Date of Award

Fall 2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

College

College of Education

Department

Department of Education

Primary Advisor

Dr. Karen Ingle

Second Advisor

Dr. Thomas Gollery

Third Advisor

Dr. Kim Martinez

Abstract

The steady decline of churches in America is a cause of great concern among spiritual leaders (Stetzer & Im, 2016). Missiologists agree that church planting is vital to presenting the gospel to unreached people groups. If church planting is the vehicle to deliver the life-giving message of Jesus to the world, church planters are the drivers who actively accomplish the purpose of healthy multiplication. Recent data on the health of church planters indicates many of them are not adequately prepared and desire long-term support to be successful. The Assemblies of God denomination has tasked the Church Multiplication Network with leading the charge in the area of national church planting. Launch church plant training is the primary avenue to prepare church planters. The study surveyed 91 Launch participants to evaluate their perceptions of the training they received. An evaluation of Launch participants indicated they perceived the training itself to include relevant and helpful content. However, indicators of post-Launch support was significantly low on the survey results, which included coaching, parent church backing, and the help of the local denominational network. The research data highlights the need for post-launch support for church planters following the start of a new church. Church planters who perceived they had post-launch support, were 66% more likely to plant a church, compared to those who did not perceive they had ongoing support. The data indicated the perception of post-launch support was a predictor of the launch of a church. Keywords: church planting, training church plant leaders, professional development of church planters, church plant training, launching new churches.

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