Christian Reformed Home Missions offers a residency of ordinarily twelve months for additional orientation, training, research and preparation for church planting. A resident is someone called to start a new church, but who has had little experience in ministry or church planting. The resident is a called and ordained ministry associate or minister of the Word in the Christian Reformed Church in North America, or in the final steps toward ordination in the CRC. Although primarily for seminarians, ordained ministry associates (evangelists) or pastors from established churches can also benefit from a short residency.
- The prerequisite for a residency is a favorable assessment from Home Missions.
- Ordinarily a local church that is a fairly recent church plant will serve as the calling and/or parent for the residency. Its pastor will serve as the supervising pastor. If the calling church is still developing and not organized, another church will serve as the “calling church.”
- The call will be to a specific location or region with the location to be determined through the residency.
- A residency-at-large may be available to a uniquely qualified candidate "with a vision and call, but with the location to be determined." A Christian Reformed Home Missions endorsement is given, contingent on the endorsement of regional partners, in most cases a simultaneous process.
- The primary purpose of the residency is to prepare the resident for church planting. The primary benefit to the calling/parent church is the thrill of envisioning and participating, through the resident, in the planting and birth of a new congregation.
How to Apply
