Training for Church Planters
Church planting takes more than a good idea and a willing leader.
Equipping Workers of the Field
Church Planters need biblical conviction, practical tools, a clear vision, healthy rhythms, and the ability to make disciples and develop leaders in the real world.
ICPA training is designed to be practical, relational, and immediately usable.
Equip. Develop. Multiply.
Art of the Start:
Planting Residency:
Ongoing, personalized support to help you navigate challenges and turn training concepts into real-world action.
Personal Coaching:
An intentional season of hands-on formation, development, and discernment before carrying the weight of a launch.
An intensive boot camp to help you move from a calling to a clear, executable launch plan.
We depend on this engineer to transform conceptual requirements into robust technical solutions that integrate seamlessly with existing infrastructures.
Foundational training to build a reproducible culture of disciple-making that drives your church plant.
Workshops & Intensives:
Relational Discipleship:
What Trainees say
“Relational Discipleship Training has helped us change to become a church that is focused both on the teaching of Jesus and the methods of Jesus. We have seen transformation in the lives of our people, stepping into disciple-making and celebrating that people are coming to trust, follow, and give their lives to Christ.”
Scott Williams - Pastor
First Christian Church, Gooding, ID
“Relational Discipleship Training went a long way to help the team move our vision for discipleship from theoretical to practical. We walked away with some very practical tools that are helping to fuel discipleship in our small groups.”
Jeff Sadler - Church Planter
Hillsboro, OR
Art of the Start
A practical boot camp for launching well.
Art of the Start is designed to help you move past abstract ideas and step into a clear, executable plan for the church God is calling you to build.
You won’t just learn about church planting—you will work on your actual church plant. Through highly interactive sessions, planters work alongside experienced pastors and coaches to tackle the major realities every planter faces: vision, team development, culture, launch strategy, leadership, and finances.
A central component of Art of the Start is working through Will Mancini’s Vision Frame to clarify the foundational questions that will shape your church:
Mission: What are we ultimately called to do?
Values: Why do we do what we do?
Strategy: How will we accomplish the mission?
Measures: What does a disciple actually look like here?
Some leaders are ready to plant right now. Others need a season to grow before carrying the immense weight of starting a church.
The ICPA Church Planting Residency provides an intentional environment for emerging planters to develop spiritually, personally, relationally, and practically. It is not simply additional education; it is a vital season of discernment and hands-on ministry experience. Residents work through key church-planting competencies, receive dedicated mentoring, and are challenged to develop the character required for long-term health in ministry.
We want leaders to discover not only whether they are called to plant, but what kind of planter they are becoming.
Church Planting Residency
Formation before launch.
Relational Discipleship Training
Churches are planted by making disciples.
We believe church planting and disciple-making cannot be separated. Jesus did not command His followers to build organizations; He commanded them to make disciples.
Our Relational Discipleship Training helps planters build a reproducible culture where ordinary people learn to:
Hear and obey Jesus.
Pray for people who are far from God.
Build genuine relationships and open Scripture with others.
Help people take active steps of obedience.
Make disciples who can turn around and make more disciples.
Coaching
Training should not end at the beginning.
Information becomes infinitely more valuable when someone helps you apply it. Training gives you tools, but coaching helps you use them.
That is why ICPA intentionally connects our training environments with ongoing coaching. A dedicated coach helps you process what you are learning, identify blind spots, navigate complex challenges, and turn raw ideas into strategic action. We want every planter to have a seasoned practitioner walking alongside them through the real questions that emerge before launch, during launch, and into the critical early years of the church.
Regional Training & Network Partnerships
Planters grow better together.
ICPA operates with an open hand. We don't believe we need to create every training environment ourselves. Instead, we highly value partnerships with the churches, networks, and organizations that are already strengthening leaders across the Intermountain West.
One prime example is our partnership with the Exponential Boise Regional Gathering, hosted alongside the Valley Network and other regional leaders. These gatherings pull you out of isolation, exposing you to experienced practitioners, fresh ideas, and broader conversations beyond your immediate context. They serve as a powerful reminder that you are part of a mission much larger than one church or one city.
Planter Workshops & Church Intensives
Practical training for the realities of planting.
Church planting creates unique challenges that rarely fit neatly into a classroom. Throughout the year, ICPA offers dynamic workshops and intensives designed specifically around the practical, on-the-ground realities planters actually face.
Led by experienced practitioners who are actively planting, pastoring, and supporting churches, these sessions cover essential topics such as:
Fundraising, financial development, and building a financial runway.
Building, equipping, and sustaining a launch team.
Community demographics and mission-field research.
Establishing healthy leadership and family rhythms.
Prayer walking, spiritual discernment, and avoiding landmines.
Navigating conflict and facilitating difficult conversations.
Portable church systems and launch logistics.
Building leadership pipelines and becoming a sending church.
We Don’t Do This Alone
It is only through the relationships and support of others that ICPA is able to serve as a church-planting ministry in the Northwest. Intentional partnerships have been the key to expanding the Kingdom of God.