By Dr. Nathan Millican
I have never met someone in pastoral ministry who balked at the expectation placed among pastors of developing leaders; there appears to be wholehearted agreement that is not only a worthy endeavor but should be a characteristic of healthy churches. Yet, in many churches this seems to be lacking. Some might contend that preaching and praying are sufficient to make leaders. And yet…
- Is preaching sufficient for the task of developing leaders? No, I do not believe it is.
- Is praying sufficient for the task of developing leaders? No, I do not believe it is.
- Is a commitment to evangelism sufficient for the task of developing leaders? No, I do not believe it is.
We need each of those practices, but there needs to be a commitment on the part of the leadership of the church to intentionally invest and equip individuals for leadership development and missional living. In fact, one of the markers submitted by Dr. Steve McNeil last year was leadership development. Personally, I have seen traction with this marker take place several months ago at our annual state convention when the church planting team enlisted almost 40 different churches to walk through a tutorial with Send Network’s Pipeline material. What is “Pipeline”?
The Multiplication Pipeline is designed to help local churches discover and develop ministry leaders and church planting missionaries. Up to three years of training modules are available to train learners in more than 20 ministry leadership competencies. The training is sequenced but flexible, so your church may supplement for focus or depth. You can read more about this tool here.
Participating in Pipeline is quite simple. Here are a couple of steps anyone can take: