Inward Change for An Outward Focus

Many demands fight with a church planter to detour his or her focus from what is most important. In order for a church planter to be effective and transformational the highest of priorities must center on relationships. A church planter's relationships with God, family, the sending church, his or her core team, and the targeted community need to be the focus of his or her attention. As the planter keeps his or her life in order and key relationships a priority the more outward he or she can be to impact lives for Jesus Christ.

Building on this concept, this thesis explains the truth that transformational leadership begins with the leader being transformed by God. The transformation then flows from within the heart of the transformational church planter through the relationships he or she has. It provides research from the experience of more than ten church planters and compares the correlation of inner life development and the maintenance of close relationships to the effectiveness of their church plants. It also evaluates a couple of church planting tool kits and the effectiveness of those tools in preparing church planters for ministry.
This thesis reinforces the vital importance that effective transformational church planting results from the men or women who initially had an inward focus on his or her personal growth and close relationships.