Church Plant Chat

Revitalisation Review: Pastoral Scaffolding

• Paul Pavlou • Season 5 • Episode 56

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Episode 9: Pastoral Scaffolding


Episode Summary
Church planters and revitalisation leaders need support too. In this episode, we introduce the idea of ‘pastoral scaffolding’—a supportive structure designed to sustain and strengthen leaders on the front lines.


Key Topics Covered
·       What pastoral scaffolding looks like in practice

·       Why church planters often feel isolated

·       The role of spiritual direction, coaching, and peer support

·       One-to-one partnerships for encouragement and accountability

·       Sustaining health and resilience in long-term ministry


Reflection Questions
·       What scaffolding currently holds you up in ministry?

·       Where are you lacking support—and who could help?

·       How do you process the emotional toll of leadership?

·       What kind of relationship brings you clarity and courage?

·       Are you building a sustainable pattern of care around your leadership?


Connect & Continue the Conversation
Instagram: @churchplantchat

Email: churchplantchat@gmail.com

Subscribe for future episodes exploring insights from revitalisation, planting, and discipleship.

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Buy 'Journal of a Church Planter' here:

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Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to episode 9, entitled Pastoral Scaffolding. In our last episode I did an overview, essentially, of what I would have done differently and asked the hard questions that come with that, and in this episode I wanted to offer a couple of frameworks that I mentioned towards the end of the last episode, which are ideas essentially around the pastoral scaffolding for the church planter, their team, but also the church they plant or revitalise, and the diocese or whatever the equivalent is for your denomination. I think the pastoral scaffolding for this work needs to be holistic, but with the church plant leader at the forefront of it, making sure that they are walked with every step of the way, in the steps taken ahead of them, in walking alongside them in their present leadership and in setting things up and reviewing so that their future steps are guarded with provision and protection. All of this is so to help the planter, to pastorally prep for the plant to actually plant and then to propel the planter and their church going forwards. I've split this into two portions.

Speaker 1:

The first part of the episode is an overview of all the different stages of pastoral scaffold for the planter's revitalization journey. This is kind of the revitalization toolkit or grafting toolkit or pathway, if you like, and the other is more of a one-to-one pastoral scaffold for the planter. Someone, or a role called something like a church plant partner, you know does what it says on the tin. Both of these two parts are intended to work synergistically for the welfare of the planter and those within their sphere of influence, and I recognize it might be slightly strained to talk about these without visuals in front of you, um. So I'm happy to send a pdf of the revitalization pastoral scaffold I mentioned, um. So please dm me or email me if you'd like me to put a PDF of this table together, because it might be a bit weird talking about it just to listen to. So let's get into it.

Speaker 1:

So the first portion of this pastoral scaffold is the plant grafting or revitalization toolkit, which is essentially a pathway for church planters or church plant grafters. Revitalizers have so many different terminologies, aren't there for them a pathway, essentially a pastoral pathway for them to walk along? So it's intended to be a pathway for the plant graft to weave together from a diocesan level input or denominational equivalent right down to the planter themselves on a one-to-one discipleship level as they journey through this work. So really think of it like a marriage course, but for the church plant graft revitalisation to come together well, and what I've put to paper so far is a pastoral scaffold of what things I think need to be considered in a holistic revitalisation pathway for the church planter to walk well through their journey. If there was one thing I think I could really have benefited from in my own situation, it would have been to be paired up with somebody who's led a similar project but is a few steps ahead, and I think it's this aspect that I think is crucial to something like this going forwards. Hence the need for collaboration in designing it from the ground up. And what I've given here really is just a spark, a spark overview, and look, like I said in the last episode, I'm sure there's already things like this arranged and being implemented. I'm sure multiple diocese or denominational teams have already come up with brilliant systems. But this is just my kind of musings on what could be pastorally helpful for a planter, based on the experience that I've had. If it's been already done in a C of E or somewhere else, then that's great, and if it's within the Church of England and it's already happening, please excuse my ignorance. Okay, so here it is.

Speaker 1:

So the approach for the pathway, the pastoral pathway, has seven phases, with a pre and post phase kind of top and tailing the pathway. So to list them in order then to go into each one separately, the pre phase is to explore. Then phase one is to evaluate, phase two is to excavate, phase three is to encourage, phase four is to engage, phase five is to exchange, phase six is to evolve. So the pre-phase explore, the purpose of explore, is to work to establish where the revitalization, revitalization and planting, what the needs are there. How could theological colleges be brought into the fold with this? Can we find ways of including theological colleges from the ground up with plant graft projects and what can we explore? The collaboration between church planting organizations and charities. So to join up the thinking and understanding and create a more holistic approach. So a real explorative work on how we are designing and mapping out revitalisation and planting needs and how everyone across the board is involved rather than just separate entities. So that's the purpose explore. The players in this would be bishops, archdeacons, the diocese, deaneries, church planting organisations or charities and theological colleges, and then the other part, and also could there be some learning communities within the process of that as well.

