Reproducing Lay Leaders in the Local Church through Missional Mentoring

In many rural churches with 250 or fewer people in attendance each week, there is a need to properly train and prepare non-paid, volunteer laymen to serve in positions of leadership. Churches have been guilty of placing someone in an area of service with very little—or no—direction of what to do or how to properly lead. Without adequate training and leadership development, the spiritual growth of the ministry can be hindered as lay leaders are not equipped to effectively disciple those under their ministry. At Bible Baptist Church, the desire is to develop a missional mentoring ministry that will help reproduce leaders. Missional mentoring develops as experienced lay leaders partner with prospective leaders in a mentoring relationship to help them effectively serve the Lord. The mentoring relationship will take place through observation, hands-on ministry training, and ongoing involvement in the ministry. It is the goal of this project to research the importance of mentoring and how it can be organized and applied in the local church setting. As a result, the church can involve more laymen in ministry and help prepare the church for the future. The purpose for this DMin action research thesis is to study how consistent mentorship can increase leadership reproduction in the local church