Nearly 60 people from nine churches gathered on Saturday, January 24—despite an approaching snowstorm—to learn, pray, and collaborate around the work of church planting in the metro-Richmond area.
Our guest speaker, Dr. Robert Kim, professor at Covenant Theological Seminary, led us in thinking more deeply about the importance of church planting and the ways local churches can participate in raising up both planters and lay leaders. He spoke about the urgent need for new churches, how congregations can intentionally develop lay leaders for planting teams, and how churches can cultivate future church planters from within their own communities.
Dr. Kim identified several core competencies necessary for church planters, including a deep willingness to surrender to God and a genuine zeal for reaching the lost. He also encouraged us to wrestle with key questions that shape every church planting effort: Who will we reach? and What wall will we breach?
One of the most helpful challenges of the day was a shift in how we think about identifying future planters and team members. Rather than looking to seminaries or only to the established “core” of our churches, Dr. Kim encouraged us to pay attention to the margins—especially younger leaders who may be called to play key roles in future church plants. Developing these leaders will require intentional pipeline development within our congregations and increased collaboration among churches so that we can build sustainable momentum for church planting in our region.
We are deeply encouraged by the strong participation in this year’s Church Planting Summit and grateful for the many pastors and leaders who made the day possible. We pray that the Lord will bear much fruit from these conversations in the years ahead as new leaders are raised up and new churches are planted throughout Richmond and central Virginia.
