Lord willing in the fall of 2025, NEU Church Planting will launch a key element of our church planting pathway: the Haynes School of Ministry.
We hardly go a week without someone asking, “Where do your church planters come from? How do you find people? And how do you train your church planting team members?” Most people understand there’s not a line of people waiting at our door to become inner city workers! Imagine standing in front of a bunch of seminary grads and saying “Who wants to join us? Your family will live in a dangerous neighborhood and your church won’t be able to pay you. Sign up here today!” There just isn’t a pipeline for this.
So NEU is addressing this by creating our own “pipeline” — or I prefer “pathway.” And we want to ask you to pray for Haynes as we develop it.
The Haynes School of Ministry will consist of three parts:
- A program for college students. NEU will offer a one-year “serve and study” internship in Providence. The prayer here is that some will catch a vision for inner city church planting and will become future laborers at NEU. This may take the form of a gap-year program, or just a simple one-year internship.
- Online Bible college with Grimké College. Others may want to work with us but have no biblical or theological education. Imagine a 40-year old who grew up in the neighborhoods, came to faith, and now wants to serve Christ in a church we help plant. They can enter the pathway by taking online Bible college courses at Grimké College, joining a cohort with NEU, and getting hands-on experience with our staff. (This idea for a training school came from Dr. Doug Logan, the founder and president of Grimké Seminary and College.)
- Two-Year Pastoral Apprenticeship and Women’s Discipler Apprenticeship. This is the program we already have but are deepening and improving. Matt Anthony, our Director of Staff Development, was hired to build this. This piece is for those who want to be a part of a church plant team and need specific training and preparation. This may run parallel with seminary studies. And it includes a final assessment of the planting pastor at the mid-point of these two years.
We’ve named the school after Lemuel Haynes. His godly and faithful example of pastoral ministry in New England is inspiring for all prospective pastors. Haynes was born in 1753, raised in Vermont, and was the first black man to be ordained in the US. He’s often referred to as "the Black Puritan." You can read more about Lemuel Haynes at Crossway here.
Psalm 127:1 says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” That applies to the Haynes School of Ministry. We are very aware of our need for your prayer, and do not presume that simply because we want to establish this, it will happen.
We estimate that Haynes will cost $30,000 to launch. That includes website development, print materials, travel to Dallas to meet with prospective students, preview sessions, and more. Expenses to enroll in the HSoM will be the responsibility of the individual.
If you want to donate to Haynes, you can do so here. Or contact Matt Anthony here.
