Accelerator

Our flagship cohort-based program for innovative leaders building high-impact ministries.

Apps Closed

Build with us.

Our 9-month accelerator supports ministry founders building new missional organizations in the early-stages.

You’ll build world-class friendships, sharpen your venture story and roadmap, deepen your spiritual life, and connect with our network of leaders and funders.

Program Pillars:

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

Cities. You’ll join intensive, crafted events in New York City, San Francisco, and Oxford/London, with exposure to key relationships in each city.

Capital. You’ll give your venture pitch numerous times to values-aligned funders, donors, and investors, and amplify your venture story.

Curriculum. You’ll learn proven frameworks on theology, leadership, and venture-building, from our faculty and mentors.

Community. Our cohort-based programs put you into community with world-class builders and mentors, who become friends and advisors.

Connections. Gain lifetime access to a network that would takes years to build, with leading ministries, networks, and organizations.

Who You Are:

We back high-potential ministry founders. You’re part pastor, missionary, creative, and entrepreneur.

  • We look for leaders with a clear sense of missional vocation, called to advance the Kingdom in a new way or new field. You’re leaning in to your "life's work" and have a clear burden for a people, place, or problem.

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

  • 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’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 book sales, or 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 We Offer

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.

    See some of your previous fellows here.

  • 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.

    See some of our previous mentors here.

  • 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 core pitch, so you can clearly present your narrative 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.

  • You will grow theologically and spiritually through prayer and worship experiences, spiritual retreats, curated content, nd proven leaders who know the Lord deeply.

  • We'll help you develop a network of churches, leaders, ministries, mission organizations, 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.

Recent 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

What We Look For:

1 - Big Frontier

You’re tackling a big challenge or opportunity facing the Church today. See our focus areas.

2 - Innovative Model

You’re doing something innovative - a new technology, method, model, or structure. We want new “wineskins” for mission.

3 - Traction

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 Impact

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.

See some of our previous fellows & ventures here.

Curriculum

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.

  • We'll help you with high level frameworks on organizational development, from strategy, program design, business models, distribution and partnerships, fundraising, board development, and more. This is the entrepreneurship support you've always wanted.

Program Phases

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.

  • 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.

We’ve supported 40+ ventures like yours >

Key Dates - Cohort 4

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

Program FAQ’s

More questions? Email us.

  • We back ministry founders. Some people call them pioneers, mission innovators, ministry entrepreneurs, or “apostolic” leaders.

    We imagine forward-thinking leaders with a vision to advance the Gospel to places and spaces where it isn’t.

    Our fellows usually have some blend 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 modern approaches to the Great Commission, i.e. evangelism, discipleship, and church planting.

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

  • This is our name for a “startup” ministry or movement 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.

    We’ve modeled this after historical patterns of mission organizing, which at various times have been called apostolates, missional orders, sodalities, mission societies, agencies, and para-church ministries.

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

    Our core goals are for you to (1) have hyper-clarity in your vision story and roadmap, (2) have clear “fit” with your funders and beneficiaries (3) expand your access to supportive ministry networks and peer community (4) and be spiritually on fire as a leader.

  • 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.

    Regardless of model, we believe the value you create should accrue primarily towards “Gospel impact,” not financial investors.

  • Our program is designed for “post-idea” stage projects. You have done discernment and exploration, you’ve got some conviction, and you’ve passed the “go / no go” decision stage. You just need help doing it.

  • We don’t place direct capital right now. Our model is to gather values-aligned funders into a capital community, and amplify your work to them through our pitch events.

    We believe there is significant capital going to great commission work that is looking for new innovations.

    We hope to be the best community on the planet for funders interested in innovation in the "Church and Ministry" sector.

  • 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.

Say Hello

Applications closed for cohort 4. Email us to say hi.