The Ecclesia Network

a missional church network

Ecclesia Residency

Ecclesia Residency Program

 

As a network, Ecclesia desires to partner with, equip and multiply missional communities. One of the ways we’re doing that is the development of a residency program in partnership with a number of “hub churches” within the network. While each church is free to develop their residency to meet the needs of both their community and their context, certain minimum requirements ought to be in place to ensure continuity and cohesion between our residencies network-wide.

If you are interested in becoming a Resident/Church Planting Apprentice with an Ecclesia Church, please email Bob Hyatt

 

Becoming a Residency Church

In this document we’ll cover what you need to take into account when creating your residency, what the Network is asking you to include in order to be a part of our residency program, and give a couple examples of residencies from a number of Ecclesia Churches.

 

Developing your Residency

 

In creating your residency program, please make sure the following is included:

Define your potential resident

  • Who are they? What kind of availability are you looking for? Background (Seminary? Marketplace?)
  • What are their “pains,” the things standing in the way of becoming a healthy pastor/leader?
  • What are the potential “gains” to be had by participating in your residency?

 

Define both the gains and and pains for your church community in having a residency

 

What resources will be needed to make the residency successful?

  • Financial
  • Mentoring (who will walk alongside/mentor the resident?)
  • Housing- will it be provided? Host families? Housing stipend?
  • What stakeholders in your church community will need to be made a part of the process?

 

Structure of the residency

  • Interviewing/hiring (who will interview/hire? where will you find candidates?)
  • How many hours per week?
  • Key activities residents will do
  • How will supervision work/who will supervise?

 

Cost/Housing

  • Will residents need to raise support? Be paid?
  • Will residents be expected to work?

 

Common/Necessary Elements of Ecclesia Residencies

 

Ecclesia residencies should last one year at minimum. Churches are free to add extra time beyond that. They should include attendance at the Ecclesia National Gathering and our Genesis Church Planter’s Training(for those pursuing church planting).

 

In addition to defining the purpose and focus of your residency, we are asking each church to develop their plan along the lines of Learning, Living, Listening, and Leading.

 

  • Learning- How will your residency provide learning opportunities for your resident?
  • Living- How will your resident be invited into the life of your community?
  • Listening- How will the resident be helped to listen to God, the voices of missional practitioners and the voices of non-Christians in your community?
  • Leading- How will your resident be invited to learn leadership by leading in your community?

 

We are providing the following suggested reading list we would like all residency programs to draw from.

 

Theology

 

In the Name of Jesus- Nouwen

Slaves, Women, Homosexuals- Webb

King Jesus Gospel- McKnight

Surprised by The Spirit- Deere

Surprised by Hope- Wright

Spiritual Formation

 

The Pastor- Peterson

Divine Conspiracy- Willard

Emotionally Healthy Church- Scazzero

Hearing God- Willard

Prayer- Foster

The Vulnerable Pastor- Smith

Church/ Ministry

 

Eldership and the Mission of God- Hyatt/ Briggs

10 Mistakes Leaders Make- Finzel

Bridges of God- McGavran

Prodigal Church- Fitch/Holsclaw

Culture/ Context

 

Great Good Place- Oldenburg

Reason for God- Keller

Let Justice Roll Down- Perkins

To Change The World- Hunter

 

Honorable Mention/Additional Reading

Purpose Driven Church- Warren

Leader’s Journey- Herrington/Creech

The Multiplying Church- Roberts

Cost of Discipleship- Bonhoeffer

Overcoming Barriers to Church Growth- Fletcher

Preaching-  Keller

Visioneering- Stanley

Politics of Jesus- Yoder

Church Next- Gibbs

High Impact Church- Morris

Experiencing God- Blackaby

 

We also recommend listening to sermons by Tim Keller, Bruxy Cavey, Andy Stanley and Howard John Wesley. Ecclesia equippers will be making a series of short videos soon for use with our residency program.

