Assessing Missional Leaders--Evaluating the Effectiveness and Placement of Missional Church Planters

This project attempts to address the need for a new method of assessing missional church planting leaders in a postmodern context. It argues that a new way of formally assessing those who enter the church planting field is necessary in response to a need for a new kind of church planter. This new breed of church planter has the calling, character, competence, and relational chemistry necessary to serve as a transformational and missional leader in a society that is becoming increasingly complex, urban, and postmodern.

This study reviews the concept of a church multiplication movement and the role of formal interviewing and assessment in such a movement. Further it offers a review of the literature on church multiplication and the assessment of church multiplication leaders. This project explores the state of leadership assessment in North American church multiplication circles and argues for the value of formal assessment in an ongoing missional church multiplication movement. This study also discusses important issues in church planter assessment and draws conclusions about how to revise and improve the assessment process.

This project report also lays a biblical and theological foundation for church multiplication movements and provides biblical citations supporting the behavioral assets and characteristics that an assessment process attempts to discover and document.

The implementation of the ministry project is discussed in detail, including the genesis of a new assessment system in Southern California from the years 2004 to 2006. The design of the system, a training manual for the development of additional assessment consultants, and a training strategy are all documented in this project.

This study presents findings, results, and conclusions about the effectiveness of this new attempt at developing an assessment system and presents findings that demonstrate the need for, and adaptability of a missionally focused assessment system. The value of selection interviewing for missional leaders including church planters is affirmed, additional applications of the system are explored and future modifications and revisions are discussed.

Finally, this project concludes with an affirmation of the value of assessments in the development of a church multiplication system in North America and presents a call for the development and deployment of missional church planting leaders as a central focus of ministry.