Accelerator

A 9-month intensive for innovative leaders and ventures on the frontiers of discipleship, mission, and the Church.

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Our accelerator supports pioneer leaders and ventures (nonprofit and for-profit) working on new approaches to evangelism, disciple-making, and church planting.

You’ll get peer support, world-class mentors, strategic and spiritual formation, and connection to our global network of ministry leaders, thinkers, and funders.

Program:

Nine Months. Join the program from September to May, followed by lifelong access to our network.

Three Gatherings. You’ll join crafted events in New York City, San Francisco, Oxford, and London.

Pitch Events. You’ll give your venture pitch numerous times to funders and friends.

Integrated Curriculum. You’ll learn frameworks on mission, innovation, and leadership.

World-Class Mentors. You’ll match with mentors from the church, ministry, and business worlds.

Lifelong Network. Gain a network that takes years to build, with leading thinkers, and funders.

Who You Are

We back ministry pioneers. You straddle the line between pastor, missionary, creative, and entrepreneur.

  • We look for leaders with a clear sense of calling and vocational vision, to advance the Church in a new way or new field.

    You’re exploring your "life's work" and have a clear burden for a people, place, or problem.

  • We are looking for individuals with deep spirituality, emotional health, and experience and wisdom from their life so far, even if you’re young. We do not need any more burnout or scandal - we need deeply formed leaders on mission in the way of Jesus.

  • We’re looking for builders, not just thinkers. You’re leading, organizing, taking steps, trying things, and launching into the real world. You’ve got real people sharing in your vision, and you’re on your way toward team, community, and growth.

  • We look for ambitious leaders seeking Gospel breakthrough and transformation. You want to live sacrificially for the Kingdom, and push against major challenges, for God’s glory more than your own.

  • We’re looking for leaders with creativity, courage, and hope. You’re doing something new or different. You’re naturally innovative, on the front edges of technology, media, entrepreneurship, next generations, collaborative networks, and more.

  • You’re building a purpose-driven tribe, not just a personal influence platform. We’re not primarily looking for charisma or an audience size. We want to know the problem you’re focused on, how you’re called to solve it, and the authentic community you plan to build around it.

What You Get

Our support model will deepen your foundations, amplify your story, connect you widely, and give you a roadmap.

  • The best learning comes from one another. We'll place you in a world-class cohort of peers who will be your "classmates" for life - all pioneers asking the same questions you are.

  • Learn faster through exposure to our diverse pool of world-class mentors from Church, nonprofit, and business worlds who can give you a lifetime of wisdom in a short time and be key advocates for you.

  • We'll help you get validation on your core vision and offerings and save months of time. Our team and close community will support you with strategy, story, operations, program design, leadership, team building, personal maturity, and more.

  • We'll help you hone your vision pitch, so you can clearly present your vision to donors, partners, and other stakeholders. You'll have at least six significant pitch opportunities in the program.

    We’ll also amplify your story and work through our community and content channels.

  • We'll help you develop a network of churches, leaders, ministries, and foundations around the world that would take years to build. We'll put you in front of our network to help you scale up your access to the people that can help you.

  • We'll put you in front of a growing community of mission-motivated investors and donors. You’ll have the chance to connect and learn from funders.

Ventures we look for:

1 - Missional Focus

You’re tackling a big challenge or opportunity in mission, evangelism, disciple-making, or church planting.

2 - Innovative Model

You’ve got something innovative - a technology, method, model, or community. We’re optimists on new “wineskins” for mission.

3 - Actively Growing

Your venture is real, it’s growing, it’s in the world. It’s more than a hunch or idea, and there are people and resources involved.

4 - Potential For Scale

We want your venture to be making an impact in 30 years. You should have a big vision, a good team, and intent to scale.

Program Mentors (see all)

  • Amy Orr-Ewing

    Author and Speaker

  • Jon Tyson

    Lead Pastor, Church of the City NYC

  • Shaila Visser

    National Director, Alpha Canada

  • Mark Reynolds

    Senior Strategic Advisor, Redeemer City to City

  • Luke Tubergen

    Managing Partner, Ember Fund

  • Andy Muhich

    Muhich Family Foundation

  • Alicia Hosking

    Global Head of PR, Global Citizen

  • Grant Demeter

    VC, Alumni Ventures

  • Leighton Cusack

    CEO, Pool Together

  • Nina Schmidgall

    Pastor of Ministries and Discipleship, National Community Church

  • Dr. Frog Orr-Ewing

    Founder, Latimer Minster

  • Seth Bazacas

    Pastor, Wellspring Church

  • Alicia Lee

    CEO, Faith.ly

  • Craig Sider

    Founder, inFocus Leadership

  • Ben Pilgreen

    Lead Pastor, Epic Church SF

  • Dr. Chad Causey

    Chief Strategy Officer, OneHope

Core Content:

Our curriculum integrates the best of theology, mission, discipleship, leadership, and entrepreneurship.

