so you want to plant a church?

 

Objective:

Church planting is the tip of God’s spear in the increase (growth, development, expansion) of His kingdom.

North American Missions’ three objectives are to: TRAIN, FUND, and SEND North American Missionaries into the field to ably plant healthy, growing, and reproducing churches.

Proficient church planting necessitates strategic preparedness. This strikes at the heart of NAM’s first objective: TRAINING.

NAM commits to provide the best training tools, resources, and training experiences for its North American Missionaries, Pastors, their support teams (national, district, and sectional level), and UPCI-endorsed Bible Colleges and Universities.

 

Initiatives:

  • A premier church planting training experience from seasoned apostolic church planting leaders. The Launch curriculum is built uncompromisingly upon the biblical missional model and principles that anticipate apostolic results. The Launch Team guides church planters through their journey from envision, preparation, pre-launch, launch, to post-launch sustainability.

    Launch training consists of comprehensive online training and resources, an in-person, 2.5-day, impactful training experience, and post-training coaching opportunities.

    Visit www.launchachurch.faith for more information.

  • A “one stop” training for church planters and pastors who plant hosted on Ministry Central.

    Includes:

    • CFC Training

    • Pre-Launch Training

    • One-Button

      • Phase 1: Envision

        • See yourself in the stories of others who have successfully taken the journey into church planting.

        • Discusses critical character traits vital for church planting.

        • Provides a template to guide the potential church planter to envision and articulate their vision.

      • Phase 2: Preparation

        • Walk through step-by-step actions essential to confidently prepare and equip you to plant a church.

        • Provides self-assessment, guidance in building a support team, financial planning, a core team, defining the target geographic area, spiritual warfare, and practical preparations (policies and legal documentation).

      • Phase 3: Pre-Launch

        • Guides one to create a Launch Plan, set up church finances, fundraising, marketing (branding, website, social media), networking, administration, and other essential structures and systems.

      • Phase 4: Launch

        • Equips for interest gatherings and opening day expectations, next phase of marketing, community involvement, outreach, and follow-up systems, building a Launch team, choosing a facility, signage, service prep and practice, health checks, and the Launch service!

      • Phase 5: Post-Launch

        • Provides tools, links, and recommendations for systems and strategy development. Guides through discipleship, leadership, and replication culture development.

    Visit www.ministrycentral.com/course-category/north-american-missions for more information.

  • Professional and engaging training in five sequential phases:

    • Phase 1: Envision

    • Phase 2: Preparation

    • Phase 3: Pre-Launch

    • Phase 4: Launch

    • Phase 5: Post-Launch

    Visit www.youtube.com/@upcinam to begin.

  • North American Missions offers six Bible college courses that introduce students to the vision and purpose of NAM, biblical foundations and methodologies for planting churches, and the importance of creating a replication culture.

    The following courses are available in both online (8-week) and on-campus (16-week) formats:

    1. Mission of the Church

    2. Introduction to North American Missions

    3. Foundations of Church Planting

    4. Methods of Church Planting I

    5. Methods of Church Planting II

    6. Building a Replication Culture

    Ask your UPCI endorsed college or university for information.

 

RESOURCES

 
 
 

Partnerships

North American Missions partners with other entities to help church planters such as Apostolic Conference and the Canadian Conference. 

 

CONNECT

Galen Thompson

Director of Education and Short-Term Missions

Galen and his wife, Ann, are church planters (1981, 1997, 2012), teachers, trainers, and leaders. They are passionate about training church planters. Their three adult children (Nathan, Natalie, and Abigail) are all involved in ministry, two of which are church planters.

Galen pastored for nearly forty years. As a bi-vocational pastor, he also served twenty-four years in business management, corporate and collegiate leadership training, and corporate strategic planning. In 2018, he was asked to serve as the Director of Training for North American Missions, UPCI. In 2020, he was appointed the Director of Education and Short-Term Missions, where he continues to serve.

Galen has a BA in Biblical Studies from Apostolic Bible Institute and completed graduate courses in English Bible at Regent University. He has taught for two years at Apostolic Bible Institute, five years as adjunct faculty for South Central College (Mankato, Minnesota) in Corporate Leadership, eighteen years as a Global Educator for Global Missions, UPCI, and is adjunct faculty for Urshan College, Wentzville, Missouri.