How can existing churches and emerging movement leaders work together to reach the lost?
The first generation of movement leaders often comes from local churches, as Christians catch God’s heart for the lost and begin engaging in the harvest. Rather than distancing ourselves from the existing church, Aila encourages us to graciously include and catalyse its leaders, recognising the gifts and experience they bring.
Aila shares practical insights into:
- Bringing existing and emerging leaders together for training and mutual learning.
- Finding “inside leaders” who understand the language, culture and relationships of the people being reached. Discovering these persons of peace who may eventually become leaders.
- Engaging urban “tribes” formed around interests, communities or shared experiences.
- Helping church leaders focus on forming new groups in the harvest rather than bringing people back into existing congregations.
- Building coalitions around a shared Great Commission vision.
Drawing on Lifeway’s experience in Ethiopia, Aila describes how leaders from different denominations were invited into a gracious vision-casting process. With the blessing of many but not all exisiting church leaders, grassroots disciple makers began forming groups that multiplied among unreached communities.
As Aila reminds us, the language we use matters. He encouraged us to focus on equipping leaders from the bottom up, while building a shared Great Commission vision with those leading from the top down.
As you listen, consider: Who within the existing church might God be inviting you to encourage, equip and catalyse for the harvest – and which church leaders could you invite into a shared Great Commission vision?
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:19 — 8.4MB)
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