My first introduction to the concept of leadership development in an outreach ministry was as a new believer in the Army. My Navigator team leader and I read the book, The Lost Art of Making Disciples by Leroy Eims (1978), which designates four stages of a Christian’s growth: Convert, Disciple, Worker, and Leader. Eims proposed a training process for individuals at each stage with objectives, activities, content, supporting scripture, and evaluation, all which included concepts of knowledge, character, and spiritual fruitfulness. This was a logical and systematic plan that worked well with my disciplined military Christian mindset.

Twenty years later I served as a missionary in Southeast Asia working with a church-planting media team of local believers reaching a Muslim majority population. I was mentoring Dado, their team leader, a second-generation Muslim background believer from the local ethnic group. Dado was solid in his foundations as a convert and disciple, but his ethnic group was deeply steeped in patron-client cultural leadership models. This model asserts that patrons are superior in leadership and the underlings need to support his/her authority. Dado’s leadership style reflected his culture and was the antithesis of the leadership style developed in my Navigator days. Since the Eims material reflected American culture, the patron-client model was never discussed, and I was stymied as to how to help Dado. Likewise, I was unaware of the array of issues that were common to converts from Muslim backgrounds. Clearly, Christian growth and leadership development models were not universal.

The following discussion reflects on leadership development approaches that consider both the spiritual growth of individuals and the development of leaders in a church-planting movement (CPM). Mentors in church-planting movements should maintain balance between an individual member’s spiritual need and the opportunity for leaders to emerge and grow, for the benefit of the body, to build itself as all members deploy their God given gifts.

This article will explore published literature on categories of leadership in movements and then compare insights from two ministry field locations, one from a Hindu majority and one from a Muslim majority.

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Categories of Leadership

Like the ideas presented by Eims, individuals involved in church-planting movements tend to categorize leadership roles using terms like “level of leadership.” However, these categories can sometimes imply a hierarchy of importance. While categorizing leadership can be beneficial, it should always be done with the primary objective of fostering unity and maturity within the church, as taught in Ephesians 4:11–13. The following section will explore how different church-planting movements utilize leadership categories as a means of developing and nurturing leaders, while ensuring that the focus remains on building up the body of Christ as a whole.

A large-scale study was commissioned for organizations working in the country of India to help the organizations navigate church growth in the context of this remarkably diverse country. Beyond the challenges of India’s large Hindu and Muslim populations, India is home to over 2000 unreached people groups, each with their own specific ethnic language, each with a widespread influence in the caste system (across the range of cultures), with significant geographical, urban, and rural divides, and challenges of diverse socioeconomic statuses. The purpose of the study was to identify key needs and opportunities for developing leaders, with the purpose of these leaders developing healthy, reproducing churches in every district and people group of India.

After in-depth personal interviews with approximately 300 leaders (primarily nationals) representing approximately 200 churches and Christian organizations in practically every state of India, the study found that to help multiply healthy, reproducing churches in every district and every people group in India, five types of leaders are needed:

  • Type 1 Leaders: are small group leaders who lead cell groups.
  • Type 2 Leaders: supervise volunteer workers and Type 1 leaders.
  • Type 3 Leaders: are full-time local leaders who devote most, if not all, of their time to Christian leadership, including local church pastors, church-planters, and missionaries.
  • Type 4 Leaders: are regional leaders whose influence is felt within a region, but whose ministry is indirect, as they work with and through the local leaders.
  • Type 5 Leaders: are national Leaders who have influence throughout the entire country, or internationally (David 2002).

No details were given on how to develop these types of leaders, but identifying the need was a first step toward a comprehensive solution.

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In another South Asian country led entirely by nationals, they follow a similar pattern of leadership development with five types of leaders:

  • Disciple Fellowship Group (DFG) Leaders: provide shepherding over a small group of 4-12 seekers and baptized believers*
  • Zone Leaders: provide shepherding and training of the DFG leaders and fellowships, usually 4-6 groups per zone leader.
  • Area Leaders: provide shepherding and training primarily of zone leaders, but also DFG leaders and their congregants.
  • Apostolic Leaders: (currently two such leaders) shepherd and guide the work and the area leaders.
  • A Country Leader: mentors the two Apostolic leaders and their core team (Larsen 2019).

