church planting

What does it mean to plant a church with us?

We are convinced that we can do more and healthier Gospel work together than apart. Our family structure enables local missional freedom and flexibility while providing health and safety through brotherhood and accountability as well as operational economies of time, expertise, and scale. Simply put, there is real theological, relational, and financial strength in numbers. Planting a Seven Mile Road church means opting in on this life together so that we can see thousands of New Englanders believing the Gospel, being discipled, and living on mission in an ever-growing family of healthy Seven Mile Roads for God’s glory, our joy, and the good of our neighbors.
 

How does that look?

Planting with Seven Mile Road means you are not alone. From Day One you’ll have family with you, pulling for you, working hard to prepare you to lead a healthy church for the long haul. A season spent serving in an existing Seven Mile Road church will familiarize you with our DNA and offer opportunity to grow in a context similar to where you'll be planting. As you move towards launch, partnering with Seven Mile Road also means you don't have to start from scratch with a litany of back-office realities like accounting, insurance, etc. Those are taken care of so you can focus on your local mission. Best of all, you'll have seasoned coaching and relational accountability with brothers you trust.
 

WHAT DOES IT REQUIRE?

Each Seven Mile Road church commits to our unified life as follows:

LOVE: We are fully committed personally to one another. Take a bullet committed.

THEOLOGY: We have a unified Statement of Faith and shared theological distinctives.

BYLAWS: We have unified by-Laws.

MONEY: We share a budget process and fund certain unified realities (back office, church planting, etc.) together.

MULTIPLICATION: We plant as a family, not as individual churches, and we require unanimity on approved Seven Mile Road planters/church plants.

HUSTLE: We are willing to invest the time, money, energy, travel, etc. to meet together frequently enough to function as a unified team.

GENEROSITY: We open-handedly share with human and content resources.

The family exists to promote health and propel gospel advance at the local level, so our emphasis functionally is on local freedom with unified support.
 

HOW IT WORKS

UNIFIED

• Name and Branding (Logo, Style Guide)

• Back Office (Accounting, Legal, H/R, etc.)

• Multiplication (Unanimity on next Seven Mile Road/Lead Planter)

• Leadership Development (Tracks)

LOCAL

• Missional Identity, Strategy, and Execution

• Local Leadership*

• Assimilation

• Baptism

• Membership

• Pastoral Care

• Gospel Communities

• Preaching

• Music

• Space*

• Sunday Operations

• Children and Student Ministry

• Media

• Network Opportunities*

* Conversation/consultation with Unified Team is required before local churches move on these items, but they are ultimately local decisions