Watch Daughter Church Planters As They Minister

 Hello everybody, my name is Dean Davis and this is “Multiply,” the podcast that provides a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

Talking, teaching and explaining are good ways to help people gain knowledge. And we all need more knowledge. So, we go to schools of all types to gain that knowledge. But, the best way to train others to master a skill is to Model, Assist, Watch, and Leave. Church planting is as set of skills based on knowledge of the word of God and the will of God. Church planter, if you will Model, Assist, Watch, and Leave, you can equip and release many effective church planters!

To be an effective church planter, we must know God’s big story. We must know who Jesus is and why his death and resurrection have power to save.  We must understand the love of God and the grace of God and his power to transform lives. But knowing all this is not enough to make a church member a church planter.

In order to plant a healthy daughter church that can multiply, church members need skills.  They need to know how to find persons of peace. They need to know how to tell God’s big story. They need to know how to tell their own story and testimony.  They need to know how to present the Good News and how to invite men and women, boys and girls to follow Jesus. They need to know how to effectively teach people to obey all that Jesus commanded. They need to know how to pray with faith. Knowing about these activities is helpful, but church planter need more than knowledge. We need skills.  

The best way to develop skills in our disciples, is to Model, Assist, Watch, and Leave. We demonstrate a ministry skill several times while the church planter in training watches. Then the church planter in training assists us with a ministry activity that uses the recently modeled skill. Later, we watch our disciple as he or she uses the newly learned skill to minister to others. Finally, we leave the responsibility and the skill in the hands of the new church planter. Model, Assist, Watch, and Leave.

Sadly, many first generation church planters model new skills and even allow their disciples to assist them in ministry, but they do not go on to watch their disciples as they step out to minister. Sadly, many first generation church planters skip the watch phase because they think it is unnecessary. But it is in the watch phase that the disciple maker can see if the disciple has truly mastered a new skill. For example, if the skill being taught is sharing the Good News using The Three Circles, the disciple maker can see if the young church planter includes and explains each and every element of the drawing. Was anything left out? Was a clear invitation given to crown Jesus as king? If the young church planter does everything well in the watch phase, the senior church planter can leave that skill in the new church planters hands. This is a moment of achievement and celebration.  But until the elder church planter sees the daughter church planter succeed with a new ministry skill, watching continues.

Church planter, if you will Model, Assist, Watch, and Leave, you can equip and release many effective church planters!

This has been “Multiply,” and I’m Dean Davis asking, “Who will you share this encouraging word with today?

 

#EncouragementForVillageChurchPlanters #ModelAssistWatchLeave