Equipping You to Plant Missional Churches
Are you sensing God’s call to start a new church but aren’t sure where to start? Offered fully online, Fuller’s Certificate in Church Planting helps aspiring church planters to discern whether they're called and which city they are called to plant in. Our faculty and practitioners provide you with the healthy root system you’ll need to plant a flourishing church that makes disciples and plants churches. We believe the three roots needed are (1) a biblical theology of church planting, (2) the spiritual formation of the planter, and (3) the missional skills to reach a post-Christian culture.
Spiritual Formation
Starting a new church is extremely stressful, so students are formed to thrive in Christ through spiritual practices and self-care.
Missional Competencies
Fuller trains students to contextualize the unchanging gospel to reach the people group, culture, and cities to which they are called.
Biblical Theology
Compared to many strictly pragmatic resources, Fuller helps ground students in a robust theology of God’s missional heart in Scripture.
Study with:
Faith and technology, emerging church, missional church, church growth, contemporary culture, contextualization, local theology, Jesus and mission
congregational life and community engagement
Mission research, practical theology, ethnography, anthropology, congregational and social research
Urban mission, self-care for urban workers, spirituality and mission
Curriculum
The six-course program, offered primarily online so that students can stay in their missional contexts, consists of three foundational courses plus one additional course in each of the three “roots.” All courses are co-taught by Fuller faculty along with church planting practitioners and can be transferred toward a master’s degree program at Fuller.
Core Courses (12 Units)
Starting and Multiplying New Churches
Evangelism and Church Planting
Social Analysis and Contextualization for Church Planting
Electives (12 Units)
Biblical Theology Courses (choose one):
The Bible, Hermeneutics, and Christian Mission
Theology of Mission
Church, Humanity, and the Christian Life
Missional Competencies Courses (choose one):
Urban Church Planting
Missional Churches and Leadership
Contemporary Culture and Evangelism
Spiritual Formation Courses (choose one):
Self Care in Mission
Touchstone
Practices of Mission
“One of the things I really appreciated about my coursework was that we talked a lot about evangelism for a postmodern age. I used a lot of what I learned in class to teach my church plant about starting something new in our community, and people really latched on. The class gave me practical resources to help our church plant connect with current culture, and to reach our goal of leading people to Jesus through personal connections rather than through transfer growth.”
Sara Stabe, Safe Harbor Church
MDiv ’18
Resources from Fuller Faculty and Students
Fuller’s Church Planting Blog
Learn from the reflections of experienced church planters connected to Fuller.
"Start in LA" Podcast
Listen to Fuller grad Janna Ziegler talk about starting Church of the Resurrection on 'Start in LA', a church planting podcast hosted by Fuller and Cyclical LA.
Planting a Multicultural, Multi-socioeconomic Church
Watch adjunct faculty member Kevin Haah tell the story of his calling to church planting and the founding of New City Church.
Fuller’s Church Planting Newsletter
Stay updated on church planting events, resources, and courses at Fuller.
Upcoming Events
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Learn more about the Church Planting Certificate at Fuller
Sign up for our newsletter and receive an instant, free download of the article “Four Ways to Discern Your Call to Church Planting” by Len Tang, director of Fuller’s Church Planting Program
Continue the Conversation
Do you have questions or would you like more information about Fuller’s academic programs? Please contact us. We’re here to help!
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