What is Short Cycle Church Planting (part 1 of a series)?

In 2007 Amee and I will be leading an Avant Short Cycle Church Planting Team back to Italy. This entry is part one in a series that explains this cutting edge approach to missions known as Short Cycle Church Planting (SCCP).

Two dual-core 2.5GHz PowerPC G5 processors all in one machine! That’s two processors that clock at 2.5Ghz each and they’re dual core, which means they each have two sides to their brain. It’s called the quad because it’s as if there are four processors! This is the computer of my dreams.

In computers it all starts with the processor; that chip inside the box. And at the core of Short Cycle Church Planting (SCCP) is a well-equipped, diverse, high performance team.

Avant is looking for 8-10 people with a variety of gifts, abilities, and perspectives who can thrive on change and excel in a dynamic environment.

Our team's mission will be to plant a movement of churches in the city of Genoa within 5 years. So we will be counting on the synergy produced in a creative work context.

The high performance team is a fundamental difference between how we have experienced church planting in the past and SCCP.

Traditionally, ministry focused around the individual church planter. Even in situations where there were multiple missionaries present, each one was a church planter and used certain skill sets thought to be useful in church planting.

Not any more. No single person on our team will be the church planter. The team as a unit is the church planter and each individual contributes uniquely to the process.

One member may be a people magnet, another may be practical with technology, another may be a Bible teacher, and yet another may find fulfillment in working through bureaucracy and logistics.

As a team we will win, together. Together we will train and strategize while still in America. Together we will depart for Italy. Together we will study language. Together we will continually evaluate our progress and approach. We're even talking about a pooled financial support system.Together we will plant multiple churches in a shorter period of time.

So the team is important. Like the processor inside my computer, it is the brain from which everything else flows.

Pray for our teammates, Phil and Donna Pace, Andrew and Natalie Debelaks, Dustin Mahoney, and a couple of others who are still discerning God's leading in their lives.