A new day is dawning in the Covenant.

After months of prayer and preparation, God has blessed the ECC with a fully operational Assessment Center for revitalization pastors. We held our first Revitalization Assessment Center a few weeks ago in Minneapolis. It was an amazing experience for both the assessors and the assesses.

Our goal is to discern God’s voice in identifying those pastors who have the unique spiritual gifts, heart passions, abilities, personality and experiences (S.H.A.P.E.) to enter into certain Critical Moment or At - Risk Churches and lead significant turnaround. (Please note, we will not assess pastors to go into Healthy Missional or Stable Churches)

To our knowledge, this is the first Assessment Center of its kind in the United States. Other denominations, along with the ECC, host assessment centers to identify church planters. But we have heard of no other denominational group that does this for revitalization pastors. We praise God for his provision.

But there is more to this story than meets the eye. Something deeper is going on here.

The development and execution of the Revitalization Assessment Center represents a new era of cooperation between church plants and established churches. Let me put it this way: same time, same place, same missional heart.

We believe there is tremendous value in holding both the Revitalization Assessment Center and the Church Planting Assessment Center simultaneously.

First, it is good stewardship of time, talents and money.

Second, there is a significant overlap in the gifts required for church planting and revitalization. We want these pastors to meet and learn from each other. There are numerous ministry and life lessons that church planters and revitalization pastors can learn from each other. Cross-pollenization produces a more healthy missional pastor.

A third benefit of combining both Assessment Centers is that it sends a clear and compelling message of unity among church plants and established churches.

In this new marriage of church plants and established churches, we come together as one body, one spirit, and one mind. Together, with God’s blessing, we will reach our full kingdom potential in Christ. To me, this is the most exciting aspect of the Revitalization Assessment Center…its synergistic relationship with the Church Planting Assessment Center…and the harmony it represents.

There is a strong correlation between a solid base of established churches and a healthy church planting movement. Our dream is that established churches and church plants (and the pastors who lead them) will come together in a synergistic movement of God.

On the night before the Assessment Center, I had a very powerful spiritual dream. I woke up convinced that God was going to do something very special in these next few days. He did!

On the last night of the Assessment Center, a vibrant rainbow appeared and we all went outside to gaze and marvel at the sight. There we were, looking up…


How do you get invited to the Assessment Center? There are stringent protocols set up that are similar to church planting protocols. For example, a pastor will need the recommendation from his or her conference superintendent and the CGE department. This is a very specialized ministry…one that requires a unique kind of pastor.

Would you ask God to bless both the Revitalization Assessment and Church Planting Assessment Centers?