Our Process

At P3 Church Collective, we provide community and resources that local churches can use to plant churches. First, we have a robust assessment process to determine if a church planter and his wife are ready to plant. Second, we give the planting church and church planter access to the churches in the collective in order to glean wisdom and best practices. Third, we provide leadership and training opportunities within the collective to build into prospective church planters and provide them with camaraderie with other future planters.

Pre-Assessment

The pre-assessment phase begins with an Interest Form to determine a candidate's overall fit with the organization's DNA and the planting church. This is followed by a privacy agreement form, allowing open communication between all parties involved. The process then moves to an interview and Church Planter Evaluation Tool, complemented by a Pastor/Church Survey where the planting church evaluates the candidate based on their experience.

Start Pre-Assessment

Assessment

The assessment is a comprehensive process that will ask about the applicant’s personal history, marriage, family, spiritual and ministerial history, overall health, education, church history, work experience, financial readiness, theology, and call to church planting. In addition, this will cover example scenarios of pastoral leadership where we want to hear how an applicant might respond and shepherd people.

This process will take a lengthy amount of time to complete, and will likely happen over several days of thinking, praying, and referring to scripture.

Before an applicant may begin the assessment process, they must have passed the Pre-assessment stage, completed the privacy agreement, met with P3 Collective coach, and been give approval from their sending church.

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Introductory Meeting

After the pre-assessment has been filled out, and it is determined that they are ready for next steps, candidates will meet face to face with the P3 Collective Assessor. This will be to clarify any questions that we may have about the answers provided in the Interest Form. This meeting will also serve as an interview to get a better grasp on where the applicant is in their journey toward church planting.

Assessment

References

Applicants will need to provide full references from four separate sources. Two references need to be ministry references (pastor, small group leader, etc.), one reference needs to be professional (someone the applicant has worked with in the past or currently), and one reference needs to be personal (someone who knows the applicant well). In addition, the applicant will provide two micro-references (one from a neighbor and one from a non-believer that they know).

Marriage Health Survey

Applicants will fill out a marriage health survey through Prepare & Enrich. This will help the applicant and the P3 assessment team identify areas of strength as well as areas of growth. We want to elevate the applicant’s marriage to a level of utmost importance - and keep that sacred in the process. Church planting is demanding and can take a serious toll on a marriage. To this end, we want to dig into the applicant’s marriage and walk with them as they pursue connection with their bride and health in their family.

Psychological Evaluation

The applicant and his wife will undergo a thorough psychological evaluation by a professional psychology clinic/firm. They administer an industry standard evaluation that is measured against a nationwide database of previous church planters. This will provide P3 Collective with a more robust picture of the current state of the applicant’s heart and mind - as well as his wife.

Psychological Evaluation

The applicant and his wife will undergo a thorough psychological evaluation by a professional psychology clinic/firm. They administer an industry standard evaluation that is measured against a nationwide database of previous church planters. This will provide P3 Collective with a more robust picture of the current state of the applicant’s heart and mind - as well as his wife.

Applicant Meeting with Elders

Once the applicant’s file has been reviewed among the elders and any points of clarification have been settled, the applicant will be invited to spend time with the planting church elders. This will be a time where they will become more acquainted with the applicant. This will also be the point at which the applicant will be invited to officially begin the process of preparing to plant from the church. Expectations for growth will be communicated at this point for the Resident to begin processing. **A point of distinction is that throughout the duration of the residency, there will be areas of growth that we will work on with residents. This is normal and to be expected! We are going to do our best to help residents holistically sharpen and prepare for planting a healthy, gospel-centered church.

Planter and Elder Wives Connect

As already stated, the Church Planter's spouse is an integral part of this process. We want to make sure that she feels welcomed and valued in the process. We also want her to have a strong connection with the wives of the current elders at the sending church. This will be a time of relationship building as well as a time for the Church planter's spouse to hear more about what it is like being married to a pastor/planter (if he has not served in this role before).

Introduction to Planting Church

At this point, the Church Planter will have already been accepted into the process, however the planting church will want to officially introduce the resident to their church body. This will be for purposes of prayer for the planting church as well as beginning the connection to those in the body - who may eventually go with the planter to start a new church! This will be a celebratory time in the life of the Planter as well as the church!

COMMUNITY

We believe that healthy churches will plant churches. To be a healthy church, we believe that community with other churches and pastors is essential. We facilitate community through a variety of means. Twice per year, we gather for a P3 Church Summit, where lead pastors can gather, pray for one another, enjoy some “down-time” and fellowship, and collaborate on ideas to be more effective in ministry. Bi-weekly, we gather on a prayer call, to bear one another’s burdens and celebrate how God is moving in our lives and in the ministries that we lead.

Soon, we will have a firewall protected community chat board where resources will be shared and questions can be asked and answered in real time.

In the future, we are hoping to develop several other community touchpoints for partner churches. We also hope to have opportunities to serve executive pastors, student and children’s ministers, worship ministers, and others on church staff.

Our Process

Pre-Assessment

Assessment

Assessment

Privacy Agreement

Introductory Meeting

Sending Church Assessment

The sending church will complete a pastor assessment of their candidate that will be submitted to the P3 Collective after the initial P3 assessment. This will serve as a litmus test to determine that the sending church and P3 are seeing the same things in the candidate.

Assessment

Background Check

The P3 Collective will conduct a criminal background check on each applicant.

Assessment

References

Spouse Questionnaire

Church planting is not just about the planter, but also about his wife and family. This questionnaire will give the applicant’s wife an opportunity to express her own desires/calling surrounding church planting. We also want to hear any concerns that she might have going into the process.

Marriage Health Survey

Psychological Evaluation

Psychological Evaluation

Applicant Meeting with Elders

Planter and Elder Wives Connect

Introduction to Planting Church

Collective-wide Celebration

COMMUNITY

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