 

Here are a number of Church Residency Outlines for you to consider drawing from:

 

Evergreen Residency Program

 

PURPOSE:

  • To help young leaders discern their specific call and gifting in ministry
  • Widen the leadership pipeline and bandwidth at Evergreen
  • Strengthen our equipping ability while investing in future leaders/the church overall
  • To set Evergreen up for a potential church plant

 

FOCUS:

  • Character and gift development for the resident

 

The Evergreen Residency program will provide

  • A focus on spiritual formation and discovering the self as a minister/leader through the grid of the Enneagram and APEST and other learning opportunities
  • Spiritual Direction through SoulFormation (SoulFormation.org)
  • A focus on learning concrete ministry skills through practice, reading and mentorship by one of our pastors (Bob, Dustin, or Amy)
  • Coaching for 1 year after residency (longer if planting through Evergreen/Ecclesia)
  • Attendance at the Ecclesia National Gathering and Ecclesia Church Planters Training

 

LEARNING will happen through formal and informal environments of growth and maturity through a wide variety of experiences.

This happens through:

  1.           Understanding the unique ethos and DNA of Evergreen as well as its core practices and regular rhythms.
  2.           Learning the contextual elements that comprise a missional church and why it is important in the 21st century approach to ministry.
  3.           Reading and studying 8-10 pertinent books together with weekly discussion and regular implementation into the rhythms of daily life.

 

LIVING –involvement in the lives of the people at Evergreen in formal and informal ways.

This includes:

  1.           Building relationships with people within The Evergreen Community family.
  2.           Developing a pastoral presence at Evergreen
  3.           Cultivating intentional rhythms of cultivating an oikos (“sphere of influence”) with those far from Jesus.
  4.           Serving in areas of need in the region that fit with your unique ministry bent (i.e. passions, skills, spiritual gifting, interests, etc)
  5.           Engaging in leadership spaces such as Evergreen elder meetings and staff meetings

LISTENING – opportunities to listen to God and others through various sources

This includes:

  1.           Holy Spirit: regularly scheduled retreat days and times of intentional reflection and meditation. Discerning God’s long-term call in your life and if it may involve church planting and/or vocational ministry.
  2.           Other missional practitioners – missional leaders, pastors and church planters: exposure to different church plant models and approaches throughout the area and region.
  3.           The Church – both our local context at Evergreen and the global Church.
  4.           The culture: being a student of the culture and the context of the Pacific Northwest region and knowing how to best engage it with the gospel.
  5.           The voices of non-Christians in one of the least-churched regions in the country: being involved in relationship to hear the heartbeat of those outside of the Church.

LEADING – overseeing and providing direction with specific area(s) of ministry based on giftedness.

This could involve – but is not limited to – the following:

  1.           teaching in Evergreen theology pubs, worship gatherings or other channels (on occasion)
  2.       Joining in one established ministry at Evergreen
  3.      Overseeing one new Ministry initiative at Evergreen through start-up, development, and hand-off to an apprentice – focusing on a particular area of need depending upon context and individual passion/gifting (high school students, college students, the poor, the mentally ill, minorities, the large refugee population in Portland, social justice, community engagement oversight, community development, etc).

Timeline: Months 1-3 Discern a need

Months 3-4 Create plan/consult with Elders

Months 4-12 Initiate new ministry, develop leaders/apprentice, hand off to others

 

FUNDING: Each Resident is required to raise 75% of their own financial support. This includes securing a part-time job to supplement the support-raising process and engage further with our Portland context. An approximated budget (developed by Evergreen elders and financial administrator) will be determined with each participant prior to acceptance to the program. 100% of the financial support must be raised before officially beginning the program. Evergreen will contribute 25% of salary.

 

Residency will consist of 12-15 months and will consist of a minimum of 15 hrs per week, with more available (up to 30 hrs) as the funds are raised.

 

RESIDENCY TIMELINE :

Spring– Find resident through local seminaries or network relationships

Summer/Early Fall– Residency begins

Late Summer/Early Fall– Residency ends

 

POTENTIAL RESIDENT PROFILE:

  • Entering or current seminary student
  • Committed to vocational ministry
  • Demonstrated character and a willingness to fund raise
  • Discerning church planting a plus
  • Females and minorities are encouraged to apply

 

Life on the Vine (LOV) Working Document

 

Why create a LOV residency program?