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In Southeast Asia, a CPM also under national leadership records more than 100,000 Muslim-background believers and follows this pattern:

  • Mini Leaders: guide a group of primarily seekers who do Discovery Bible Studies (DBS) on key scriptural passages that relate to understanding the gospel.
  • Small Group Leaders: whose groups are more than 50% believers and follow the DBS style on key scriptural passages on discipleship.
  • Cluster Leaders: form a fellowship of seven to ten small groups and leaders who are at least three generations of small groups in a geographical area and the cluster leaders provide shepherding and training of the fellowship leaders.
  • Small Region Leader: form a quad of leaders (four leaders with different spiritual gifts become a team) provide shepherding and training of cluster leaders. The small region leaders also form a brotherhood for cross pollination of ideas and accountability for leaders and leadership support.
  • Stream Leaders: form a quad of leaders who provide shepherding and training of small region Leaders. Stream leaders likewise develop a brotherhood for cross pollination and accountability.
  • Movement Leaders: are what the movement classifies as apostolic leaders who serve at a national scale (Preston 2020).

The following chart can be used to harmonize the three views of the categories of leaders.

The leadership roles discussed in these three examples reflect a variety of responsibilities that range from tasks with a defined focus, such as leading a limited number of people, to responsibilities that include a broader range of tasks. On the more focused side, leaders working with new and maturing Christians ensure those under their care engage in foundational Christian truths. These leaders also deal with basic pastoral issues with input from their mentors. The leadership roles described in the latter three leadership categories above involve additional complexities of training, supervision, and organizational concerns. Leaders exercising a broader range of responsibilities will have emerged through experience in the more focused roles.

The goal of Christian leadership development is not to move from what might have been seen as earlier stages of leadership to later or higher ones, for example moving from Type 1 to 5, but to recognize that each of the leadership roles are important to the function of the movement as a whole, each requiring different gifts and skills. There needs to be intentional investment in the development of all the leadership roles.

Developing Type 1-3 leaders (smaller to medium-sized group leaders) will yield the development of Type 4-5 leaders (larger network leaders). Though this is logical, I have observed ministries that seek to shortcut the process by overemphasizing the importance of Type 4-5 leaders and missing the critical step of developing Type 1-3 leaders. This short cut overemphasizes “developing leaders” without doing the important work of “developing leadership.”

Robert Clinton defines leadership as “a dynamic process in which a man or woman with God-given capacity influences a specific group of God’s people toward His purposes for the group” (Clinton 2018). Yet nearly all the leadership books, podcasts, and conferences seem heavily weighted to Type 4 and 5 leaders. Peter Wagner makes a key point that each member of the body of Christ is gifted according to God’s grace to be used for the church, including leadership gifts for the benefit of the church and not the recipient (Wagner 2012). According to Clinton’s definition, leadership is not restricted to Type 4 and 5 leaders but is an activity that can be observed in multiple contexts where influence is exercised.

I have had conversations with missionaries who were “looking for the apostle” to build an outreach strategy. This is misguided because certain gifts are considered essential to their ministry goal whereas other gifts are less important. Looking for the right person confounds the goal of developing the person they are shepherding to meet the person’s spiritual potential. A posture of humility is necessary for the missionary to consider regarding whose body is being served and whose church is being built.

Key leaders who give vision to the whole movement may emerge from other types of leaders in the movement. Spiritual growth and leadership development have prepared them to be in a role of developing and empowering the whole structure of leaders in the movement. Future leaders will emerge from the current leaders.

