theexpandingshrink

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

While here in Kenya I am pondering how we might integrate the missions outreach and training of our various networks and congregations.  Here is a draft of a proposal which attempts to integrate what I have felt and sensed and have heard you express in various ways at various times. I would appreciate your feedback: suggestions, modifications, questions, whatever.

Your brother and fellow servant,

E. Daniel

Mission Driven Life Teams (MDLT)

To Jerusalem and Regions Beyond

Vision

 A global army of  people consistently focused for a lifetime on knowing Christ and advancing His kingdom at home and abroad

Mission

1. Raise up, train and equip people to become effective in missions in their local setting (Jerusalem)

2. Prepare people for a missions experience in a global setting (Regions Beyond)

3. Carry out global mission assignment in partnership with the global partners and under their leadership

4. Arrange for a local and global coach for each person, to encourage, comfort and urge to live a mission-focused life worthy of God who calls us into his kingdom and glory

5. Encourage, equip and support people in continuing their local and global missions focus throughout life regardless of educational and career choices

6. Encourage people to continue under local and global coaching  influence  throughout life

7. Prepare people to become coaches to local and to global persons

Strategies

1. Raising up, training and equipping people to become effective in missions in their local setting (Jerusalem)

     a. Conduct weekly training, impartation sessions throughout the year

     b. Develop a ‘core faith/ministry curriculum’ to use in training/impartation sessions

     c. Conduct a quarterly evangelism weekend concluding with a publicly advertised healing/evangelism service

     d. Focus the weekly sessions on preparing persons to take an active role in the evangelism/ healing weekend

     e. Assign a local coach to each participant

     f. Build evangelism outreach experiences into the everyday life of each participant

2. Prepare participants for a missions experience in a global setting (Regions Beyond)

     a. Encourage participants to pray and discern the global setting where God is calling them to serve

     b. Arrange for a coach from the global setting of calling to begin a relationship with the participant

     c. Begin to invest in the global setting through prayer and guided learning experiences from the global coach

     d. Raise finances for the eventual global missions experience

     e. Put aside a portion of the raised finances to give to the global mission

     f. Coordinate eventual global experience with others also called to the same global mission site

3. Carry out global mission assignment in partnership with the global partners and under their leadership

     a. Global partners plan to incorporate Mission Driven Life Teams (MDLT)  into existing programs in their own country

     b. MDLT participants submit themselves to the leadership of the global partner.

     c. Length of global assignment is determined by the mutual needs of the participant and the global partner

     d. Country of origin leaders and global partners maintain ongoing communication about the progress of the MDLT

     e. MDLT participant continues relationship with local and global coaches

     f. Focus of global missions experience is to equip and train the participant in becoming effective in missions in the global setting

4. Arrange for a local and global coach for each person to encourage, comfort and urge to live a mission-focused life worthy of God who calls us into his kingdom and glory

     a. Each setting chooses the coaches that will be involved with local as well as the global MDLT participants

     b. Coaches will be men and women who are full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom

     c. Coaches will be further trained in the mentoring/coaching process according to a curriculum developed by KLN

     d. Coaches will be accountable to the MDLT leadership for the progress of their coaching

     e. Coaches will communicate periodically with their counterpart in the global setting about the MDLT participants of mutual involvement

     f. Coaches will be prepared to maintain a relationship spanning a number of years with the participants

     g. Coaches will be gender specific, that is males with males and females with females.

5. Encourage, equip and support people in continuing their local and global missions focus throughout life regardless of educational and career choices

     a. Create a culture that views missions as a lifestyle and not simply a career choice.

     b. Create a culture that embraces missions for a lifetime and not just for a season of life. (There is no retirement option)

     c. Encourage each participant to seek the boldness to promote the gospel by word and deed in every setting, sacred or secular

     d. Prepare people to expect harassment, persecution, hardship and even death as they faithfully hold out the word of life

     e. Prepare people to expect and seek the Holy Spirit’s direction and empowerment for effective ministry in a given setting

     f. Expect settings and seasons to change but the mandate for missions to remain till the King returns at the end of the day

6. Encourage people to continue under local and global coaching  influence  throughout life

     a. Provide  frequent encouragement and support over time so that ‘no one misses the grace of God’ available for a given situation or season

     b. Encourage a lifetime ‘poverty of spirit’ that is always seeking to learn regardless of how effective one has been

     c. Encourage openness to local and global coaching in order to sustain commitment to the local and the global body of Christ

7. Prepare people to become lifetime coaches to local and to global persons

     a. Create a culture that honors those who are and have been fathers and mothers in the faith

     b. Emphasize that all are called to follow Jesus Christ and to nurture and encourage others in following Christ

     c. Continue periodic equipping, encouragement and counsel to the local and global coaches

     d. Clarify that the persons being coached may or may not change over time, but that passing on the faith is a lifestyle for a lifetime

Additional Thoughts

a. Inform and inspire young children to prepare to participate in the MDLT

b. Invite anyone from teens to 80s to participate in MDLT as a participant or as a coach

c. Participating in a global MDLT requires attention to the following:

          Demonstration of ministry/evangelism faithfulness in local setting

          Evidence of a godly character and Holy Spirit anointing

          ‘Scars’ from local ministry experiences

          Financial preparedness

          Recommendation of MDLT leaders and coaches

d. Format and content of training in evangelism/ministry will be determined by local leaders but may be informed by experiences and counsel of ministry partners in the  global setting.

e. Those planning core curriculum should consider the following

          theology

          ministry training/impartation

          character formation

          biblical relationship conflict resolution approaches

          local culture

f. Develop a prayer team to pray regularly for those embracing the  MDLT lifetime lifestyle