  •             We will be identifying and raising up new church leadership to either send out with a church plant, send out to another ministry, or hand over current LOV ministry.
  •             We will be passing on the valuable church planting and established church lessons that we have learned over the last 15 years.
  •             This program will revitalize LOV by helping us to intentionally organize around mission within and beyond our walls.  This internal organization will foster greater ministry clarity and focus.
  •             Many churches that have created residency programs indicate that not only are the residents blessed through their time, but that the hosting church greatly benefits.

What is the main focus of the LOV residency?

  •             The main point of an LOV residency would be to train future church planters.
  •             However, this doesn’t mean that our residents will necessarily plant a church at the end of their time (although this would be the hope).  Rather, through continual evaluation the proper course of action will be determined for their future ministry.

How long would the LOV residency be?

  •             At least two years would be an ideal length of time.

Would the residents receive a stipend and/or housing?

  •             LOV Residents would receive a stipend of $12,000.
  •             Depending on the family size, we would hope house would also be provided.
  •             LOV Residents would also hope to have part-time jobs outside of their LOV work.

How would the LOV residency be funded?

  •             Through a variety of cost sharing sources:

o   Funds from LOV.

o   A bi-vocational occupation.

o   The C&MA

o   Other networks (Ecclesia Network, Ministry Lab, etc.)

What are the main components of a LOV residency (adapted from Renew’s Apprenticeship Program)?

LEARNING – formal and informal environments of growth and maturity through a wide variety of experiences.

This happens through:

  1.          Understanding the unique ethos and DNA of LOV as well as its core practices and regular rhythms.
  2.          Participate in LOV Colleges

2.1.      First year, “College of Liturgist”.

2.2.      Second year, “College of Preachers”.

  1.          Reading and studying pertinent books together with regular discussion and regular implementation into the rhythms of daily life.
  2.          Learn the different aspects of small church ministry:

4.1.      Worship and Preaching

4.2.      Missional Orders

4.3.      Children and Youth

4.4.      Service Ministries (Albany Park, The Table)

  1.          Attend The Missonal Learning Commons (Fall), The Ecclesia Network National Gathering or the Missio Alliance National Gathering (Winter/Spring), and (first year) The Ecclesia Network Church Planters Training Week (Spring).

LIVING –involvement in the lives of the people at Renew in formal and informal ways.

This includes:

  1.          Working closely with co-pastors (Ty Grigg, Juliet Waite, Geoff Holsclaw and our shepherds) in helping shape the ethos of LOV and entering into the rhythms of pastoral ministry (including teaching prep, teaching and pastoral experiences, visitations, etc).
  2.          Building relationships with people within the LOV family.
  3.          Cultivating intentional rhythms and relationships with those far from Jesus.
  4.          Serving in areas of need in the church and region that fit with the residents unique ministry bent (i.e. passions, skills, spiritual gifting, interests, etc).
  5.          Engaging in leadership spaces such as the LOV pastoral meetings and shepherd meetings.

LISTENING – opportunities to listen to God and others through various sources

This includes:

  1.          Holy Spirit: regularly scheduled retreat days and times of intentional reflection and meditation. Discerning God’s long-term call in your life and if it may involve church planting and/or vocational ministry.
  2.          Other missional practitioners – missional leaders, pastors and church planters: exposure to different church plant models and approaches throughout the area and region.
  3.          The church – both our local context at LOV and the global Church.
  4.          The culture: being a student of the culture and the context of the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago, knowing how to best engage it with the gospel.
  5.          The voices of skeptics and dreamers in the region: being involved in relationship to hear the heartbeat of those outside of the Church.

LEADING – overseeing and providing direction with specific area(s) of ministry based on giftedness.

This could involve – but is not limited to – the following:

  1.          Leading in worship:

1.1.      First year: Lead through liturgy

1.2.      Second year:  Lead through preaching

  1.          Teaching 9am classes
  2.          Overseeing new initiatives, ideas and events that engage with the context and culture of the NW suburbs of Chicago.
  3.          Overseeing, initiating and/or focusing on a particular area of need depending upon context and individual passion/gifting (youth ministry, those on the margins, social justice, community engagement oversight, community development, etc.).
  4.          Birthing, shepherding and providing leadership to a LOV Missional Order.

 

the RENEW APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM

Have you ever seriously considered church planting but wondered what the next step might be?

