The Basics of Adopting an Unreached People Group and Carrying the Gospel to Them | pt. 5

“Leadership Development and Exiting the Work“

Focus group: church members and pastors

This is the fifth in a series of articles which are being written to show you how to effectively engage an unreached people.

By Clint B.

If you look at a Four Fields diagram, you’ll notice that leadership development is represented by a circle in the center. I appreciate this design because it shows that leadership training touches all four fields.

As workers who’ve grown up and gone into ministry in a culture that is heavily churched, we sometimes view leadership training as something that happens when we step away from ministry and enroll in seminary or attend a training course. While that is a form of leadership training, it’s usually not available in pioneer or frontier areas.

In these contexts, we want to see the rapid and steady reproduction of believers and churches. We can’t afford to remove leaders from their ministry fields for months or years at a time. In frontier areas, every person is vital to the work moving forward. That’s why leadership development must begin in the very first field of the Four Fields diagram.

As we enter a people group, we must practice seed-sowing methods that can be easily reproduced by future converts using resources from their own environment. Nothing should rely solely on our resources or financial support. Think ahead, plan ahead! Use tools that new believers can easily access once they come to Christ and begin sharing with their families and friends. Whether we realize it or not, we are modeling how to share the gospel even as we lead people to Christ.

When those new believers begin their discipleship journey, the same principle applies. Use resources they can access and afford. As we model this kind of discipleship, we should consider every new believer a potential future leader. Use participative Bible studies and storying groups. Encourage everyone to speak up and participate in leading different parts of the gatherings. Allow the Holy Spirit free rein to call and develop those He chooses.

In my experience, groups will naturally begin to recognize certain individuals as leaders. These are often the people God has gifted and called to serve.

As the number of groups grows and many begin reproducing and leading new groups “downstream” from the original, a time will come for more advanced leadership training. At that point, we invite the recognized leaders—those being used by God in various locations—to come together at a central location for advanced training. These meetings typically last just 2–3 days, depending on the frequency of gatherings, travel distances, and overall cost.

If our organization is going to invest money into training, this is usually where it yields the most fruit. Wherever you see movements happening, you’ll usually find these types of gatherings taking place in out-of-the-way locations. I’ve attended such meetings in Nigeria and Senegal, and in both places God is moving powerfully among large people groups. I’ll add that these movements are not limited to those countries. (One such meeting has even taken place in the United States, with almost global impact on one particular people group.) These training retreats help address doctrinal issues and improve the quality of teaching happening “downstream” in the movements.

What about more formal training, like seminaries or Bible schools? That question goes beyond the scope of this article. I will say that in many past instances, when individuals left their home regions for extended periods of formal education, few returned to rejoin the movement.

The final issue to consider is this: how and when do you exit the work? In my training, I encourage churches and individuals to pray about and make this decision during the early stages of engagement with a people group. It isn’t written in stone nor is it advertised to the people you are working among. It is just an achievable goal which you set to guide your future work.

In setting this goal, workers often look at the population of their people and ask “How many churches will it take to leave behind a reproducing movement which can carry on after we leave?” They set that number and then recruit as much help as they need to achieve the goal. Others just say, “We will work here for so many years, then we will move on.”

However you decide, keep the goal in mind and be faithful to your commitment. The people you lead to Christ and disciple will trust you not to just disappear. If you know you’ll eventually step away from the work, prepare them to carry on without you. Don’t be irresponsible and leave behind crippled or dying churches.

Here’s a helpful resource on leadership training in church planting movements:
🔗 Leadership in Church Planting Movements

I hope this series has been helpful to you. If your church or team would like a Global Gates missionary to connect with you and walk through this training in greater depth, please contact Mike Sowers, Global Gates’ Senior Director of Great Commission Partnerships, at msowers@globalgates.info.

God bless you and guide you as you seek to reach the unreached.