Leaders from the Harvest

1
Leaders from the Harvest

• To reach North America

2
The Crisis Demands Change

• The end of Christendom
• Preferential treatment
• Influential voice
• Visible icons of dominance
• From objective to subjective truth
• Validation by experience instead of truth claims
• Mistrust of institutions truth control
• Mistrust of meta-narratives
• Cultural Fragmentation
• Granularity hinders mass approaches
• Diverse cultures frustrate evangelistic
  assumptions

3
The Missional Leader in this Crisis

• Lead by managing relationships not complexity
• Placed based on character not credentials
• Grow emerging and organic organization rather
  than standardized and programmatic organization

4
Seven Specific Characteristics

• They grasp the importance of leading like Jesus
• Emphasize obedience in discipleship (John 1421)
  rather than knowledge
• Emphasize servanthood in leadership (Mark 1045)
  rather than management control
• Encourage faith-based risk-taking (John 518-20)
  rather than caution

5
Second of Seven

• They dont assume a friendly environment in which
  to carry out church life
• Serve in the face of skepticism and antagonism
• Embrace the challenges of cultural diversity as
  an opportunity for increased penetration of
  society more church plants

6
Third of Seven

• They work opportunistically rather than routinely
• Looks for God at work in unlikely places
• Always on the lookout for new networks to
  penetrate (prayer service)
• Works intentionally, but always with an eagerness
  for the unexpected opportunity

7
Four of Seven

• Their focus is expansion of the Kingdom, not
  preservation of an institution
• Cautious of entanglements with buildings and
  formal organizations
• Not dependent on structures that require large
  sums of money and time to maintain

8
Five of Seven

• They foster relational structures rather than
  institutional structures
• Organization is used to reduce the chaos of
  relational structures at their core
• The growing edge remains primarily relational to
  enhance growth

9
Six of Seven

• They disciple with a view to deployment on
  mission, not servicing the organization
• Hard commitment to mission, not maintenance
• Strategizing to shift workers into the harvest
• Matching workers to the various components of the
  mission task based on gifting, experience, and
  passion

10
Seven of Seven

• They believe the Kingdom is bigger than the
  church
• Move out, expecting God to already have gone
  before looking for His hand at work
• Majoring on micro-influence soul by soul-
  rather than institutional influence
• The wider the outreach the bigger the harvest
• Freely bless other ministries without obligation
  or concern for credit

11
Finding Them

• The local church must become our incubator for
  missional leaders!

12
Critical Factors to Find

• Look for mature, obedient Christian character
• The testimony of those who know them
• The testimony of those who lead them
• Evangelistic Skill in
• Personal evangelism
• Small group evangelism
• Cross-cultural comfort
• Ability to network in a non-linear way

13
Gaining the right to Find

• Train churches to use starters they are
  blessed with new growth
• Evaluate starters for lay planters shift
  them to develop new churches locally
• Evaluate effective lay planters for the few who
  can cross contexts as vocational planters

14
Growing from Scratch (1)

• Leaders are grown in place
• Under authority
• With people of like heart
• In supportive structures until the proper time

15
Growing from Scratch (2)

• Need a particular supportive environment
• Healthy, loving, relational Christian community
• Intentional growth in the habits of a disciple
  through mentored accountability
• Prevailing Prayer
• Obedience to the Word
• Humble Service
• High-grace encouragement to take faith-based risks

16
Growing from Scratch (3)

• Looking for specific outcomes
• Growing respect and influence
• Eventually lead a small group
• Increasing productivity and lasting fruit
• They have discipled someone they led to Christ
• Strategic sense doing the right things to see
  results
• Loyalty to leaders and a joyful submission to
  authority
• Started something from scratch

17
Growing from Scratch (4)

• At the proper time, we will call them out
• In partnership with the church that grew them

18
Organic structures

• Grasses
• Invasive
• Often die after bearing seed
• Usually dont shield their turf
• Vines
• Flexible, invasive, persistent
• Need pruning for maximum fruit-bearing
• Multiple trunks are hard to kill blackberrys
• Trees
• Presence influences environment
• Long-lived with many generations of fruit
• Shield their turf from competition

19
Organic church structures

• House church
• Easily adaptable, so invasive of sub-cultures
• Fragile, many die in giving birth many dont
  multiply at all
• Bi-vo teams doing cell church
• Flexible
• Can become inward focused unless guided
• Institutional church
• Less fruit-bearing for mass
• Last a long-time many fruiting cycles
• Strong influence on surrounding environment
• Good for holding ground once won

20
The Growing Edge

• All models have a growing edge
• Wise leaders push resources to the growing edge
  for fruit-bearing
• Thats why vines get pruned, as well as to
  eleminate disease and un-health
• Missional Leaders develop in this growing edge
• These growing-edge leaders are the
  culture-bearers of the church.