  • We'll help you think deeply about the Gospel, the Church, and culture. You'll gain a foundation in theology, history, and missiology, which will anchor your venture vision and impact thesis in a larger framework around the Missio Dei.

  • We help you do deep work on your life, leadership, and calling by surrounding you with wise guides. We want you to grow in apostolic imagination and personal depth. We believe you can have holy ambition without sacrificing your heart, character, or life.

  • Ministry leaders need help with entrepreneurship and organizational development. We'll help you with strategy, program design, markets and business models, distribution and partnerships, fundraising, board development, and more. This is the entrepreneurship support you've always wanted.

Timeline

Our program runs for 9 months, from September through May.

  • Applications open on March 11 and close on June 1. We spend July and August selecting and onboarding the projects.

  • The NYC kickoff is a multi-day gathering that includes orientation to the program, interaction with key mentors, and an intimate pitch day to present your concept to an east-coast ecosystem.

  • Phase 1 includes virtual intensives focused on our core content and curriculum, with weekly intensives, touchpoints, masterclasses, and world-class faculty voices shaping the projects. You’ll receive frameworks, tools, and roadmaps for thoughtful venture design.

  • The San Francisco event is a 3-day event where ventures give their pitches and spend time meeting select partners and mentors from the West Coast.

  • Phase 2 is coaching-driven, with weekly touchpoints with a coaching team, as well as bespoke weekly interactions with selected mentors.

  • The final gathering is a 5 day intensive in London and Oxford, which includes an updated pitch day for exposure to a UK ecosystem, as well as mentoring, workshops, faculty, and more.

  • Phase 3 is self-directed, and we help you design a bespoke growth plan based on your needs and objectives, and connect you to key mentors and funders.

    This is also a story-capture phase, where we work with you to capture your project vision in a portfolio of media assets, including a podcast, a blog, a pitch video, and a social media post.

  • We close the program with a virtual pitch day for funders and leaders, which gives you the opportunity to present a polished version of your venture vision to a larger digital audience of leaders from around the world.

Program Dates

*The city gathering dates are to-be-confirmed.

March 11 - Applications Open

June 1 - Applications Close

July 15 - Final Selections

Aug 15 - Onboarding Call

Sep 16-19 - New York City Intensive

Jan 20-23 (‘25) - San Francisco Intensive

Apr 28 - May 2 (‘25) - UK Intensive

We’ve backed 30+ ventures like yours >

Program FAQ’s

More questions? Email us.

  • We back ministry pioneers. Some people call them mission innovators or ministry entrepreneurs, or even “apostolic” leaders. We imagine ministry-minded leaders with a vision to creatively advance the Gospel to places and spaces where it isn’t.

    Our fellows are usually hybrids, with some combination of Church, nonprofit, ministry, and business experience.

  • We bring a “startup accelerator” playbook to the work of pioneering in and around the Church. Our community is focused on creative mission, i.e. evangelism, discipleship, and church planting.

    This is adjacent, but distinct, from the broader world of social innovation, “kingdom” innovation, or faith-driven entrepreneurship, which generally has a wider range of outcomes and impact measures in society and culture.

  • This is what we call a “startup” community or organization with a vision to advance the Gospel, make disciples, and renew the Church.

    Practically, we frequently work with nonprofits, discipleship movements, church planting collectives, global mission organizations, technology ventures, and more.

    Conceptually, these have often been called apostolates, orders, mission societies, and para-church ministries at various times in history.

  • We take any business model in our cohort, and frame the content and audiences around both types. We think the foundations of your imagination, thesis, leadership, and peer cohort are more important than your strategy or business model.

    In general, the value you create should accrue primarily towards “Gospel impact,” not investors or stakeholders.

  • Our program is designed for “post-idea” stage projects. You have done discernment and discovery, and you have some conviction about what you’re trying to do - you just need help doing it.

  • We don’t place direct capital. Our model is to convene values-aligned funders into a capital community, and amplify your work to them through our pitch events. We hope to be the best community on the planet for funders interested in innovation and mission in the Church.

  • Our nine months of support cover a wide range of support areas.

    Our goals are for you to (1) have hyper clarity in your vision story, (2) have clear “fit” with your stakeholders (3) be ready for venture growth, (4) be on fire spiritually.

  • You essentially commit to being a full participant in the program, including gatherings, virtual events, coaching calls, 1:1s, and more. Other than the in-person gatherings (4 days each), expect to give an average of 3 hrs/week to the program, with the most meeting-intensive phase being September to November, and a full break the month of December.

  • We adhere to historic Christianity as described in the major creeds and the Lausanne covenant. We work ecumenically and cross-denominationally, and emphasize a global (not just Western) vision of missional engagement.

  • The program costs $5000 (USD) per venture. This includes all food and 9 nights of lodging during the three gatherings, but not flights.

    We price this like an intense year of grad school. We’re more affordable than comparable programs.

    Cost should not dissuade you from applying. Scholarships are available.

Apply Now

Applications for this cycle are due by June 1, 2024