Accelerator

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

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Our accelerator supports emerging leaders and ventures (nonprofit and for-profit) working on innovative approaches to discipleship and mission.

The 9-month program provides peer community, mentoring, strategic and spiritual support, 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 innovators. You straddle the line between pastor, missionary, creative, and entrepreneur.

  • We look for leaders with a clear sense of calling and vocational vision.

    You’re doing your "life's work" out of a deep reflection on God's call on your life, and a clear missional burden for a people, place, or problem.

  • We are looking for individuals with spiritual depth, emotional health, and some 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 in the way of Jesus.

  • We look for ambitious leaders seeking Gospel impact. You want to maximize your life for the Kingdom, and build something that makes a difference and achieves its full redemptive potential, for God’s glory more than your own.

  • We’re looking for builders, not just thinkers. You’re organizing, taking steps, prototyping, and launching your ideas in the real world. You’ve got real people participating in your vision, and you’re on your way toward growth, team-building, and impact.

  • We’re looking for leaders with creativity, courage, and hope. You’re creating something new or different to solve a problem. You’re naturally on the front edges of technology, media, new business models, emerging generations, collaborative networks, and more.

  • We want people 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 Challenge

You’re working on a big challenge in mission, exploring problems and solutions in evangelism, discipleship, church planting, and more.

2 - Innovative Approach

You’ve got something innovative - a method, concept, technology, network, or more. We’re optimists on new structures 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-finalized.

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

May 5-9 (‘25) - London / Oxford Intensive

We’ve backed 30+ ventures like yours >

Program FAQ’s

More questions? Email us.

  • We back “missional innovators.” We imagine ministry-minded leaders building new organizations with a vision for Gospel impact.

    Our fellows are usually hybrid leaders, with a combination of Church, nonprofit, ministry, and business experience, and an “apostolic” or entrepreneurial instinct.

  • We’re the only high-end innovation program built for the “church, ministry, and missions” world. Our community is focused directly on core mission goals, i.e. evangelism, discipleship, leadership, and church planting.

    This is adjacent, but distinct, from the broader landscape of social innovation or faith-driven entrepreneurship, which generally has a wider range of outcomes and impact measures.

  • This is what we call any new organization with a primary missional aim (see our focus areas).

    In terms of model, we frequently work with technology ventures, new nonprofits, discipleship movements, church planting collectives, and more.

    This is our take on blending “social innovation” paradigms into the means and goals of the Church and missions world.

  • We take both in a single cohort, and frame the content and audiences around both types. We think your thesis, leadership capacity, and peer cohort are more important than your business model, especially in a mission context.

    In general, we think that missional innovation means that the value you generate exists to create and advance missional impact.

  • Our program is designed for “post-idea” stage projects. You have conviction about what you’re trying to do.

  • We don’t place direct capital. Our model is to convene values aligned investors and philanthropists 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 in the Church.

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

    Our goals for you are (1) hyper clarity in your vision story, (2) market fit with funders and beneficiaries, (3) you’re ready for venture growth, (4) you’re on fire spiritually.

  • We don't select individual church plants unless there's a particularly unique angle or model.

    We prefer to explore upstream approaches to evangelism, discipleship, spiritual community, etc…the things that lead to church formation.

    Our church planting theme focuses on platform-level projects, such as trainings, technology, networks, content, etc.

  • 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