Multiplying Missional Leaders

Missional communities are sending agencies into our neighborhoods, cities, and nations. To be clear, it is not that communities grow in numbers and need to split, or that communities have a pyramid growth chart. Multiplication is a function of a gospel work and empowerment of the Spirit. Leaders and communities are sent out of existing gospel communities because the gospel is advancing and sending us into maturity. Not only that, but multiplication is communal. It is done as a community, with leaders and coaches. How do you equip leaders? How do you send them well? How do you support and coach leaders once they've gone? In Multiply Together, Brad Watson offers the leaders of leaders and the overseers of communities the theological vision, practical wisdom, and stories of how to coach and support a movement of gospel-centered communities on mission. Multiply Together is a coaching a resource for those creating multiplying discipleship movements.

In Hero Maker, you will learn how to bring real change to your church and community by developing the practical skills to help others reach their leadership potential. Drawing on five powerful practices found in the ministry of Jesus, Hero Maker presents the key steps of apprenticeship that will build up other leaders and provide strategies for how you can: activate the gifts of those around you help others take ownership of their mission develop a simple scorecard for measuring your kingdom-building progress With rich insights from the Gospels, Hero Maker is packed with real-life ministry stories ranging from paid staff to volunteer leaders--from established churches to new church plants. Whether you lead ten people or ten thousand, Hero Maker will not only help you maximize your leadership impact; but, in doing so, you will also help shift today's church culture to a model of reproduction and multiplication. Chicago pastor and church planter Dave Ferguson and award-winning writer Warren Bird make a compelling case that God's power and purpose are best revealed when we train and release others to further advance the Kingdom of God. By becoming a hero maker and investing in others, you can join a movement of influencers that are impacting thousands of people around the world. Everybody wants to be a hero, but few understand the power of being a hero maker.

Missiologist and church planter JR Woodward offers a blueprint for the missional church--not small adjustments around the periphery of the infrastructure but a radical revisioning of how a church ought to look that entails changing how we think about leadership and what we expect out of discipleship.

"There­fore go and make dis­ci­ples of all nations, bap­tizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey every­thing I have com­manded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." -- Matthew 28:19 - 20 That's what it means to be mis­sional- to be about the mis­sion of Jesus, which is making dis­ci­ples. As we make dis­ci­ples, those dis­ci­ples nat­u­rally form com­mu­ni­ties, and we call those com­mu­ni­ties churches. As the gospel spread throughout the region, churches sprang up in other areas, mul­ti­plying as more dis­ci­ples were made. If starting and sus­taining a mul­ti­plying move­ment of dis­ci­ples and churches- under the guid­ance and direc­tion of the Holy Spirit- is your calling, this imple­men­ta­tion guide was designed with you in mind. Here we build on The Mis­sional Journey book, allowing you to take the con­cepts fur­ther as you build your system using the basic frame­work laid out in the book: get ready, get going, stay with it, keep growing. How­ever, it's not strictly linear: you can pick and choose your issues, pri­or­i­tizing what you need in order to gain momentum. You can work through this guide with a cohort of influ­encers and prac­ti­tioners. We pro­vide descrip­tions of each of the key areas needed to start and sus­tain a mul­ti­plying move­ment- along with reflec­tion questions that help you determine your actions steps.

The purpose and aim of this book is to develop an appropriate leadership model for missional churches. This implies a positioning of this book within the broader theology of mission and a consensus on the theology of the Missio Dei, originating at the 1952 conference of the International Missionary Council in Willingen, Germany. In this approach to the theology of mission, mission is understood as the work of the Trinitarian God, and the church is privileged to participate in God’s mission. It is against this background that the growing consensus on missional ecclesiology challenges leadership models developed for a different time and a different kind of church (with less or no emphasis on the missional character of the church). The aim is to reflect theologically on the role of leadership in the missional church. What kind of ideas about power, authority and leadership are appropriate for a missional church? New missional challenges demand new ideas about missional leadership. Church organisation and leadership reflects a theological position – there is a strong relation between ecclesiology and church organisation. The nature of the church provides the framework to understand the character of the church. What the church is determines what the church does. The church organises what it does and agrees on rules that regulate ministries and organisation. Issues such as the way the church organises and governs what it does, and thus church leadership, need to be answered against this background and understanding. Church polity and organisation, as well as leadership, must reflect the identity, calling, life and order of the church. This book, therefore, addresses life in the Trinity, participation in the Missio Dei and contours of the missional church as the point of entry to develop leadership insights. It contributes towards the development of an appropriate model of leadership for missional churches, because although recent developments in the theology of mission comprehensively addressed the area of missional ecclesiology, there is a gap in the development of a leadership model based on the concept of authority in the missional church.

"While the theory and theology of missional church are important, this book is about practice-a practical guide to MCs written by some of the people who were there at the beginning of their inception and know them inside out. This book, while helpfully summarizing all the theory on Missional Communities, is fundamentally about how to make them work in your church community."--From back cover

Where do I find more leaders? Every leader of a growing organization asks this question. And though we know we need more leaders, few of us know how to create a culture of leadership development. This book recounts how Steve Murrell and Every Nation rediscovered four leadership multipliers that solved the leadership shortage of a growing church and global mission organization. The principles and stories in these pages will help you identify leaders, develop current leaders, and multiply future leaders!

Fueled by a desire to reach people for Christ, a revolution is underway. Churches are growing beyond the limitations of a single service in one building. Expanding the traditional model, they are embracing the concept of one church with more than one site: multiple congregations sharing a common vision, budget, leadership, and board. Drawing from the examples of churches nationwide, The Multi-Site Church Revolution shows what healthy multi-site churches look like and what motivates congregations to make the change. Discover how your church can: • cast a vision for change • ensure a successful DNA transfer (vision and core values) to its new site • develop new leaders • fund new sites • adapt to structure and staffing change • use technology to support your worship services you’ll identify the reasons churches succeed and how they overcome common snags. The Multi-Site Church Revolution offers guidance, insights, and specific action steps as well as appendixes with practical leadership resources and self-diagnostic tools. “I wholeheartedly recommend this book for any pastor or church leader who needs to know the pertinent issues, tested solutions, and real examples of multi-site strategies that are currently being deployed around the world.” —Ed Young, senior pastor, Fellowship Church “The authors have done their homework. They have firsthand knowledge of the successes and failures of this movement, having been networking with and facilitating dialogue among churches across the country for years.” —Max Lucado, senior minister, Oak Hills Church “Look no further than this book to propel your ministry to Ephesians 3:20 proportions: exceeding abundantly above all that you could ever ask or think!” —Randy and Paula White, senior pastors, Without Walls International Church This book is part of the Leadership Network Innovation Series.