Three Levels of Training

People often ask about our training so, without going into great detail, I will outline the three levels of training that we present on the field.

Level 1: Basic Church Planting. This training is designed to provide the participant with an entirely new view of "church" and what it means to reproduce fruitful disciples, churches, and leaders.  Most participants are already leaders or missionaries who have experienced the limitation of the church structures they are using in their situation.

Unfortunately, throughout the world, the western model of church life is dominant.  This often means that a very effective leader reaches and disciples several families and then becomes involved with the very things that hinder his/her ongoing effectiveness: buildings, musical equipment, knowledge-based education, etc.

Level one training devotes a lot of time to breaking down religious belief systems (rules) that hinder the freedom of the leader's relational/spiritual life.

Level one training also devotes time in removing paradigms of church life that can become hindrances to the fruitful multiplication of life:

1. Sacred places vs God-in-us everywhere
2. Event-oriented church life vs. everyday lifestyle
3. Attractional (come-to-us) vs. incarnational (go-to-the-people)
4. Business organization vs. organic/living/viral
5. Hierarchical leadership vs. spiritual authority that is relational

Level one training then explores the principles of an organic, living church in which the Holy Spirit is free to lead.  At this point, the training becomes very interactive as the participants begin to explore practical methods and tools that will unleash the Gospel in their setting and lead to simple, reproducible forms of church life.

Because the harvest is "ripe" in many places that we work, these leaders are often able to go out and become much more productive in reaching and multiplying churches with much less effort than before.

Level 2: Advanced Church Planting.  This training is geared entirely toward leaders who are planting and reproducing churches.  It is less structured in that the curriculum is designed to be flexible according to the needs of the participants. Further exploration is given to the organic nature of the church and to each of the principles that lead to reproduction (reaching, discipling, gathering, empowering leaders, and multiplying). Special focus is given to the participants understanding how to develop appropriate type of leaders from within their ministry. The goal of this training is to see these leaders fruitfully reproducing disciples, churches, as well as leaders.

Level 3: Training Trainers.  The third level of our training is devoted to seeing leaders become trainers of others. Since our ultimate goal is to completely work ourselves out of a job, we want to see leaders who can handle all three of these levels of training. So level three training needs to be as interactive and on-the-job as possible so that these leaders become confident that they can train leaders and leaders of leaders throughout their community, region, or nation.

Coaching. I should also mention that coaching plays a critical role in the ultimate development of leaders. In many cases we are able to spend ongoing time with certain of the leaders in an area using skype (online telephony). This coaching provides a way for leaders to receive immediate feedback on issues they are dealing with, set goals, share struggles, and find encouragement as well as accountability.

This process is not necessarily linear in that we are often combining levels in any given setting.  But the overall concept of moving from church planting basics to leaders who can reproduce themselves is always in focus.

Projects that Empower the Poor. Finally, as we see leaders who are settling into level 3 leadership, we feel comfortable entrusting them with greater resources and begin exploring with them sustainable ways in which they can empower the poor that are among them. This may include vocational training programs, micro-enterprise training and loans, school/orphanages, and more.

Comments

[Bruce G]

Roger - Good breakdown - Bruce

[Peter J Farmer]

Hi Roger,

My name is Peter Farmer. I have recently been invited to Kenya to be involved in a simple church conference. The local Kenyan leader who invited me got my details from my blog (http://peterfarmer.wordpress.com)
I wondered where you were working and whether our paths might cross, and for more info on what you are up to.

I tried the email link but it didn't work. My email is peterjfarmer@hotmail.co.uk