Consider participating in the Renew Apprenticeship Program before you venture into church planting.

From the beginning The Renew Community has sought to be known more for our sending capacity than our seating capacity. We’re more interested in asking the question, “How are we blessing the neighborhood?” than “How many people were there on Sunday?” We desire for people – formally and informally, directly and indirectly – to be sent out to be representatives and ambassadors in the name of Jesus – both officially and unofficially. We’re also passionate about training young leaders for mission in the context of the life and rhythms of our own church.

This is why we’ve developed the Renew Apprenticeship Program (RAP), a twelve-month experiential learning lab and equipping experience for missional leaders who are seriously considering church planting. This program provides formal and informal training as well as practical opportunities to lead, serve, teach and seek out new kingdom initiatives. Each experience is customized and contextualized to the individual apprentice’s gifts, strengths, passions and calling. Two missional leaders have graduated from the program and are now serving Christ in various capacities – and we are looking to see more leaders trained in the future.

The RAP consists of:

LEARNING – formal and informal environments of growth and maturity through a wide variety of experiences.

This happens through:

  1.           Understanding the unique ethos and DNA of Renew as well as its core practices and regular rhythms.
  2.           Learning the contextual elements that comprise a missional church and why it is important in the 21st century approach to ministry.
  3.           Reading and studying pertinent books together with weekly discussion and regular implementation into the rhythms of daily life.
  4.           Attending 1-2 classes per semester at Biblical Theological Seminary in Hatfield, PA.
  5.           Attending The Ecclesia Network National Gathering in Washington, D.C. (February) and The Ecclesia Network Church Planters Training Week (May) in Richmond, VA.

LIVING –involvement in the lives of the people at Renew in formal and informal ways.

This includes:

  1.           Working closely with J.R. Briggs (founder of Renew and director of RAP), Doug Moister (full-time pastor of Renew and graduate of RAP) and our elders in helping shape the ethos of Renew and entering into the rhythms of pastoral ministry (including teaching prep, teaching and pastoral experiences, etc).
  2.           Building relationships with people within The Renew Community family.
  3.           Cultivating intentional rhythms of cultivating an oikos (“sphere of influence”) with those far from Jesus.
  4.           Serving in areas of need in the region that fit with your unique ministry bent (i.e. passions, skills, spiritual gifting, interests, etc).
  5.           Engaging in leadership spaces such as Renew elder meetings, Leadership Community meetings and staff meetings)

LISTENING – opportunities to listen to God and others through various sources

This includes:

  1.           Holy Spirit: regularly scheduled retreat days and times of intentional reflection and meditation. Discerning God’s long-term call in your life and if it may involve church planting and/or vocational ministry.
  2.           Other missional practitioners – missional leaders, pastors and church planters: exposure to different church plant models and approaches throughout the area and region.
  3.           The Church – both our local context at Renew and the global Church.
  4.           The culture: being a student of the culture and the context of the North Penn region and knowing how to best engage it with the gospel.
  5.           The voices of skeptics and dreamers in the region: being involved in relationship to hear the heartbeat of those outside of the Church.

LEADING – overseeing and providing direction with specific area(s) of ministry based on giftedness.

This could involve – but is not limited to – the following:

  1.           teaching in Renew gatherings (on occasion)
  2.           overseeing new initiatives, ideas and events that engage with the context and culture of the North Penn region.
  3.           birthing, shepherding and providing leadership to a Renew house church
  4.           overseeing, initiating and/or focusing on a particular area of need depending upon context and individual passion/gifting (high school students, college students, the poor, the mentally ill, minorities, the large Muslim population in Lansdale, social justice, community engagement oversight, community development, etc).

Each RAP participant is required to raise their own financial support. This includes securing a part-time job to supplement the support-raising process and engage further with the context. An approximated budget (developed by Renew elders and financial administrator) will be determined with each participant prior to acceptance to the program. 100% of financial support must be raised before officially beginning the program.

Interested in finding out more? Want to prayerfully consider receiving practical and hands-on church planting training by serving in the Greater Philadelphia Area? For more information contact J.R. Briggs, Founder of the Renew Community and Director of the Renew Apprenticeship Program at jrbriggsis@gmail.com