Frequently Asked Questions
GENERAL
- Where can I read about the original proposal?
Our SIX:321 vision proposal is this: In the next six years, we are asking God to help us train and deploy three new pastors through a pastoral residency, send out two new missionaries from our congregation, and plant one new church in our area. You can read the original proposal and additional details here. - How will this plan impact the current responsibilities of our staff?
For the Pastoral Residency, while Pastor Brandon will oversee the Residency Program itself, the resident will serve as part of the ministry staff team and interface with many leaders in the church for both training and serving. Our Global Partners team will help us grow in our passion for missions and nurture prayer for sending new missionaries. Our first steps toward church planting will involve opportunities for elders, staff, and members to learn more about planting. As a clear strategy emerges, we will consider the staffing implications for it at that time. - How will members who are not on staff or in leadership participate in this plan?
Whatever role each of us plays, the most important thing for all of us to do is continue to be a healthy church. Multiplying gospel impact is only possible if we are making disciples, loving one another, and caring for one another in our regular rhythms and ministries. At the same time, there will be many opportunities to be part of each aspect of the vision. For the pastoral residency, the resident will be part of our church family and part of our ministry staff, and will eventually lead one of our regular ministries. This will mean opportunities to encourage him, serve together, learn from, and be ministered to by the resident. The missions initiative is an opportunity to more deeply engage with our current missions work and especially to pray for God to raise up new missionaries from Stonebridge (maybe you?). With church planting, while our strategy is not yet clear, there will be opportunities to pray, learn, encourage, support, and perhaps even be part of the core team of the new plant. - Do we have plans for giving directly to the SIX:321 vision?
At this stage, we do not have any sort of special giving set up. We donāt want to draw away funds from our general budget right now. More importantly, for something to be sustainable over the long haul, it is better to build it into the general budget rather than treat it as a special project. Not that there couldnāt be some small special projects or special giving opportunities in the future, but at this point our plan is to fund it through our regular giving and budget processes.
THREE PASTORS TRAINED
- Will we provide housing for the pastoral resident?
While we do not plan to provide housing, the position will be full-time with benefits, and so we will supply a livable salary. - Is there a plan to stagger the pastoral residency?
Yes. While our goal is to train three pastors over the next six years, we will only take on one pastoral resident at a time, each serving a two-year position. - Will we continue the two-year residencies after the 6 years?
Lord willing, we would love to see this program continue long after our initial six-year plan is complete. - How will we recruit the pastoral residents? Who will select them?
To recruit to the position, we would utilize a variety of formal and informal networks, including our denomination (EFCA), colleges and seminaries (e.g., Trinity, Wheaton, Midwestern, RTS, Southern), and ministries and networks (e.g., Simeon Trust, 9Marks, Gospel Coalition). Because this is a short-term ministry position and not a regular, long-term pastor, we plan to approach the hiring similar to hiring a Director or Coordinator. Per our bylaws, this means that while we will involve staff and other leaders and members in the search process, the Elder Board will make the hiring decision. - Would part of the pastoral residency be helping a rural church or other churches with whom we are associated?
Our desire is to tailor the residency training to the specific ministry trajectory of the resident. Part of that may well involve exposure to solo pastorate or rural churches for a portion of their time with us.
TWO MISSIONARIES SENT
- Would the new Stonebridge missionaries be long-term or short-term?
While we are looking at expanding our short-term missions involvement, which can last anywhere from one week to a few months, the vision itself is focused on sending career (i.e., long-term) missionaries to the field who plan to serve for several years. - Would Stonebridge be the sending agency for the missionaries, or would we work with existing sending agencies?
We do not have any plans to become a sending agency as a church. Rather, our vision is to be the sending church for missionaries who will partner with an existing sending agency (e.g., ReachGlobal, SIM, SEND, etc.). - Do the new missionaries have to be Stonebridge members or currently attending our church?
Our specific goal for this vision is to ask God to raise up and send out two new missionaries (or missionary families) from our own church family who will serve in cross-cultural contexts. So in terms of this vision, we are looking for people from within our congregation, and the missions launch fund we hope to establish would be reserved for members or regular attenders of Stonebridge who are entering into long-term cross-cultural missions. We will, however, continue to consider applications from Stonebridge members or regular attenders who are entering into near-culture contexts (e.g., campus ministry), as well as missionaries who are not members or regular attenders of Stonebridge, provided they meet the criteria set by our Global Partners team.
ONE CHURCH PLANTED
- Where will the church plant be located?
At this time, we have not identified a specific location for the church plant, and doing so will largely depend on the specific planting strategy we adopt. - Would we consider rural areas for a church plant?
Yes, that is certainly a possibility. - How does the EFCA define a healthy church?
The goal of EFCA Centralās church-planting initiative is to ensure there is āa life-giving church within driving distance of everyone in our district.ā EFCA Central defines a ālife-giving churchā in terms of gospel clarity, gospel boldness, gospel humility, and gospel compassion. You can read more about that definition here. - Would we consider a multi-site strategy, where Stonebridge is a hub for smaller congregations elsewhere?
Our desire is to plant an autonomous, self-sustaining church. While we would provide support, coaching, and structure during the initial planting stage, we would want to see the church āparticularizeā as its own EFCA church.
Questions & Feedback
In light of the recent revisions to the proposal, we would like to continue the discernment process together over the next couple of months. Please continue sharing your input and questions using the button below or by reaching out directly to Pastor Brandon at brandonl@stonebridge.church. We will also announce some opportunities to gather for prayer and discussion in the weeks ahead.