PURPOSE
The Great Commission commands and authorises us to take the gospel to neighbourhoods and the nations. The timeless and primary New Testament strategy for this is church planting. Planting churches is hard. Planting healthy churches is harder. Repeating the process on a regular basis is harder still. Jesus must be driving it from start to finish. From a human perspective, five things need to be in play to plant a healthy church: a called and capable leader, apostolic input, a core team, finance, and various types of meaningful support from others (such as the sending church and the wider movement). The Advance Church Planters’ Course (ACPC) exists to help produce the first of these four things – called and capable church plant leaders, whilst beginning to establish apostolic input through the ACPC coaching relationships, developing connections to the wider Advance movement and opening avenues for Advance financial support.
WHO
ACPC is for those who are hope to church plant or take on the leadership of a church/site within the next two to three years. The expectation is that anyone leading a plant identified as an ‘Advance partner plant’ will complete ACPC as this provides consistency of content, assessment and coaching.
ACPC OBJECTIVES
ACPC has a specific focus, namely to equip and inspire participants in the essential skills and attitudes for church planting and church leadership. Although it involves theology, it is not a theological course per se. The ACPC pursues the following objectives:
- Character: Tools to develop spiritual, emotional and marital health
- Calling: Assessment and strengthening of calling to plant or lead a church
- Competencies: Opportunities to learn, practice, and develop core competencies
- Context: Equip participants to think and act contextually, with a missionary mindset
- Community: Develop friendship and relationship with other leaders
MORE INFORMATION
Please download the full course framework for a detailed explanation of content and methodology.
Should you have any further questions then please do not hesitate to get in touch with Pete Cornford.
QUICK LOOK: 2024/25 DATES AND DETAILS
Cost
£500 per person per year.
DATES
Next intake dates:
Term 1
2026
Start 21/9
Finish 4/12
Teach 5 / 6 / 7 November
Term 2
2027
Start 11/1
Finish 26/3
Teach 25 / 26 / 27 February
Term 3
2027
Start 3/ 5
Finish 16/7
Teach 17 / 18 / 19 July
