I am looking at attending an assesment centre next year & I was wondering if anyone on the board has any first hand knowledge of the process.

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Kevin Rogers
Sovereign Community Church, PCA
Moncton NB

PM Tim/Marrow Man--we did it in 2006.

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Anna
Wife of Tim/Marrow Man
Louisville, KY
Member of Midlane Park Presbyterian (Associate Reformed Presbyterian)

The PCA Missionary or church planting assessment center?

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Rev. Andrew J. Barnes
Husband of Dena
Father of Oliver
Master of Bruce
Pastor of Tchula Presbyterian Church

What can I say, I like blogs!

Yep. PM me if you have questions.

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Tim Phillips
Pastor, Midlane Park Presbyterian Church (ARP)
Louisville, KY
Husband of Scottish Lass
My Blog: Gairney Bridge
My Facebook/My Avatar

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

"Wherever the gospel is preached, it is as if God Himself came into the midst of us." ~ John Calvin

Scientology?

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Shalom,
jessi
PCA
Steelers fan exiled to Virginia


“Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God.”
Martin Luther

-----Added 10/14/2009 at 12:47:27 EST-----

yes

I've not to many good things about such assessment centers (then), at least as it has to do with the typical theological views/thought processes of the PB. Meaning 'Reformed'. But those who have gone can communicate about that with you.

(I have heard about the broad evangelicalishness of such assessment centers and one friend who was planting a church and stating that he was going to focus on Westminsterian theology (Reformed) and he was advised against it.)

I have a few questions. Are these Elder run assessments? Are they outside hirelings? What is the purpose for this assessment center?

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Norseman Moderator

R. Martin Snyder
1689er
http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/puritancovenanter/

"Our object should not be to have scripture on our side but to be on the side of scripture; and however dear any sentiment may have become by being long entertained, so soon as it is seen to be contrary to the Bible, we must be prepared to abandon it without hesitation."
William Symington

Click to get:Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

The ones I know of in the PCA are run by the denominational mission agencies or by churches that are involved in a church planting network.

i.e. Welcome to the Mission to North America Homepage gracevancouver.com: Sunday Service, Kids Programs, Community Outreach, Christianity, Sermons http://www.redeemer.com/about_us/church_planting/ http://www.plantchurch.org/

Not sure if any of these qualify as "outside hirelings" or not?

The purpose of assesment is to evaluate the qualifications of a candidate for a certain type of ministry.

I think that would be better done by those who see the gifts and talents performed in the daily lives of their parishioners.

Unfortunately this biases the assessors. Thus the need for 3rd party "hirelings." Most mission boards, and I guess the reformed ones too, use outside folks who take very seriously the recommendations of local churches but who also verify such recommendations independantly as well due to (1) the bias in that local churches will affirm even a deficient man if this man is one of their own, and (2) the great lack of solid churches that can be depended upon for such an honest assessment.

At least that is the thinking of this "evangelical-ish" missionary.

-----Added 10/14/2009 at 08:24:31 EST-----

P.s. isn't using the term "hireling" unnecessarily negative towards outside experts who are lending a hand in identifying, equipping, and nurturing missionaries and church planters?

The "hirelings" that I encountered during initial training were unselfish men and women who were extraordinarily gifted by God and totally sold out to helping us see our strengths and weaknesses and who helped nurture each of us even beyond what normally would have been expected. They did not do this for money at all, as the term "hireling" leads us to believe, but they did this for the good of future church-planters and the advancement of Christ's kingdom.


I think, instead of suspicion towards these assessment centers, a godly enthusiasm and looking-forward to this great learning opportunity is appropriate. Kevin will learn so much, get so charged up for evangelism, and be greatly equipped for further service to our Lord.

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Pergamum


"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
-- David Livingstone

Military? Anyone in the military has been through the assessment center from what I understand.

Ah, reading more into the topic, I see you are looking at assessment to qualifications toward a call. The premise is about the same, only in the church, there will be a lot more emphasis on character as well as personality.

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Brian Withnell
Deacon, OPC
Leesburg, Virginia

You cannot train for war in the midst of a battle. Prepare before the battle starts; if the battle is long and hard, you will wish you had.

One thing to expect is a focus less on cognitive, academic and theological questions and more an emphasis on interpersonal relationships, family life and living out one's faith and also applying your solid basic theology to evangelistic situations. In my own preparation, teamwork and also marriage issues were focused on quite a lot, since these two issues often mar the ministries of church-planters and missionaries.

Not that this has to do with the OP, but just a thought. This (assessment center, --> missionary and church planters) seems very much like our current federal government. Putting power in the GA level, instead of at the local level (presbytery). Training should be done by the presbytery, individual church, not the GA. Just a thought. Isn't that what the PCA means by Grassroots?

Regarding missions and local church preparation:

Most churches at the local level are not fully-equipped to prepare future missionaries for cross-cultural stress, linguistics and cross-cultural ministry issues.

Local churches often have local concerns and thus specialized missions training programs are essential in serving local churches in preparing missionaries for service.

Many churches are less than 100 people and their leaders often have never lived overseas. No matter how well-meaning, they would not be the best equipped for training missionaries for service in very different overseas scenarios.

Yup.

The ARP and the EPC somewhat team up for church planting assessment, so we knew some of the assessors and some we did not.

Most are done by local networks within a presbytery. Redeemer, Southwest, Grace etc. Check out the links that I included above.

I spoke to the clerk of our presbytery about this today & said that he wished that it could always be handled with in the local prebytery, but the resources were not available to do so.

For our church plants, the finances are usually divided between the regional presbytery and our domestic missions agency (Outreach North America). The planter is a member of the sponsoring presbytery (which is not necessarily the region of the plant), but the assessment is done at the national level, partly because we rarely have more than one or two couples at a time from each presbytery. It's somewhat better stewardship (imo) to lump them into assessments offered once or twice a year (if assessments are required, which they are in the ARP).

I went thru and passed.

email me if you want and I'll give you my take.

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TE Brian Carpenter
Pastor, Foothills PCA Sturgis, SD
www.thehappytr.blogspot.com www.afiresidechat.blogspot.com
"In vain th' unlighted pipe you blow;
Your pains in inward means are so,
'Till heav'nly fire thy heart inspire.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco."

Does Southwest do its own assessments now? Last time I heard (which was several years ago) they were discussing that, but were still sending candidates to MNA in Atlanta.

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Edward
Deacon
PCA
Texas

I would imagine that the apostle Paul would have very little patience with our modern methods and assessment bureaucracies. This would also apply to some of the best missionaries of the church universal.

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Adam J. Myer
Slated for the Jan. 10th Chaplains Basic Officer Leadership Course
Estacada Christian Church
Sandy, Oregon

Soli Deo Gloria

I am not sure on that. However, I believe one of the former interns from PCPC went to MNA assessment recently and was supposed to plant a church in the presbytery but ultimately felt he wasn't ready and took a call elsewhere.

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Kenneth Kneip
Member @ New St. Peter's PC (PCA), Dallas TX
Pastoral Intern @ New Covenant PC (PCA), Dallas TX
M. Div. student @ Redeemer Seminary, Dallas TX