I got my M.Div. from Brite Divinity School, Texas Chrisitian University. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). A good denomination, but one that after years of decline didn’t seem to have much of a future. Perhaps it still has hard days ahead, but it does have a plan to grow.
Witness New Church Ministry, their information and resource portal for new Disciples churches. There you can take an inventory to see if God is calling you towards church planting, you can learn the different kinds of new church start, and see what different grants (none gigantic or heroic, but quite strategic) are available.
I particularly like the new churches count (forty-eight in 2003!) and the map pin-pointing where the new churches are.
But most of all, I like the attitude that one size does not fit all. (With apologies to The Waitresses.)
There’s a lesson to learn there.