Church planters are missional change agents who lift unreached communities by displaying and declaring the Gospel. They are responsible for leading their communities according to God’s Word, so we prayerfully and diligently select each leader.
How do we select church planters?
Our selection process begins by interviewing potential planters face-to-face. We work with multiple denominations and partners that help us identify potential church leaders and bring them to our interviews. After completing the interview process, if we determine they align with our mission, they are selected to be a new Petros Network church planter.
To be chosen, a church planter must be:
- An indigenous leader to the people they are reaching
- Mature in God’s Word and able to accurately proclaim it through preaching and teaching ministry.
- Teachable, respectable, faithful, honest, and passionate to reach lost people with self-sacrificial love and care.
- Able to complete a strategic plan for their ministry and equip others to join them.
- Have demonstrated experience in organizing and leading programs, groups, and individuals.
- And they are willing to be accountable to their sending church and Petros Network throughout the process.
The training process for new church planters
Indigenous church planters are provided three years of training and support from Petros Network, mainly done through their field coordinators. New church planters work within the incubator for three years, which provides them with the following:
- A monthly stipend
- Ongoing discipleship and guidance,
- And needed materials to care for their community
Missionary church planters are assigned a field coordinator who walks alongside them, charts their progress, maintains status reports, and gives ongoing encouragement and support.
The leaders are offered work training and startup funds throughout the three-year incubator to build a sustainable business. Investing in their startup allows the planter to replace their monthly stipend so they can continue their ministry once the three-year program is complete. We aim to provide initial resources and training so that every leader and community is independently sustainable.
Meet our church planters
In twenty years of church planting, we’ve witnessed numerous leaders complete our program and go on to lead churches in previously unreached villages where they display and declare the Gospel faithfully. While we can’t introduce you to all of them (although we would love to), we’ll introduce you to two pastors that have successfully led churches and are now regional coordinators.
“In Uganda, Petros Network has brought together 33 denominations working together for the glory of Jesus alone. Ugandans serving Ugandas the Ugandan way. Petros Network is a blessing to us. They have come around us, supported our ministry, and expanded our vision. We would not have the influence or opportunity to expand our reach at the rate we have grown in the last decade without the training and support of Petros Network. And we have seen amazing fruit! God is changing the lives of many people, starting from my own life, family, and friends. We have seen men have dropped bad habits of fighting with their wives, children have changed, and the quality of education has improved greatly!” —Pastor Silvest Kasirivu
“I have fallen in love with Petros Network because of its vision and approach to training church planters and planting thriving churches in unreached places (places of spiritual darkness). Above all, Petros Network makes Jesus the center of discussion,…not denomination or color.” —Pastor Denish Rubangakene
Each of these leaders has successfully led a church plant in their community and has gone on to educate and equip new leaders with the same tools they were given.
Partner with us to equip new leaders
Here are two ways you can partner with us to equip new church planters:
Help us meet our goal of planting new churches within walking distance of every person so it can be the catalyst for change in the community.
TOGETHER, WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD
