Convergence Columbus: Part 3 Send or Be Sent
MOBILIZING A MISSIONARY MOVEMENT
We are a discipling and coaching center developing missionaries who happen to do new church startups. It’s through a thorough discipleship of key leaders that we find our way into the lives and hearts of people across this great city, each leader equipped to lead a startup of their own in one of the strategic villages of Central Ohio. They are missionaries who make disciples with the fruit of new churches as a result.
During their training they focus on the people of a community and start putting together a team of missionaries. Then they disciple their team just like we are discipling them.
It’s a powerful thought of multiplication author Mike Breen (in Building a Discipling Culture) refers to as The 8-6-4 Principle: you disciple 8 leaders, who are sent out to disciple 6 new leaders, who are sent out to disciple 4 other leaders. The multiplication effect is exponential. It’s disciples making disciples who make disciples.
These are teams of people committed to a missionary approach in life and ministry, including new church startups. Their motto is simple and direct, “Send or be Sent.”
We are talking about people who make sacrifices to move into an area to learn the local language, customs, and culture of a village. As the team extends the reach of God’s kingdom they search for “people of peace,” individuals who show interest in them and the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.
This is what we do. We disciple people to live out the mission Jesus gave us in Matthew 28 and coach them through the discovery of what the Holy Spirit is calling them to do. How? Here’s our process for accomplishing the huge task of starting 27 new churches across Central Ohio. Borrowing from the Apostle Paul we work to …
- recruit missionary church planters
- train/equip them for a missional approach
- deploy/send them to the various areas marked on the map
- serve as a resource as we regularly review the development of new churches
Converge Group Discipling and Coaching Center is focused at training and coaching people as we mobilize a missionary movement.
Columbus Regional Map of Colleges and Universities
One thing that makes Columbus the perfect place to set up Converge Group Discipling and Coaching Center is that it’s truly a college town. With its 54 places of higher education scattered across the region it is the perfect place to mobilize men and women to be part of a missionary movement reaching the people in Ohio’s U-Districts.
Take a moment to see just how unique this area is in providing opportunity for our missionary church planters to experience this life and culture as we apprentice them to serve in similar environments across Ohio.
We hope this series of articles has helped you understand a little better what we have been doing the last several years as we have worked on influencing the influencers of the University District Village.
Consider This
There are two important things we hope you will prayerfully consider:
- Interested in being a Missionary Church Planter? - We would enjoy the opportunity to chat with you about it. Contact us and let us know if you would like to do something in Columbus or possibly another area.
- How about being a Sustaining Support Team Member of the Bennetts? - Every vocational missionary needs funding to keep moving forward. Go to giving.ag.org and make a Faith Promise today. Questions? Contact us.
We are excited about what’s coming as we continue to place our hands on the fly wheel, getting it to spin faster and faster as momentum builds and the Gospel is shared.
Thanks so much for your prayers and support!