Stadia FAQ
Q: What does Stadia do?
A: You know someone who is growing up at risk of living life without ever experiencing the transforming hope of Jesus. Today’s churches are not enough. So we help you start thriving, growing, multiplying churches for the next generation.
Q: Why does Stadia exist?
A: We have a vision to see every child have a church, and we believe that today’s churches are not enough to accomplish that vision.
Q: How does Stadia work?
A: 1) By inspiring people to start new, thriving, growing, multiplying churches, 2) Connecting them to the tools, resources, and relationships that will help them to start new churches, 3) Learning from and innovating with those who are starting new churches, 4) Sharing the best of what we learn for the benefit of others who will start and multiply churches in the future.
Q: Do you partner with other church planting organizations?
A: Yes! We are committed to collective impact. Collective impact means doing more together than we can do on our own. We want to partner with as many like-minded organizations as possible to catalyze exponential church multiplication around the world.
Q: Do you partner with already established churches and church leaders? I’m a church leader who wants our church to get involved in starting new churches. How do we do that?
A: Yes! We partner with existing churches for a variety of reasons. Our work is made possible through the generous support of churches and individuals. Stadia partners with churches, individuals, and even networks of churches who want to share in our mission of starting thriving, growing, multiplying churches for the next generation, and who want to work together toward our vision of every child having a church. To find out more about how your church can help, head over to stadia.org/church-invest.
Q: I’m an individual who wants to invest in the work of church planting. I want to donate toward starting new churches. How do I do that?
A: Thank you for investing in the work of starting new churches! There is a huge kingdom return on that investment! New churches are the most effective way to reach people with the good news of Jesus. You can give directly here, or you can find out more about how your investment can help by going to stadia.org/invest.
Q: I represent a network of churches or a denomination and I am interested in partnering with Stadia to help start thriving, growing, multiplying churches for the next generation. Who can I talk to?
A: We would love to talk to you! The easiest way to contact us is by filling out the interest form at stadia.org/partners.
Q: I’m interested in joining the Stadia team. Are there currently any job openings?
A: Thanks for your interest! While there are no current job openings, future job openings will be posted on our website.
Q: Are there ways I can help start new churches other than giving money or starting a church myself?
A: Yes! You can pray for the work of starting new thriving, growing, multiplying churches for the next generation. Prayer is important work! Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matthew 9:37-38). Become a prayer partner and receive monthly updates and encouragement around the work of starting new churches at stadia.org/pray.
Q: Is Stadia connected with any specific denomination?
A: No. Stadia is a non-denominational Christian non-profit organization. Stadia partners with churches, individuals, networks, and denominations who want to share in our mission of starting thriving, growing, multiplying churches, and who want to work together toward our vision of every child having a church.
Q: What services do you offer?
A: We provide end-to-end church startup services for church planters, from pre-launch to post-launch. We want to walk alongside church planters from the time they’re exploring their calling, through the time their church is getting started, and then for years after in order to help their church thrive, grow, and multiply. If you’re a potential church planter, check out our services page for more details on the services we offer, and to get started using those services.
The following services are offered at no cost to the new-church leader and are generously funded by individuals and churches: Discovery Center, Project Management, Essential Training, Cohorts and Coaching, and Post-Launch Care.
Q: I’m a potential church planter or I have already planted a church. How do I sign up for, or access, Stadia’s services?
A: Stadia services for church planters start with our Discovery Center. To access Stadia’s suite of services, potential new-church leaders need to participate in our Discovery process. For more information about Discovery Center and to get the process started today, visit stadia.org/discovery.
Q: What is Stadia’s Discovery Center?
A: The Discovery Center is where church planters begin their journey with Stadia by exploring their calling, readiness, and the skills they have to start a new church and begin making a plan. Check out stadia.org/discovery for more info.
Q: What is Stadia’s Project Management service?
A: Church planters receive a Project Manager who has experience in starting new churches to give guidance and logistical help.
Q: What does Stadia’s Essential Training include?
A: Church planters access fundraising training, leadership training, and more training essential in starting a new church.
Q: What do Cohorts and Coaching include?
A: Church planters get one-on-one coaching opportunities and join cohorts to gain tools for strategic planning.
Q: What is Post-Launch Care?
A: Church planters receive care, insight, and guidance to help them lead their church to thrive, grow, and multiply.
Q: Does Stadia work outside of the U.S.? Is Stadia a global organization?
A: Yes. Currently, the majority of the work Stadia does outside of the U.S. is with partner organizations. Working with these multiplication partners, Stadia helps to start what we call Stadia-facilitated churches. Stadia-facilitated churches are new churches funded by a partner introduced by Stadia. We have a few Stadia-served churches outside of the U.S. (and hundreds in the U.S.)
Q: What’s the difference between a Stadia-facilitated church and a Stadia-served church?
A: A Stadia-served church is a church plant for which Stadia provides services (i.e. Discovery, Training, Project Management). A Stadia-facilitated church is a new church funded by a partner introduced by Stadia.
Q: I’m a potential church planter or potential new-church leader. How do I get started with Stadia’s services?
A: Fill out the form at stadia.org/start and one of our Discovery Team members will be in touch with you.
Q: I’m interested in learning more about Stadia as a potential church planter, a potential partner, or a potential investor. Who do I talk to?
A: E-mail [email protected] or fill out our contact form.
