Growing Missional Leaders
BOOK REVIEW: GROWING MISSIONAL LEADERS
Imagine how fast God’s kingdom would grow if people in every church, regardless of denomination, determined to accomplish the Great Commission in their community in their lifetime. This is not a proposal to take away from missionary endeavors around the world but it is a plan to increase local missional ministry understanding that it is an investment into the overall missionary effort. In other words, by being missional locally churches will become more evangelistic and soon able to do more in missions further away. The purpose of Dr. Matthew Lee Smith’s book is to motivate leaders to do just that.
Dr. Smith and this author agree that Jesus “wanted fishers of men” and not “students in classrooms” (page 1, Introduction). This is indeed a troubling and certainly an unintended development in Christendom where more than half of Christians who attend worship and Bible study (students in classrooms) rarely actively do missional ministry outside the church. He reminds us that the ministry and leadership of Jesus involve washing the feet of our enemies, ministry partners, and others to whom we are witnessing (18). Doing something of need to serve others that shows genuine humility may win the opportunity to share the message of Christ. By serving in humbling ways we become like Christ and so opens the heart of those receiving ministry.
While Dr. Smith and I agree on all points of developing missional leaders and leading churches to be missional, I found one point intriguing that he made on page 43. There he made the point that Charles Adam separated disciple-making into two parts: evangelism and discipleship. While it is difficult to narrow this tragic event to one Christian leader or movement, it is certain that churches, Bible colleges, and seminaries continue to perpetuate this silo model of ministry and discipleship. Indeed, when some leaders suggest establishing discipleship as an ubiquitous and all encompassing ministry that includes both evangelism and teaching, some evangelism specialists raise concern. What Dr. Smith and others are trying to say is that if we will put proper effort into discipleship and hands on local missional ministry experience, it will ignite a fervor of evangelistic and missionary activity based on thousands of equipped disciple-making disciples. Compare these thoughts to the old adage…give a man a fish and he is fed for a day, but teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. Growing Missional Leaders seeks to not just making disciples but making disciple-making disciples which is the real intent of Jesus’ Great Commission.
I found Dr. Smith’s book an easy read and to be something that might motivate leaders to take a new look at this recent buzz word among Christian leaders—missional. It simply means that the church becomes actively involved in community mission projects thus making every Christian a missionary. Is that not what Christ has called us to become? One statement made in the book that I particularly likes is, “There is no success without a successor. In other words you succeed when you have trained your replacement.”(82) Not many Christians, elders, deacons, teachers, or for that matter pastors can claim success on those terms. We have much work to do and as one more book by a leader with a servant’s heart I highly recommend Growing Missional Leaders. Applying Dr. Smith’s principles will help church leaders cultivate a disciple making missional culture in the church so that disciples get out of the church to make more disciples.
About the Book
- Growing Missional Leaders is a practical, passionate, Biblical mentoring journey for individuals, small groups, leadership teams and congregations who desire to win their world for Christ.
- Readers will appreciate the enthusiastic and Spirit-filled hope God provides as Matthew:
- Tells stories – of lost opportunities and successes with friends – that give powerful, encouragement of personal and corporate outreach;
- Opens Bible passages – again and again – showing God’s heart is to bring his lost children home; and
- Provides stimulating discussion questions – at the end of each chapter –providing the stepping stones to launching fresh ministry into your community.
- Believers hungering to reach their world for Christ will be energized by this passionate call to fulfill Christ’s Gospel and the invigorating manner in which their thought processes will be stretched to God-sized proportions.
- Growing Missional Leaders presents twenty-four Biblical strategies to invigorate and facilitate Christianity’s marching orders – the Great Commission – in your community.
- Each chapter is short, yet packed with the real-life issues of creating a missional heart in the leader.
- Designed for personal growth, small groups and leadership development , Growing Missional Leaders focuses the read on key internal areas such as …
- Returning our focus on the Great Commission
- Trusting our God for the impossible by looking beyond our limits and dreaming big dreams
- Dealing with internal issues such as humility and forgiveness
- Providing a model for missional ministry and turning our gaze outward toward those in need of Christ
- Asking hard questions such as, “How do we build a missional church?” and “What does missional success look like?”
- Outlining key leadership issues including how missional leaders work, lead, think, pray and build ministry
- Dealing with missional priorities and how they relate to faith, results, prominence and attitudes
About the Author
- Matthew Smith has been pastor of multi-ethnic and multi-generational churches in urban, suburban and rural communities from Miami to Los Angeles.
- As a pastor, university professor, leadership consultant and author, I have been dedicated for over three decades to proclaiming the gospel and Encouraging Achievement in Godly Leaders by Emphasizing Servanthood (EAGLES).
- As founder and executive director of Eagles In Leadership, I have taught leaders and followers of Christ across North America and Israel, as well as touching lives around the globe through blogs, interviews and the Transformed! podcast, hosted by Farpoint Media.
- He loves good books, Starbucks coffee, cooking, and walking through live with ‘the joy of my eyes,’ Melodee Joy, his wife.
WHERE TO PURCHASE GROWING MISSIONAL LEADERS
- For more information, contact Eagles In Leadership at admin@eaglesinleadership.org.
- Growing Missional Leaders is available on Amazon.com and on our website EaglesInLeadership.org.
Make disciples!
Dr. Tom Cocklereece, The Disciplist
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Simple Discipleship: How to Make Disciples in the 21st Century was published by Church Smart Resources. To learn more about Simple Discipleship and to order the book, follow the link below:
http://www.simplediscipleship.com
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Dr. Tom Cocklereece is Author of “Simple Discipleship,” and a contributing writer forwww.Linked2Leadership.com Blogazine. He is a pastor, leadership coach, and ministry development specialist.
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