You are pre-qualified

Here is what one church planting "group" needs to know about you up front in order to even have a chance to work with them. Pay attention this is important stuff they are asking. (The italic sections are where I altered the question for the sake of anonymity.)

1. Are you a member of "x" church denomination? You need to be for at least 2 years to qualify for funding.

2. Do you agree with our statement of faith and practice?

3. Do you practice Glossalalia (speaking in tongues) in public or private?

4. Do you use alcoholic beverages?

5. Are you involved in giving to our missions operations?

6. Do you or have you used illegal drugs?

7. Have you ever been arrested or indicted for a felony?

8. Are there physical, mental, and/or spiritual issues that might hinder your effectiveness or otherwise be of embarrasement to the mission cause? (Funny they spelled "embarrassment" wrong. How embarrrassing!)

9. Are you divorced?


I bet you can guess the answers they are looking for.

I am surprised there is no question asking if you are male or female.

Am I out in left field or are these questions missing the point? OK #6 is important, I'll give you that. But, I am not sure even the Apostle Paul would make it through their pre-qualifications. He strikes out on 7 maybe 8 of the 9!

Just for fun I took they "quick" and easy church planter assessment test. I answered twenty questions like:

"Have you personally led at least one person to faith in Christ in the past year through the venue of one-on-one evangelism?"

and

"In the past three years have you actively participated in an on-going peer support/accountability or Bible study group?"

Here are the results of my test: "Out of 20 possible points, you scored 14."

I'm not sure what this means, but that is what my test showed. I got 6 wrong. That is only a C-. I guess I would not make a good church planter.