Cultivate (verb)
- To prepare for growth
- To acquire or develop a quality or skill
We engage, equip, and empower churches to plant the next generation of churches. We believe that the local church is the garden in which church planters are cultivated.
Trellis (noun)
- A structure to support plants.
Personal
Every church planter is unique, and our assessment helps to identify and leverage your strengths, and recognize targeted areas for growth. You’ll receive personalized mentoring from an experienced pastor in the context of a local church, and coaching from specialists who are called to support church planters.
Pastoral
You will be nurtured and cared for as you are mentored to pastor others. We will make sure that you receive robust theological training, learn to be a more effective Bible teacher; and we will ensure you are equipped to care for God’s people.
Practical
Built upon a rich history of the Calvary Chapel movement, you’ll receive practical training to prepare you to lead a gospel-centered community in your current context or in proximity to the area where God is calling you to plant.
You complete our brief prospective planter questionnaire, provide references, and later complete the Lifeway Church Planter Candidate Assessment. This will help us to have a holistic picture of relative strengths to maximize, and areas of development to address during training. Also, a later detailed assessment will ensure your theological, philosophical, and practical preparation.
The duration is 6-24 months depending on your prior experience and training. We help cultivate the character, skills, and knowledge necessary to fulfill your calling to lead, teach, and serve through personal mentoring and online resources, including those from our collaboration with Western Seminary’s Center for Leadership Development. You’ll learn who should plant, why we need healthy gospel-centered communities, and how to plant. You’ll be taught the practical lessons you’ll need to be an effective church planter. You’ll learn core values that have been part of Calvary Chapel’s DNA, with direct interaction with seasoned practitioners and leaders.
Gatherings
Regional in-person and online gatherings encourage, equip, and engage church planters. Together we forge healthy relationships that promote healthy planters and churches, and foster a culture of church planting.
Support
Post-Launch Support: You will continue to receive support as you begin to plant. During the first year you’ll receive at least one post-launch support meeting every 1-2 months, and an in-person visit. In the second year you’ll receive at least one support meeting every quarter, and an in-person visit.
We determine funding on a case by case basis. Every situation is unique and will be assessed by our team. Nevertheless our commitment is to help support you so that you can support others.
Cultivate will invest time, talent, and treasure resources to help support committed planters advance the gospel. We seek to invest resources with planters who are committed to supporting future Cultivate church planters by committing one percent (1%) of their church budget to the Cultivate mission. We prioritize funding where there is great need for new gospel-centered, Bible-teaching churches.
Take the assessment to help ensure that you are equipped with a robust understanding of theology, philosophy of ministry, Bible teaching, practical pastoral ministry training, and your gifts.
Being a mentor to a church planter is as rewarding as it is enriching. Cultivate mentors participate in the great commission by coming alongside prospective church planters to help them fulfill their calling.
Coaches provide the highest level of expertise to work with many different candidates, mentors, and churches implementing the overall vision and strategy of Cultivate.
Nick Cady is the lead pastor of White Fields Community Church in Longmont, Colorado. He holds an M.A. in Integrative Theology from London School of Theology. Prior to moving to Colorado, Nick spent 10 years in Hungary as a missionary, pastor and church planter with Calvary Chapel.
Nick has a heart for the mission of God through the Church, and prior to leading the Cultivate team, was involved in equipping and training church planters in the US and Europe.
For the past twenty years Brian has been involved in church planting and mission work in East Africa, New Zealand, and the United States. Brian has a passion for planting churches and has hands-on experience seeing churches grow from the ground up. Brian has been involved in five church plants, and has been a sending pastor for dozens more. He is a graduate of Calvary Chapel Bible College, and the founder of the CCBC campus in East Africa. Currently, Brian is planting a new church in Florida, where he lives with his beautiful wife Lynne and their three children.
Raised in a Jewish home, Bruce came to faith in Christ as Messiah over 30 years ago. He and Karen, his lovely bride have been married since 1991, and are blessed by their sons Joshua and Jonathan. Bruce taught at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa’s School of the Bible, and is a graduate of CCCM’s School of Ministry. He has been an ordained pastor for near 30 years, and was an attorney for 25 years. In 1996 he planted Calvary Nexus in Camarillo, Ca. where he continues to serve as teaching pastor. Bruce is the author of 17 books, and has directed the Calvary Church Planting Network [CCPN] a global church planting initiative.
Ed is the lead pastor at Shoreline Calvary in Morro Bay, California. Previously he served as a church planter and trainer of church planters in Nairobi, Kenya and in the process helped establish several churches in Kenya and Tanzania. Returning from the field, Ed served with Shepherd’s Staff Mission Facilitators helping churches send their missionaries well. His passion is to see the fame of Jesus spread in His local church.
Cultivate has created resources to help equip you to prepare to plant, pastor, launch + lead better. In addition, you’ll find resources available from others whom we respect and
recommend.
