BCNE launches new church planting partnerships led by Hal Haller
Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of three articles discussing how changes related to COVID-19 have affected the BCNE. Read the first article about reduced funding and layoffs.
The Baptist Convention of New England is creating a new pathway to facilitate direct church planting partnerships between established local churches and church planters who want to work in nearby areas.
In the wake of COVID, the North American Mission Board reduced church planting funding to the convention and reassigned former church planting director David Jackson to a new role. In keeping with the BCNE’s long history of church planting, executive director Dr. Terry Dorsett began to prayerfully consider different means to continue planting churches.
“Since 1982 we’ve been engaged in significant church planting, and in the last decade we’ve planted more than 170 churches,” said Dorsett. “We’re excited to announce a new way to help churches plant churches.”
Direct partnerships will meet needs in “all types of communities”
Led by Hal Haller, the direct partnership approach between two churches in close proximity will allow sponsor churches to mentor church planters and aid in creating individual, contextualized plans using their first-hand knowledge of the people and geographical area.
As a former church planter himself with over 27 years of experience working with church plants in Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut, Dorsett hopes this pattern will be particularly effective in reaching small towns, rural populations and non-English speakers. He sees the BCNE new program as complementing the work of the North American Mission Board’s SEND Network.
“I am thankful for David Butler and the SEND Network’s efforts to plant churches, especially in Boston, but a different approach is needed to reach some people groups and types of communities,” Dorsett said. “I’m thankful for this opportunity to use a variety of frameworks to plant churches in all types of communities for all types of people.”
Haller to start as volunteer director
Haller, the former church planting director for the Baptist Convention of New York and a current church planter in Connecticut, brings over 23 years of experience to the table, including both planting churches and leading networks. Since NAMB will not be allocating funds for another church planting director in the convention, Haller will serve as an unpaid volunteer for the time being.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to further develop church planting in New England through the BCNE,” Haller said. “The key to our success can be summed up in two words: relationship and mission. We’re working together towards the mission of planting Gospel-centered churches in every New England community so that every man, woman and child can come to know and follow Jesus.”
Planters can now choose between two tracks
Both NAMB’s SEND Network and BCNE Church Planting Partnerships give church planters opportunities for mentorship, accountability, training and fellowship. SEND Network offers higher levels of both compensation and structure, while BCNE Church Planting Partnerships will offer more flexibility and the ability for qualified planters to get on the ground more quickly.
Potential church planters can fill out a church planting inquiry at www.bcne.net/cp-inquiry, while BCNE churches that are interested in partnering with a church planter to plant a new church in a nearby area can contact Haller directly via email.
Kimber Huff is the communications coordinator at the Baptist Convention of New England.