Get Ready for Launchpad 2026
Ministry Startup Is Hard Enough, but There Is No Need to Reinvent the Wheel!
For years, Launchpad has been a proven training experience for those starting new churches, faith communities, and Fresh Expressions of Church. Launchpad began in 2010 as a response to changing social conditions in the Northeast Jurisdiction and in the West. Those conditions now characterize the entire United States. United Methodists knew how to start new churches in towns and cities in an era when most people were looking for a good church. However, most people today are not looking for a church, so the startup work has changed markedly from the last half of the twentieth century.
Every year, we update Launchpad. However, this year, Isaiah Park and Paul Nixon, two veterans of church planting, representing two generations of leadership, have significantly revised Launchpad. Park and Nixon have planted communities that thrived, and they have worked with planters learning on the go. Launchpad is designed to help planters and planting teams ask the right questions, so that they can customize their ministry plans to work effectively in their settings.
The 2026 Launchpad will be offered via Zoom on Tuesday evenings starting January 20, 2026, through February 17, 2026. Registration is $295 per team (to include up to five team members for this one low price). Because training can be delivered digitally, the costs of travel are irrelevant, and more people can participate.
The objective for each team will be to create a time-lined work plan for the next nine to twelve months that is rooted in the accumulated (and currently accumulating) wisdom of hundreds of planters in recent years.
So, join Launchpad and be inspired and equipped to dream big and start a new faith community with your team!
About the Instructors
Paul Nixon
Paul Nixon is the Director of Church Multiplication for The United Methodist Church (Discipleship Ministries) and a coach/collaborator with scores of new faith communities in the last decade. He also leads The Epicenter Group, a ministry coaching organization focused on North America and the United Kingdom (epicentergroup.org).
He is co-creator of Readiness 360, an assessment of congregational readiness for risk-taking mission. Paul planted two ministry campuses in Florida in 1999 and 2002, each of which grew to engage over 1,000 weekly participants (either itself or including its offspring). Between 2007-12, Paul planted and nurtured several small-venue faith communities in the Washington DC area, with a focus on young adults.
Paul is author or co-author of eleven books, including Multi, Weird Church and I Refuse to Lead a Dying Church. His latest books are Launching a New Worship Community and Cultural Competency – both quite relevant to the task of new ministry development post-Pandemic and post-Disaffiliation Crisis. Paul lives in Washington, DC, and in southern California. In California, he serves part time on the staff of United Methodist Church of Palm Springs.
Isaiah Park
Isaiah Park is the Director of Church Planting, Innovation, and Diversity at Path 1 of Discipleship Ministries. She advances innovation and diversity in church planting across the UMC by equipping leaders, developing resources, and fostering inclusive new faith communities.
Previously, she served as the Pastor of Evangelism and Missional Engagement at Floris-Restoration UMC in Northern Virginia. For the past twenty years, Isaiah has been involved in leading and developing innovative ministry including church planting, Fresh Expressions, and relational evangelism with young people.
She is passionate about doing ministry with people in unconventional spaces in order to expand the reach of the church. Isaiah also has experience in rebooting and revitalizing a declining church plant. Isaiah studied Intercultural Studies at Biola University (La Mirada, CA). She earned a Master of Divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary (Washington, D.C.) and is currently in the Fresh Expressions and the Future Church Doctor of Ministry program at United Theological Seminary (Dayton, OH).
Contact Us for Help
Contact Discipleship Ministries staff for additional guidance.