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Formal and Informal Training of Leaders

In 2020 I conducted interviews and reviewed one year of data from the Southeast Asian church-planting movement described above. One interview question was posed to the national leader as to the key indicators of spiritual health in the movement. This question was critical since the movement at that time was both broad and complex, involving approximately 13,000 fellowships and more than 50,000 Muslim-background believers, expanding at about 50% per year. The leader explained that he observes the growth data collected every four months at each level of ministry, and whether a quad leadership team exists. Then the national leader looks at the quantity of formal and informal trainings that are occurring for leaders at each level. If the national leader sees that three indicators are functioning—growth, quad leadership, and formal and informal trainings—he feels assured that Scripture engagement is occurring at all levels. The reason for this confidence is that quad leaders from at least four perspectives are observing the spiritual needs of those in their charge, and these perspectives lead to formal and informal Scripture discovery so that personalized and corporate scriptural studies are meeting the observed needs. Multiplication normally will be a natural outcome of spiritual health (Preston 2020).

Formal training involves topics that have been determined by the national leadership to be foundational to Christian growth. Training is identified as “formal” when topics and content are systematized and become a standard curriculum at various stages of leadership development. Formal trainings can be done with multiple leaders in the same setting, shaping the framework for “fellowships” for small groups to develop. Informal training comes through one-on-one mentoring conversations that are not so much driven by a formal curriculum as being informed by individual needs with an attunement, “prompted by the Holy Spirit.” These individual needs include what is unique to each person and their context in terms of culture, gifting, temperament, and developmental needs. It is common that issues that become apparent through mentoring conversations become a basis for developing a formal training topic.

The Southeast Asian leader observed that mini and small group leaders reported that 75% of their training topics were formal, and 25% were informal. Cluster leaders, in general, followed a 50% formal and informal training approach split, and regional and stream leaders had a 25% formal, 75% informal split. These percentage splits were not specified processes, but general observations. When I researched other religious movements in the world, the content was primarily religious in nature for cell group leaders and strategic and operational for structural leaders. The pattern of foundational teaching topics for Type 1 and Type 2 leaders seems consistent across cultures, while incorporating operational and strategic content for Type 3 leaders.

Leroy Eims’ material follows a similar pattern. Convert and disciple material is more formalized and foundational, whereas worker and leader material are what Eims calls “one on one” or “life on life” involving more informal training. In South Asia, the Disciple Fellowship Group Leader’s training covers formal topics such as, who is God, sin, salvation, prayer, and Bible Study. Area leaders’ formal training covers topics like shepherding, leadership qualification, church governance, conflict resolution, and understanding issues to avoid (Hindu) cults. Area leaders have consistent visits and zoom calls with Apostolic and Country leaders to discuss life and ministry issues.

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South Asia Case Study

The following case study is derived from an ongoing research project I am undertaking, which focuses on the dynamics of leadership and growth within a church-planting movement. As of the time of this writing, Toniman—the local leader at the center of this case study—has played a role in establishing six generations of fellowships over the course of two years. This case study serves to illustrate concepts related to leadership development that are discussed throughout this paper.

In February 2022, Toniman was in his home and saw the Jesus film on television aired by a media ministry in Southeast Asia. At the bottom of the screen was a running text stating if you want more information to go to a Facebook page. Toniman viewed the page and then connected with the media team. After some friendly conversations, the conversation turned to Toniman’s spiritual question, which was, “Can Jesus take away sin?” The team member told Toniman that the scripture is clear on this, that Jesus does take away sin, but suggested he meet with someone local to discuss this. Toniman was very interested in a meeting and provided his cell number.

The next day a Muslim background believer named Ahmad texted Toniman and explained that he was the] friend of the media office and was interested in talking with him further about Jesus taking away sin. Ahmad then studied the Scriptures with Toniman and his wife and saw what they revealed about Jesus and how Jesus can take away sin. Toniman asked Jesus to take away his sin, committed his life to Jesus and was baptized.

When Toniman shared his new faith with friends in his village, several expressed interest. Ahmad helped Toniman guide his friends to study the same Scripture passages he had studied, and several came to faith. Toniman also shared with other villages and people he knew. Within a short time three study groups were formed. These three groups also started one group each, with others coming to faith and being baptized. As of June 2023, the mustard seed of faith had grown even more: 12 study groups had been started to four generations, 56 people came to faith, and 18 had been baptized.

