funding come from? Since most church planters will launch bi-vocationally, we recommend you find a part-time job to fund the balance of your expenses, and learn to minister bi-vocationally.
Program length
A residency will often begin with a 12-month term which can be extended up to 24 months, depending on the level of the resident’s experience and readiness to plant. There is flexibility in the length of residency is mutually decided by the sending church’s leadership, the mentor pastor, and the resident.
What will residents do?
A resident will act as an adjunct staff member and will be engaged in the following ways.
We will assign you a mentor pastor for you to shadow and meet with weekly (or more). We want you to catch the DNA of your sending church and this relationship will be a key part of that. Also, we believe that relationships are the most important and first part of leadership development.
Residents will be given opportunities to lead in various roles, including speaking opportunities and possibly leading a small group and multiplying it. These roles will match the resident’s gifts and interests, but won’t be limited to those.
If you are planting in the local region, we want you to move into the neighborhood where you hope to plant, and begin building redemptive relationships there. Engage in mission now! You learn ministry by doing it.
If you are planting in the local region, we want you to move into the neighborhood where you hope to plant, and begin building redemptive relationships there. Engage in mission now! You learn ministry by doing it.
In addition to training offered by PNWM, your sending church will offer specific training opportunities to impart its unique DNA and values. You will be invited to participate in top level leadership meetings to see how they think and plan and execute. If you will be planting a denominational church, you will also attend the denominational training for church planting.
A little more about us…
Before you take a next step, here’s a little more about the PNWM.
At the core, we want to be friends on mission together. We desire healthy accountability, networking, praying, learning together and all that is relational. Each network is led by one Network Leader, and consists of approximately 3-6 churches. We meet together monthly to pray, encourage, dream and strategize to accomplish our vision. All of our area networks will meet together on a quarterly basis in order to share best practices and to encourage/challenge each other to thrive and achieve reproducing goals.
We value being churches committed to reproducing at every level of ministry. This takes an intentional plan for making disciples and developing leaders through an apprentice model and coaching structure. We believe effective collaboration is one of the keys to move from occasionally adding churches to our city (which doesn’t even match attrition) to exponential multiplication. Each network will create a simple strategic action plan to be intentional with measurable reproducing goals.
We share resources of funding, buildings, leaders, training, and creative content (message manuscripts, videos and more). Financially, each church within our network will invest in two ways: 1) each church will contribute $1,000 per year AND 2) receive one special offering per year. By contributing in these two ways, it provides a baseline “skin in the game” by all contributing the same amount. Then through the special offering it levels the playing field for different sized churches.
All of those collective funds stay within the local network for use by the Network for church planting, campus planting, Leadership Resident grants and coaching. Network Leaders are asked to provide an annual summary of how the Network Funds were used for accountability to the Network.
Leadership Residents are apprentice church planters who are being trained to launch a new church or campus. A Leadership Residency will include:
- A 12 month apprenticeship with a Campus Pastor/Lead Pastor at any approved church in the Network.
- Training as a missionary leader with DNA imprinting from one or more of the collaborating churches.
- The Resident will carry a weight bearing leadership role.
- The funding strategy for the Resident will be defined by each network.
The PNWM (Pacific Northwest Movement) is a collection of networks of churches who are partnering to identify, train and send 400 missional leaders to plant reproducing, self-sustaining churches in our region (Spokane, Coeur d’Alene, and the Pacific NW) and beyond. As a movement, we share four values:
- Relationships: we are friends on mission together.
- Reproducing: we are committed to multiplying at every level—disciples, leaders, churches, and networks.
- Resources: we share our resources (including money and people) to reach our goals.
- Residents: we each will have a resident each year.
For a fuller explanation of these values, see the tabs to the left. We have been blessed with a grant from the Lilly Foundation in partnership with Whitworth University to be used for training church planters.
I am interested.
If you would like to learn more about the PNW Movement or participate as a church planter, partner church, volunteer or any other capacity please complete the form to the right.
We are always on the lookout for pastors, residents, partners, and volunteers with a wide range of skills, abilities, and interests, who care about church planting and helping to reach the world for Jesus.
- People interested in church planting.
- Partner churches interested in planting churches.
- Individuals looking to volunteer.
- Those willing to support the PNW Movement financially.