Our Approach

First, we carefully select each church planter and interview them face-to-face.

Once we’re sure they align with the Petros Network mission, we offer training that empowers them to be change agents in every facet of their communities.

And while on the field, missionary church planter are assigned a field coordinator who walks alongside them, charts their progress, maintains status reports, and gives ongoing encouragement and support.

HOW CHURCH PLANTERS ARE SELECTED

We’re often asked, “How do you select church planters?” We work with multiple denominations and partners to carefully select our leaders. A church planter is:

• 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, and 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 in that work.
• 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 leaders work within our “incubator” for three years, which offers:

• a monthly stipend,
• ongoing discipleship and guidance,
• and needed materials.

During this time, leaders are also offered work training and startup funds to build their own sustainable businesses. The new income is designed to replace and exceed their stipend so they can continue the ministry once the three year program is complete.

Once the three year program is complete, leaders are returned to their denomination as a sustainable church.

At that point, it’s not uncommon to see the original church plant birth two to three more churches in nearby communities.

In other words, the impact is exponential.

The communities we serve often face chronic poverty, food insecurity, limited healthcare, clean water scarcity, harmful cultural practices, and lack of access to education. In these situations, women are often abused and children suffer.

As indigenous church planters in our program live out Kingdom values, they become change agents in all aspects of community life. Along the way, they define and present the unique needs of the communities they serve. When they do, we cultivate a network of investors, community groups, government bodies, and religious sectors to respond with sustainable solutions that best fit the local context of the rural villages.

Reaching the unreached is synonymous with serving the poor. Unique solutions fit community needs and often include:

• Empowering women through development training and micro grants,
• Feeding children and families through food distribution and agriculture initiatives,
• Protecting children through child sponsorship, access to education, and school feeding programs,
• Improving health through clinics that provide medical and dental care,
• Providing clean water by constructing wells and cisterns and offering sanitation training and solar power,
• Educating out of poverty through developing schools and training teachers, and
• Responding to unique needs through sports outreach, small business training, transformational leadership development, and construction projects.

As Jesus is shared and shown, all of life in that community lifts for the better. Partners can help fund a compassion project or offer their expertise here at home or on the field.

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