Speaker 1:

So next one, phase one evaluate. The purpose here is to assess or evaluate the compatibility and availability of the receiving and sending of a plant graft project. You know, is it going to be a, a red, amber or green when that homework is done. Again, the players here if you're in a C of E, likely an archdeacon, an area dean, a mission enabler, the dean of remission pastoral team and church PCCs of sending and receiving church. Some of the process there is going to involve questions for the inheriting church and PCC. There's going to be questions of the graph leader and there's going to be questions for the sending churches, pcc and leader. To phase to excavate, to dig into the history of the people of both groups, to unearth that which needs to be addressed prior to a graph lead, entering the mix, prayer and prophetic discernment into the spiritual history of the church and the community. Again, similar players to the last one. Some of the process a real in-depth question review of the church's history and health and culture over the last 50 years. The culture is really important.

Speaker 1:

Phase three encourage the purpose of this celebrate each other's wins and history over the years, both the sending church and the receiving church, and thinking back to the three r's in the first year and first priorities, the players. Here we're now bringing in the existing congregation and the sending church leader and possibly the church plant leader and some of the people from the sending church to be part of this process, process here, sharing stories, learning from each other about each other's churches, churches, what do they have in common, some individual testimonies and encouraging one another throughout. So encouragement is kind of the baseline for relational development, starting with that positive affirmation. Phase four engage. Here the purpose is to build relationships, you know, building upon that encouragement between the church receiving and the team entering, everyone getting to know each other, same players. As the last phase, the process, people begin to pray with one another, worship together, eat together, have socials, talk about in a relaxed way about their expectations, so really starting to literally engage with one another, a bit like in the marriage course. You know what are the expectations and you know it's like the dating phase of the two churches joining together.

Speaker 1:

Phase five exchange. The purpose here create a covenant agreement between the pccs and the new team prior to the graph taking place. If this paperwork isn't in place, or at least covenantal agreement, then it's going to be difficult to really commit to change effectively. Players involved here both the pccs from the sending church, the receiving church, archdeacon area, dean, the sending leaders, maybe some mission enablers, and also a neutral player, maybe from the diocese or somewhere else, who can observe and offer insights into both parties wants and needs. The process, agreements to changes, even if only principles of what those changes are pcc's merging some of the graft team or even sending church team becoming ex officio members of the pcc at this point of the process, before the plant is even in phase six, evolve, the purpose being to work out together as a joint church what the new thing is, to be birthed out of the existing. So the players here are both congregations, you know, or teams that have come in with the congregation. The church plant leader is now getting more involved as well Visit each other's churches, visiting speakers from other graphs, offering workshops and questions and creativity for the new joint thing that's already happening.

Speaker 1:

Do some blue sky thinking as a whole unit. Don't do what I did and do it all by yourself. Phase seven Enjoy, enjoy, enter the new season together from a place of strength, relational strength in particular, and to launch the new collaboration together rather than as separate entities, the players here, everyone for an initial celebration from those you've inherited, those you've brought in, sending church people. Celebrate and enjoy god bringing you all together Process. Have a really full-on launch day and celebrate the day together and be checking up on each other. How are you doing with all this? It's a lot of new things happening at once, you know. Share each other's highs and lows once again and just celebrate the birth of the new thing together from day one and keep doing that as time goes on, keep celebrating, keep encouraging one another.

Speaker 1:

And then post phase edit to reflect on the pathway at the three month mark of the revitalization, the six month, nine month, 12 month intervals for the warm-up year and then also for the first two years of the grafter being implemented. You'll notice all of these phases, this whole toolkit, really is before the planter has even arrived, through to the first year of them being there. Okay, this is really the foundational work so that the planter can run well. And this post phase, the edit, is happening in their first year or even first two years, where there are regular three, six, nine, twelve month check-ins and everyone is involved in that um part of that process, some sort of review appraisal template. Um, this isn't the time to be thinking about numbers and finances. It's not about that. We're looking at it relationally, like a marriage. You know, if the if the phases here with a pre-marriage course, then this edit phase is the marriage course as the marriage is happening and it's looking at the health of the relationship between everyone over those incremental periods. And then, threaded throughout all of this Because this is quite a holistic overview of lots of people involved in different phases the key thing threaded throughout all of it, from day one, is to have a church plant partner buddied up with the plant leader All throughout this process, a learning community as well as a one to one placement for the new grafter with somebody who's done something similar, maybe even in a similar context, to walk alongside them, praying, encouraging, coaching.

Speaker 1:

This person needs to be outside of the nitty-gritty of what's happening, but close enough to share the highs and lows and questions, and they might not need to be buddied up with the planter forever. It might just be in the pre-year and the first year and then they move on and can come back and forth for consultation as time goes on. Some things to consider and I'm going to unpack the church plant planter buddy in a second. But things to consider for this. Okay, is grafting in as an approach plausible for the context you're looking at as we continue to revitalize across the board, or are we kidding ourselves with this approach? Is it really viable, is it smooth enough, palatable enough, or do we need to rethink about how we do it? I think it's doable and should keep being done, but I think there are things like this scaffold that need to come into the mix more so for it to be smoother. Who could collaborate on it with us? You know how could we be learning from each other, across denominations, about how we do this and create robust pastoral scaffolds and pathways, robust pastoral scaffolds and pathways. What legal structures could be reorganized to make this pathway more plausible for the grafter going in? You know, to genuinely look at, do we need to remap some of the ways we have pcc structures within the church of england for this to happen? Stuff way above my pay grade that I know very, very little about, but just throwing it out there, I'm sure it's already happening. But this is just my thoughts.

