A Converge church planting residency gives you meaningful leadership and work experiences, a safe place to succeed and fail and an empowered launch into ministry. You’ll be able to clarify your call to ministry, pursue and thrive in your God-given strengths and abilities and learn from experience to strengthen the future of the ministry to which God has called you. By doing so, you’ll set yourself up for long-term ministry success.
Converge's church residency program combines hands-on ministry experience and education to give you the most complete church planting training available. You will:
- Gain meaningful leadership and work experiences
- Be prepared and empowered as you launch into ministry
- Pursue and thrive in your God-given strengths and abilities
- Learn from experience to strengthen the future of your ministry
- Set yourself up for long-term success as a church planter
Through hands-on experience, your church planting residency training will prepare you for the rigors of church planting and ministry leadership.
When you enter the residency process, we know you don’t want to just learn a bunch of facts, figures and theories about what might work somewhere. The priority is for you to take the content and interpret it through your ministry context. You should
be able to immediately apply the content to help people meet, know and follow Jesus where you are. Get started now >
- You’ll be given meaningful work and build healthy leadership habits
- You’ll be trusted to direct ministry projects
- You’ll have an on-site champion (coach) who will serve as your emotional and spiritual supporter throughout your residency.
A Converge church planting residency is about much more than just learning facts, figures and theories. The priority is for you to take the content and interpret it through—and apply it to—your ministry context.
In additional to doing ministry, you will spend 2-3 hours per week focusing on the academic component of your residency. The one-year vocational training also counts as 10 credits of advance standing at the Wheaton College Graduate School, where you can follow one of the multiple tracks to earn a Certificate of Missional Leadership and/or an MA in Ministry Leadership.
You'll also learn from some of the most experienced, well-respected and well-known leaders in the field, including pastors, authors and educators such as Ed Stetzer, Daniel Im and Daniel Yang.
- Take online courses from Wheaton College Graduate School
- Earn a Certificate of Missional Leadership and/or an MA in Ministry Leadership
Ed Stetzer
Executive Director of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center
Daniel Im
Lead pastor, author and podcaster
Daniel Yang
Director of the Send Institute and church planter
Great videos. Short, sweet and challenging. Looking forward to growing together as a board using this tool to help us be a unified team moving in God's direction for his people.
Ryan White, Associate Pastor
