As our ReachGlobal Africa Division LeadTeam prayerfully
considered setting ministry goals for the next decade we came face to face with
the fact that without gifted leaders to move these ministry plans forward we
weren’t going to get the traction we need to see things advance. With that in mind we set goals to find 50 new ReachGlobal leaders and 50 new
ReachAfrica leaders between now and 2021.
You have most likely heard people say that “everything
rises and falls on leadership.” Leadership isn’t the only critical thing necessary for good ministry
effectiveness. A foundation of solid
Biblical principles and being sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit are
indispensable for effective ministry.
However, it takes good leadership to make the best use of both of these essential elements. Good leaders help their teams
to clearly define their missional values, set ministry goals, and keep the team
moving forward toward accomplishing those goals while living out their values. Without good leaders ministry teams can easily
drift off course and be less than effective often simply continuing to do the
same things over and over again. We see
finding the “next generation” of leaders for the ministry in Africa as being
essential and one of our top priorities.
In looking for leaders we purposely focused on finding
both Americans who will serve with ReachGlobal, the International Mission of
the Evangelical Free Church of America, and Africans who will serve with
ReachAfrica, the indigenous African missionary equipping partnership of African
Evangelical Free Churches. We are living
in a quickly changing missions environment in Africa. The days of “colonial missions” where leaders
from the West set the agenda, called the shots and provided the resources are
over and a day of genuine collaborative partnership is dawning. It is imperative that the face of ministry in
Africa be more and more an African face and that the western missionary takes
more of an equipping and encouraging role.
Now is the time for leaders from Africa and western missions to sit
together to prayerfully seek the face of the Lord of the church for His agenda
for ministry and then to work together to see ministries launched that are
indigenous (appropriate to the local culture), reproducible (able to be multiplied),
and sustainable (using local resources for the long run).
Identifying and equipping 100 leaders for ministry in
Africa (50 ReachGlobal and 50 ReachAfrica) will be a HUGE game-changer! I believe God will use healthy leaders to multiply healthy
churches, healthy ministries, and more healthy leaders. Will you join me in praying for these 100
healthy leaders for Africa!
4 comments:
OK, this is a crazy idea, but what about getting some ReachAfrica leaders to serve within the organization of ReachGlobal? (here in the States) I mean to say, bring your best and brightest here to help us, to lead us.
I realize you did that with Pastor Selenga (sp?) But I mean on a more permanent basis. Seems to me we need their enthusiasm and their unique worldview in order to make us as effective as we can be. I am personally learning this from my new son-in-law who hails from Burkina Faso.
BTW, another great blog post, thanks and praying for you!
Praying for these 100 leaders!
Randy, I do really like crazy ideas.... The three African leaders who have been on our Africa LeadTeam for the past three years have made a HUGE impact on where we are headed. Maybe we need to get some leadership round tables set up when they are back in the States this fall to talk about it.
I would love to hear, sit in on a round table of that sort. I think it incredibly powerful that the place we once referred to as the "Dark Continent" is now a place that could bring light to us!
God is at work, and I for one, believe that my brothers and sisters in Africa have a message for us doing ministry here in the States.
Praying for you, brother. Keep up the good work you are doing!
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