When it comes to church planting, pastoral experience helps a lot. But even learning the ropes from another pastor doesn’t prepare a first-time planter for what a church plant might look like when he is calling the shots.
That type of preparation comes from working with a coach. For church planters with Christ the King Presbyterian Church (CTK) in Boston, that coach is Omar Ortiz.
Apprentices learn a lot while assisting with church planters in getting their churches off the ground, but Ortiz helps them think more deeply about their own ministry abilities and areas of improvement.
Ortiz is the leadership development director at the CTK Church Planting Center in Boston. His job is to prepare future pastors and ministry leaders for gospel-centered, lifelong ministry.
On-the-Ground Training
When Christ the King began holding worship services in 1994, it was the first PCA church in Boston. In 2009 CTK started its Church Planting Center to coordinate strategic church planting activity. CTK now has nine congregations throughout the Boston area.
After serving as a pastor, church revitalizer, and gospel coach in his native South Florida, Ortiz joined the Church Planting Center in 2016. He oversees the apprentices and interns that come to CTK for ministry experience, mentoring and church planting.
Interns are men and women training for ministry who have not completed their theological education. CTK will take interns for a few months up to a year.
CTK’s apprentices, however, have completed their theological education and want to plant churches. The apprentices have also completed MNA Church Planting Assessment and are working through ordination. They work at a CTK church plant for a minimum of two years to ensure they are ready for the demands of church planting.
“It takes time to learn to be a pastor, and we want [apprentices] to get all the training we can pour into [them],” Ortiz said.
Apprentices learn a lot while assisting with church planters in getting their churches off the ground, but Ortiz helps them think more deeply about their own ministry abilities and areas of improvement.
When MNA Assessment recommends that a pastor work on specific areas of ministry, Ortiz — who received his coaching training from Church Multiplication Ministries — helps that church planter strengthen his weaknesses. For apprentices who earned degrees at an interdenominational seminary like Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Ortiz familiarizes them with PCA polity. Future pastors coming out of a seminary like Covenant Theological Seminary, on the other hand, need a mentor to help them understand ministry in Boston.
All of Ortiz’s work centers around helping apprentices strengthen three areas: Christian character, ministry competence, and theological conviction.
Growing in Intercultural Competencies
Matt Owens fell in love with Boston when he interned with CTK in 2012. He completed his M.Div. in 2013, started working as an assistant pastor with CTK, and became a CTK apprentice in 2016.
Owens’ work as assistant pastor at CTK-Somerville gave him plenty of pastoral experience and the opportunity to learn from Pastor David Richter. But Ortiz worked with Owens to implement the recommendations from his assessment and helped him think about what church planting might look like for Owens as the organizing pastor.
“As I considered where and how to plant, it was helpful to have [Ortiz’s] voice and feedback. He encouraged me and helped me identify that I needed to grow in intercultural competencies before starting an intercultural church plant,” Owens says.
Owens moved to the culturally-diverse neighborhood of Quincy, and with Ortiz’s support, he has started gathering a core group to meet regularly for Bible study.
Staying in the Game
Leading the Church Planting Center since its founding has been Bob Sawyer. As an MNA Church Planting assessor, Sawyer understands the needs of the church planter and the critical role a coach can play in the church planting process.
Assessment provides future church planters with loads of information about themselves, their abilities, and ways they can strengthen their future ministries.
“Coaching is really key in the early stages because it helps a church planter implement changes and exercise their gifts and skills,” Sawyer said. “The coach really functions to complete a guy’s training. Coaching helps him understand himself and his task in ways that are far more useful if he’s going to be successful in planting.”
As the apprentice program grows, Sawyer and Ortiz hope to welcome men who are called to pastoral ministry without church planting and women who feel called to ministry leadership.
An experienced mentor who asks good questions, offers encouragement, and helps an individual apply the gospel to every area of his or her life can be the difference between someone who perseveres in or walks away from ministry.
“Someone on your side who cares about you, is going to be honest and truthful with you, but will love and affirm you and remind you of the truths of the gospel,” Ortiz said. “If more pastors had coaches, it would make a big difference.”