Focus on Reproduction, Mentor's Guide, MG12

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F O C U S O N R E P R O D U C T I O N

10. A new church mentors new believers (Acts 9.26-28; 20.20; 20.31, 36; 20.34-36; 20.27). 11. A new church supports worldwide missionary activity (Acts 13.2-3; 16.9-10).

12. A new church starts other churches (Acts 13.2-3; 16.9-10).

In looking at this list, all of them assume leadership. The church that brings in the Kingdom of God possesses men and women who know God and love God, are surrendered to Christ and represent his kingdom interest with integrity. These leaders seek to enable the members of the fellowship to contribute to the fulfillment of the Great Commission in their neighborhood, and these leaders organize prayer and preach and teach the Word of God. Through follow-up and discipleship, they turn whatever place the church meets into a place of ministry and service, and equip lay leaders who can join them in crossing cultural barriers and mentoring new believers. They lead by example in their support of worldwide missionary activity, and lead the fellowship in reproducing itself. It is hardly possible to imagine one of these reasons being devoid from godly, servant leaders who selflessly serve the Church as under-shepherds of Christ, who purchased it with his own blood (Acts 20.28). Please note again the emphasis of these ideas in the objectives that are listed here. Seek to understand these concepts and truths as well as you can so you will be in a better position to emphasize them as you lead the discussions with the students. At the end of these questions is an excerpt from Ed Stetzer’s important recent work on church planting, Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age. After you have answered the questions to review the key concepts covered in the last segment, it would be good to look at his SHAPE acrostic for identifying potential church planters, and see how they relate to the notions of commission, character, competence, and community. This kind of cross-pollination of ideas is good, for it helps your students to see the kinds of criteria that many are accepting today as

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