Speaker 1:

Okay, moving on to the second portion of the scaffold, the church plant partner. You know someone who is passionate about planting, someone who's passionate about the planter themselves. This person, this role, is to run alongside the planter from day one and in the warm-up, and especially the first year, and then can come back and forth for consultation. How can church, a church plant partner, support planting healthily from the ground up? Well, the purpose is for this thing to be holistic and for a church plant partner to be dialed into the specific focuses and needs of the planter on the ground. What outcomes would I hope for from a church plant partner? Well, part of the aim for this kind of role would include working with existing structures to become healthier healthier in the understanding and implementation of church planting, teaching in theological colleges. Healthier in terms of a healthy understanding in working with others in the diocese in promoting the implementation of church planting revitalization. Healthier peer-to-peer conversations, learning and retreating for the planter themselves. So some hopes of a church plant partner role.

Speaker 1:

Um, if we're going to look at this as a holistic, pastoral scaffold, one, beginning with encouragement to encourage the church planter or the emerging planter and those they're working with through prayer, listening and coaching, you know we want these plant partners to work with churches, dioceses who are looking to revitalize parishes and walk with them in their discernment. Walking alongside church plant teams in their early stages, championing them as they navigate the call and coach where appropriate for them. To be an encouraging soundboard and prayer encourager for the plant leader and ascending church leader. And to mediate between the two where necessary. Someone who can mediate conversations and plan opportunities between resource church leaders and prospective graph churches A cupid, if you like, for revitalization projects, questions, process and pray. To help create a syllabus on graph plant models and teaching that can be implemented across existing church plant teaching with charities or even developing a new stream in theological college syllabuses. To create retreats and care for church planters and their families. To seek ways to create healthy spaces for planter well-being. To facilitate ongoing graft leader and church learning communities and groups to share ideas and encourage.

Speaker 1:

Next, we would, you know, a church plant partner could empower others to step into their calling. So to get to know them at an ordinand level, at a training level, to see if this sort of thing would be the work that they'd be interested in. To help raise up specific planters to multiply out of, to raise up Ananias activators. So not everyone's going to plant a church, but you might have people in like the ministry of the one episode where they are called to go and call out that planting, calling and other people to step out and encourage them and pray into their lives prophetically. How can we go about identifying those people in our churches? And also, lastly, for the church plant partner to engage with stakeholders to stay up to speed on good practice, prophetic in the church planting and an ongoing learning to coach others Connecting with mission enablers and people within the diocese about what's happening, how people's views and understandings of church planting are going to coach them, to coach planters and to be part of shadowing others in strategic planting and missional work and just trying to get that collaboration happening with stakeholders.

Speaker 1:

A few things really there, just with regards to what a church plant partner could look like. Again, I'm sure there's stuff like this happening already, but it's just something that I thought, yeah, that would have been quite beneficial if I'd had someone like that in my corner, kind of bringing this all together pastorally as I've journeyed through. So, as I wrap up this somewhat shotgun, scattered episode of ideas for a scaffold, here are some questions to consider. One does your diocese or denominational equivalent have a pastoral scaffold or pathway already in place? How have they gone through it with you? If there isn't one in place, consider whether or not you want to lead a project without that there. Second thing is there someone partnered up with you that can walk with you in your journey, someone that does some of these things I've mentioned for a church plant partner? Three I would be more than happy to be a soundboard to walk with you, to have phone calls, zoom chats, prayer requests, etc.

Speaker 1:

If you'd want that. If there's anything I can do even remotely similar to what I've shared today to help you in your walk, in your plant journey or your revitalization journey, if there's anything I could do, even the most minimal thing of support, even just a text message to cheer you on, however I can, I would love to do that. You know you are not alone in this work. To do that. You know you are not alone in this work. If you'd like anything remotely close to that, please get in touch with me on instagram, at churchplantchat, dm me or email me at churchplantchat at gmailcom. We can arrange a zoom, a phone call, even just a text message or email any questions about stuff I've shared in this series or other ones.

Speaker 1:

More than happy to chat and pray with you. Thanks for listening. If you didn't know already, there is an Instagram account that I just mentioned and the email account. I've also got a book called Journal of a Church Planter, which is on Amazon, which takes a deeper dive into the earliest days of my planting journey. We'd love to connect with you. Check out the show notes, don't hesitate to get in touch if you'd like to, and see you next time for the final episode, which will be a roundup episode of leadership extras that I wanted to bring up for this season. Thanks for listening. See you next time.