Ahmad meets with Toniman weekly and communicates by phone and text almost daily to help him grow in his faith and discuss what simple scripture studies the groups can use in their spiritual growth. As we read 2 Timothy 2:2, this is a common practice for the Ahmads and Tonimans, teaching new believers to teach others who pass these on to faithful seekers.

From the case study above, we can observe that Ahmad helps Toniman grow through consistent mentoring interactions, both to give him spiritual grounding and to address “life on life” issues. In the interview, Toniman stated a number of times that his own character growth came from his knowledge of Scriptures and learning about Jesus, a reflection of teaching from 2 Peter 1:4-8, and rarely mentioned Ahmed’s “teaching.” From his own growth as a disciple, Toniman was helping others to understand the gospel and how to grow spiritually. These people then passed on to others the same material. The strategy was to “pass on” to others and not build a kingdom. Note how leaders at every stage were being developed as they had formal and informal input from mentors.

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Summary Highlights

  • Leader development needs to be informed by cultural context.
  • Type 4 and 5 leaders emerge from the development of Type 1-3 leaders. Type 1 leaders emerge from healthy congregants.
  • The goal of Christian leadership development is not to automatically move people from earlier stages of leadership to later or higher ones, for example moving from Type 1 to 5. Rather, it is important to recognize that each of the leadership roles are important to the function of the movement, and for each role there may be certain gifts and skills that most optimally serve it. There needs to be intentional investment in the development of all the leadership roles.
  • Mentors should be cognizant of the converts’ spiritual need but also be aware that leadership gifts will emerge and can be developed in the context of roles in serving the body. Mentors should be aware of their own bias of looking for leadership gifted people to reach their own ministry goals and not provide opportunity for other gifts to be developed.
  • Formal and informal training content is unique to culture and ministry context. Mentors can draw from experience and generalized concepts, but awareness of the individual’s gifting, personality, and developmental needs is also critical.
  • It has been observed that Type 1 (small group) leaders received 75% of their training as part of formal curriculum content, and 25% of their training was shared in the context of personalized relationships. Type 2 leaders (zone leaders) typically received their training in equal amounts of formal and informal training settings. Type 3 leaders (area leaders) generally received 25% of their training formally and the rest through personalized content shared through relationships.

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Closing Comments

Most of us are not engaged in church-planting initiatives that have reached the scale of a movement. Instead, we often find ourselves working with a small number of believers and a limited number of leaders. However, it is crucial to “lay the foundation for the future” by implementing sound principles of leadership development from the outset. By adopting a long-term perspective, we can cultivate leaders from among our congregants, and identify future leaders from our current leadership pool.

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* These groups follow a study pattern of SOAPS where they Study a passage of scripture, Observe what the passage says, Apply a lesson learned from the passage, Pray for one another, and Share what they learned with someone in their village or family.

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Questions for Conversation

  1. How can having different levels of leaders benefit the growth and health of a church-planting movement?
  2. Which category of leadership has your ministry developed well? Which ones might you be weak in?
  3. What kinds of formal leadership training are you currently doing, if any? What kinds of things are part of your informal training?

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Bibliography

Clinton, Robert. 2018. The Making of a Leader: Recognizing the Lessons and Stages of Leadership Development. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

David, D.R. 2002. “India Leadership Study: A Summary for Indian Christian Leaders”.

Eims, Leroy. 1978. The Lost Art of Disciple Making. Zondervan.

Larsen, Trevor. 2019. Core Skill of Movement Leaders. Yogyakarta, Indonesia: Focus on Fruit.

Preston, Frank. 2020. “A Study on Scripture Engagement in Disciple Making Movements.” Evangelical Missions Quarterly 56 (2): 37-40.

Wagner, C. Peter. 2012. Your Spiritual Gifts Can Help Your Church Grow. Baker Books.

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