Church Planting Residency

North Shore Community Baptist Church is offering a church planting residency to invest in a future church planter on the North Shore. To find out if this could be you, read below.

Why Church Planting?

Essex County is home to ~785 000 people, the vast majority of whom don't have a living relationship with Jesus. Even though there are good churches in our area, we believe there is still a proximity problem - most people have little or no connection to the gospel through friendships or a community witness. The concept of Christianity may be familiar but the good news of the gospel remains largely unknown.

Essex County has multiple tight knit communities, each with their own character. To get to know people here it's important to invest in the local community. We love our communities and want the local church to be a genuine part of them, holding out the gospel for everyone to see in a way that they haven't before.

Through a multiplying movement of churches engaging in every community on the North Shore we hope to close the gap of the proximity problem by growing a living witness of the gospel; in both articulate word and authentic service. We desire for Jesus to be made known in truth to the many here who don't yet know him.

It is our vision at NSCBC to see a Gospel Movement on the North Shore that results in men, women, and children from every community and from every background having repeated opportunities to engage with Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This won't be achieved by NSCBC getting bigger, even if we doubled in size we would have little impact on the rest of Essex County.

The North Shore needs a special movement of God’s Spirit, where faith is multiplied, mission mobilized, and churches planted.

As part of this vision we want to partner with a church planter to see a new thriving gospel witness established in our county, with the desire to make disciples who make disciples.

Church Planting Residency

North Shore Community Baptist Church is offering a church planting residency to invest in a future church planter on the North Shore.

A church planting residency is an opportunity for a church planter to receive specific training, work on leadership gifts, invest in the community, plan and fundraise, all as part of their preparation to plant a church.

Our residency is an 18-24 months program that includes

  • Church planting specific coaching from experienced planters at Converge
  • Leadership training from the pastors of the North Shore Gospel Partnership
  • Entrepreneurial ministry experience on the North Shore in partnership with NSCBC, starting and growing a new ministry
  • Opportunities to attend conferences and courses
  • Developing relationships with people on the North Shore
  • Developing a planting plan for a new church plant on the North Shore

It is our hope that upon completion of the residency to be able to send the church planting resident out as a planter from NSCBC.

Who can be a resident?

We are looking for someone with a passion for church planting and the gifts to carry it out.

Having a passion for the gospel and for the people in this area is essential. A church plant is for those who don't know Jesus yet so a mission mindset is needed, as is evidence of entrepreneurial leadership to be able to start something from scratch.

A church planting resident will need to love this area and be committed to the people and communities here.

It is also important to have a godly character and a vibrant faith, possessing the qualifications of an elder.

Self Assessment

We recommend the following very helpful self assessment resources for anyone interested in church planting.

Acts 29 - https://www.acts29.com/competencies/ Entirely self-directed process with e-books and great reflective questions

Stadia - https://stadiachurchplanting.org/plant/ The Stadia Discovery process is mostly self-directed but they also provide a coach to help you through the process and answer any questions

What is a resident?

The following video from Stadia describes one church planters experience of a residency.

Residency with Stadia Church Planting from Stadia Church Planting on Vimeo.

Next Steps

Applications for our Church Planting Residency Program are now open. Click the button below to fill out an initial application.

If you are interested in finding out more about the church planting residency at NSCBC get in touch with our residency coordinator Richard Wallace to schedule a meeting or video call.

We also encourage you to learn more about the North Shore and the different communities here as you discern God's call.