Comments on: Why Church Plant Assessments Miss the Mark

By: Wayne Regehr

Wayne Regehr — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 02:34:10 +0000

Ro, I like you post and observation.
The assessment sounds a bit like business start-ups going to a bank for financing and the questions a banker ask. They are questions the banker asks to minimize risk as they are rarely, actively involved in the business.
I am wondering if a better model might be the incubator (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_incubator) where the assessor and church planter work together to launch something new.

By: Ro

Ro — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 05:43:25 +0000

Glenn, Brad, please do extend this conversation and offer suggestions as to how you are changing the measurement tools.

By: brad brisco

brad brisco — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:06:12 +0000

Your post is right on. I too have conducted and "analyzed" assessments for the past decade. For the past several years I have tweaked the assessment as much as possible for the exact reasons you raise. I like the questions you propose, we no doubt must develop new "measurables" to fit a post-Christendom context, not to mention to be more biblically/missiologically consistent. Thanks for the post!

By: Glenn Smith

Glenn Smith — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:27:58 +0000

Dear Friend,
I couldn't agree with you more. I've been conducting church planter assessments since 1996. I've been involved in church planting since the mid 80's. Unfortunately I see most of our networks continuing to use modern, Christendom based methods in an increasingly post-Christendom, post-modern world. Thank you for sharing your observations.