Does your church have a leadership development programme? If so, are you really training leaders, or just more volunteers?

No one would deny that volunteers are essential but, in Mike Breen's words, "A volunteer is someone who executes someone else's vision. A leader is someone with a vision of their own."

Breen says that an even more worrying prospect than having a "genius with a thousand helpers" kind of church, is that leadership development programmes are not turning out leaders for the mission, but for church maintenance.

Again, no one would deny that church organisation needs to be kept running along smoothly, but what happened to the missio Dei?

"[W]e must learn again the art that Jesus mastered: the task of multiplying missional leaders and releasing them to the cracks and crevices of society where there is little-to-no Kingdom presence," says Breen.

Breen's new book Multiplying Missional Leaders is a practical and thoughtful guide to unleashing a missional movement of disciples.

The Baptist National Resource Centre has two copies of this book available for loan to Baptist leaders. To reserve a copy of the book email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  or phone 09 526 7955.

Multiplying Missional Leaders: From half-hearted volunteers to a mobilized Kingdom Force
by Mike Breen
© 2012 3DM