I am a strong advocate that anyone wanting to plant a church do a leadership residency at a church that is actually planting churches. Therefore, I am always looking for opportunities to talk about the benefits of a leadership residency.
I recently had the opportunity to sit down with several leadership residents at Community to learn more about their experience. I was particularly interested in what each would tell me the benefits of doing a leadership residency BEFORE planting a church.
While each residency is unique, here are some of the specific benefits these residents mentioned:
- “The residency was an opportunity to do real life in a church plant BEFORE doing it on my own. Reading about planting churches or talking to people about it is one thing. Actually doing it is another.”
- “The residency was an invaluable opportunity for him to grow as a leader; to learn about his own strengths and weaknesses.”
- “The residency helped me set the right expectations about my leadership abilities and compare it to what I would need as a church planter. It helped me understand the gap in my leadership and gave me an opportunity to close it.”
- “The residency gave me the opportunity to do actual ministry in a church planting context. I got to see first-hand how ministry in a church plant is different from that in an established church.”
- “The residency allowed me to hit the ground running in my own church planting project.”
- “The residency gave me the opportunity to walk alongside someone else actually planting a church and learn from their successes and failures.”
- “The residency allowed me the opportunity to be part of larger spiritual story that God was writing in the people around me.”
- “The residency allowed me the opportunity to impact the local campus-context while I am training. I was actually able to do some good while training.”
- “During the residency I was able to increase my relational network.”
- “The residency gave me plenty of opportunity for personal growth and development via my 1 on 1 meetings with my lead planter.”
- “The residency provided me the opportunity to do ministry without the pressure of actually doing ministry.”
If you’re planting a church, what would it take for you to consider a leadership residency?
If you’ve done a leadership residency, what has been the biggest benefit?
If you want to consider doing a leadership residency at a NewThing church, please contact me. I’d love to talk to you more about it.
You can SUBSCRIBE to this blog here for regular updates.
And thanks for reading—I really appreciate it.
