Proactive Leadership Development for Multiplication

 

This is an excerpt from a live Question + Response session in our newly launched Missional Church Transition Starter.

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How do you get ahead of growth? How do you get new leaders ready in order to multiply your missional communities?

That’s one of the things that we’re always working on. There are times that it works well, and times it doesn’t. The systematic way that we go about that, to answer your question, is we are asking our leaders to commit to being a part of coaching circles where they’re meeting twice a month with leaders that are pouring into them. In the midst of their coaching over the twelve to eighteen-month process, we are asking if they can identify someone who is leaning in, who is growing in the gospel, and who is leaning into leading. We tell them to start inviting them into those coaching circles to shadow and to be a part of them. They start bringing an apprentice with them to every coaching circle and equipping workshop. Eventually, when multiplication is necessary and it’s fruitful, they can release that leader that’s been shadowing, watching, listening, and being trained.

That’s the system we’re walking through and working out. Our missional community 101 class is kind of turbo training as well. If someone says, “I’ve got a leader leaning in,” we’d probably encourage them to go to our MC 101 class, where they will be inundated with what we’re doing and be injected with gospel DNA and our gospel rhythms. After that, then we’ll take some time to train but those are our two environments.

It starts with our leaders knowing that they need to be reproducing themselves so they’re always looking for those who are leaning in.

Another aspect to that, too, that’s helpful for us is that we do DNA groups within missional communities. These DNA groups are gender-based groups that are going deeper in the Word, accountability, nurturing one another. They are usually three or four people, kind of a smaller environment. We ask our MC leaders to work really hard to not lead those DNA groups and give others a chance to lead in this smaller environment. It gives the opportunity to learn and grow into leading and shepherding more people. 

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Ready to launch new leaders to lead new Missional Communities? Our Pilot Group Guide walks you through the strategy, process, and content to mobilize your people to live on mission together. 

–> Join the online community, ask questions, and get answers from seasoned practitioners.

–> Check out some helpful resources:

• Missional Church Transition Starter
• Planting vs Transitioning to MCs
• Preaching to Equip People for Mission