How Plumbline works
Built by a church planter for network leaders, from the best of what the major planting networks have learned over 30 years. Every question is original.
Four voices. One true read.
Most assessments ask the planter about himself. Plumbline hears from four people separately, then shows you where they agree and where they don't. The gaps are often where the real conversation is.
About 35 minutes. Calling, character, health, marriage, leadership, mission, planting capacity, wiring, gifts, real-life scenarios and experience.
About 25 minutes, taken separately. Her own calling, health, support and gifts, the same marriage questions, and how she sees her husband lead.
About 8 minutes each. What they've actually seen, and whether they'd join the launch team.
A graded report with strengths, growth areas and concerns, plus a 90-minute interview guide built from their answers.
What it measures
How the scoring works
Each statement is answered from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). About one in four statements is worded in reverse, so agreeing with it counts against the score. Each scale is the average of its 4 or 5 statements, converted to 0–100.
Scores are shown as bands, not exact numbers, because no short scale is precise to the point: Strength 80 and up, Solid 65–79, Developing 50–64, Growth Area below 50. A pillar's letter (A–D) is the average of its scales, using the same bands.
Integrity, walk with God, current load and the marriage partnership are non-negotiables. A growth area there is a concern, not just a growth area. Concerns also come from the planting wife's own calling, couple answers, beliefs, safety, references and experience.
The recommendation follows four rules, in order. Pause & Talk if there's a critical concern or three or more concerns. Development Needed if there's any concern or two pillars are growth areas. Ready with Conditions if there are more than two watch items or any pillar is below Solid. Otherwise Ready.
These cut points were set by design for this first version. The plan is for a panel of experienced planters and assessors to review them after the first 50 to 100 assessments using the modified Angoff method, a standard way to set cut scores without a large sample.
What it is and isn't
Plumbline is a readiness conversation tool. It is not a psychological test, a medical or mental-health diagnosis, or marriage counseling. Results are estimates based on what people reported, and they can be wrong. No one should be approved, declined or funded on this report alone. Use it alongside interviews, background checks, a ministry track record and prayerful discernment.
Research behind it
- Charles Ridley, behavioral dimensions of effective church planters (Indiana University, late 1980s)
- Send Network / NAMB church planter assessment
- PCA Mission to North America, What Is Church Planter Assessment
- Acts 29, Characteristics of an Effective Church Planter
- LifeWay Research, pastors' spouses study (2017), via Baptist Standard
- Church Plant Survivability and Health Study (NAMB / Leadership Network, 2007), via Christian Post
- Ed Stetzer, study of 601 church plants (2003), via Baptist Press
- International Personality Item Pool (public domain), which informed the Wiring dimensions
- Modified Angoff standard-setting method