Q: Does Stadia provide bookkeeping services?
A: We do. For more information, check out stadia.org/bookkeeping.
Q: Are Stadia’s services free?
A: Our services (except for bookkeeping) are free. Our services are funded by the donations of generous individuals and churches, which allows us to offer them for free to new-church leaders and remove barriers to starting the number of new churches that need to be started every year due to lack of access to a church, population growth, and church closures.
Q: Where can I find stories or videos of churches Stadia helped to start?
A: We love to share stories of what God is doing through these churches! You can check out our YouTube channel at youtube.com/stadiachurchplanting. Also, be sure to follow us on social media (links in the footer of this page) for the latest stories, and subscribe to our newsletter at stadia.org/preferencecenter.
Q: I want to send a donation check to Stadia. Where can I send it?
A: Our mailing address is Stadia Church Planting, 3465 S Arlington Rd, Unit E #311, Akron, OH 44312
Q: Does Stadia accept donations of items other than money to help new churches?
A: We would need to decide on a case-by-case basis. Please direct these types of inquiries to [email protected] or reach out through our contact form.
Q: How do I find a church that Stadia started near me?
A: While we don’t currently have a tool for easily finding a church that Stadia helped start near you, send an e-mail to [email protected] and we would be happy to see if we can help you find one close by.
Q: What is Kipos? How are Stadia and Kipos related?
A: Stadia created Kipos with the goal of using a digital platform to scale the number of new thriving, growing, multiplying churches for the next generation.
Over the last 20 years, Stadia helped start thousands of churches around the world. But they recognized that today’s churches are still not enough. With a rising global population and thousands of churches closing every year, new methods are necessary to meet the demand for new churches.
Kipos is a simple-to-use, intuitive digital platform connecting new-church leaders around the globe with the content and community needed to start, grow and multiply new churches. Kipos informs and inspires potential new-church leaders and then helps them discern and decide their fit for this calling. It prepares them for their mission, provides tools for success as they go out into the field, and offers support to help them start new churches which thrive, grow, and intentionally multiply by providing the next generation of new-church leaders. For more info about Kipos, check out the official Kipos website at https://www.kipos.org
Q: I still have more questions. Who do I reach out to?
A: You can e-mail [email protected] with any questions. Or send a message through our contact form. We would love to talk to you, and want to make sure you get the help you need!
Questions About Stadia’s 2023 Rebrand
Q: Is there meaning behind the new logo and wordmark design?
A: The logo draws inspiration from “switchbacks.” In hiking, switchbacks are designed so elevation changes occur over longer sections and guide people to keep pace on their upward journey. They help reduce hazards and allow people to adapt better through elevation and pressure changes. Just like switchbacks, Stadia is designed to guide new-church leaders through the difficult but beautiful terrain of launching and leading new churches that thrive, grow, and multiply for the next generation.
Q: The new logo does not make use of specific planting or organic multiplication imagery (leaves, trees, etc.). How will you represent your commitment to church planting and church multiplication?
A: Church planting and multiplication remain vitally important to Stadia. We want to help start 20,000 churches in the next ten years! The goal of the journey we take new-church leaders, investors, and partners on is thriving, growing, and multiplying churches. The switchback-inspired logo is distinctive among similar organizations and can be used to express multiplication through the creative use of the logo in a superscript, exponent-style positioning in some of our marketing and promotional materials. Additionally, while we use the language of church planting with those who are already familiar with it, we find the language of “starting new churches” is clearer, and a more direct way of talking about church planting to many audiences. The phrase “starting a new church” has a consistently higher search volume on Google than “church planting” also.
Q: Why change the logo now?
A: Stadia has been through two major brand changes in our 20-year history, in 2003 and 2011. Marketing experts say that any brand should evaluate its positioning every few years to make sure they’re still relevant to and reaching its target audience. We want to reach more potential new-church leaders than ever before. 200 new churches were started in the first ten years of Stadia’s existence, and 2000 were started in the last ten years. Interestingly, brand refreshes preceded and perhaps helped pave the way for what took place in our organization to reach these previous milestones. We believe the current brand refresh (and more importantly the strategy behind it) is a small part of what—by God’s grace and with the help of many new-church leaders, investors, and partners—will help us start 20,000 churches in the next 10 years.
Q: How will this brand change impact the partners, investors, and new-church leaders connected with Stadia?
A: Our services will remain unchanged by the brand refresh. You will begin to see Stadia’s “fresh look” on all our print and digital resources beginning in late summer 2023. Our new, shorter web address should make it easier to connect with us and share our resources (stadia.org). Our new, shorter email addresses should make it easier to communicate with us (and our old e-mail address will continue to work in perpetuity so we don’t miss any e-mails from those who might have the old addresses still). The new addresses will be [email protected] (for example: [email protected]).
Miscellaneous Questions
Q: Why do you use the phrase new-church leader and church planter interchangeably?
A: The phrase “church planting” can be insider language. “Leader” is easily and instantly understood. People outside of church or parachurch leadership probably don’t know the phrase “church planting.” “Planter” is rich imagery, its heavy reliance on metaphor can also make it unclear to some.
Q: Why is the phrase “new-church leader” hyphenated?
A: The hyphen is added because we use “new-church” as an adjective describing the leader, otherwise ”new church leader” could mean any new leader on any church staff. If someone searches the phrase without the hyphen, it does not impact its searchability.