It is possible to be qualified to plant a church based on character and yet still not have the skills or particular gifting needed to play this role.  In 1 Corinthians 12:20, Paul writes, “There are many parts, yet one body.” Each of us should look at the gifts that the Spirit has given to us and find the role that we are being asked to play in the body.

It is hard to pin down a precise profile of the gifts required for a church planter, because different people plant in different ways and are able to leverage the gifts that they have to do so. Nevertheless, in the early days of a plant, the need for the gift of hospitality is very high. Most of the progress that you make in the church at this stage will stem from your ability to form meaningful and fun relationships with people and (in the majority of settings) opening your home is the key to making this happen. 

Other useful gifts in the early days include faith, prayer and leadership (and some apostleship in the mix is always useful – especially if you are looking to start a movement). As the church grows, there will still be a place for these start-up gifts, but they will need to be bolstered by other gifts like teaching, shepherding and administration. 

It is possible that somebody who is stronger in the pastor-teacher style gifts may still be able to plant a church, but to do so they will most likely need to surround themselves with people who have the more entrepreneurial gifts and draw heavily on the gifts of those people in the early days. 

On the other hand, somebody who has the more start-up type gifts is likely to do a great job in getting something off the ground, but they may be well-served in looking to hand the leadership of the church on to somebody else when it is established and put their gifts to use in getting the next one going.