Difference Between a Pastor and Church Planter

[Quatchu]

Is there a huge difference between being a TE in an established church and being a church planter? Should all TE be prepared and willing to plant churches, or is it ok for some TE not to have what it takes to plant a church. What are some skills or abilities that a Church Planter needs that TE in established churches might not need.

 

[Edward]

The skill sets for being a successful church planter and for being a successful pastor for an established church overlap, but differ. While you do see church planters who successfully transition, more often you will see the church planter move on and a new pastor come in for the next stage. In the business world, it would be seen as entrepreneurial versus managerial, although that isn't a perfect picture.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Is there a huge difference between being a TE in an established church and being a church planter? Should all TE be prepared and willing to plant churches, or is it ok for some TE not to have what it takes to plant a church. What are some skills or abilities that a Church Planter needs that TE in established churches might not need.

Yes, it is OK. I don't think all TE's have the temperament or gifts to be a successful Church planter. I think there is a gift of Evangelism (in a narrow sense of the term) that Church planters have. The OPC, for instance, has that as an Office in the Church recognizing that it is not a spiritual gift that all possess. The best human analogy I can use is that some are gifted in Sales while others may be gifted in Administration. The salesman has a gift of interpersonal skills and "cold calling" people that not all have. Likewise, in Church planting, you have to be the kind of person that is willing to go out and meet people in a way that not all are good at. An introverted Pastor, for instance, may not make a good Church planter.

Also, I would say that Church planting requires you to be a "soup to nuts" kind of guy where you have to be well organized as you have none of the "infrastructure and logistics" of an established Church. A Church planter either needs those skills or will need to find people in the new plant that can help him with a lot of those things. I've been in at least two Church plants and the move from Church plant to established Church is sometimes difficult due to the transition from one mode of operation to another, especially as a Session is forming.

There are some men in the PCA, for instance, that feel called to plant and establish Churches and then move to a new plant. They have more of an Evangelist ministry to allow others to "water and feed" what they've planted.