Baptist Mission Resource Center
Skycroft Conference Center
SEBTS DMin Program
Online Training
“Indigenous leadership – That’s the ticket!!” Ask any missionary and they will confirm that the leap from addition to multiplication is linked to emerging, local leadership. People who know the language, the culture, the nuances of life… they own the vision, live the mission, the values that others would be coming out of are the same values they are coming out of so the journey is familiar.
God is moving among His Church and He is calling men/women to serve His mission through their own local churches. The question is, “How do they best prepare to serve here – now?” In the past the standard answer to that question has been: quit your job, sell your house, move your family to a seminary in another part of the country, and take 2 or 3 years in a modern-monastic setting to get ready. Then, maybe, you’ll go back. And, for very many people that remains the preferred method of preparation.
However, for a growing part of the population, not “learning then doing;” but “learning while doing…” an immersion learning model, is a better way! For those folks, staying in their indigenous world – speaking the language, moving about within the culture, owning the vision, living the mission,… these are the best paths for their service, doing the most Kingdom good. Yet, they also need some form of filter to focus their learning… some sort of ministry preparation approach.
To that end, the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware offers a variety of learning modules — regional cohorts, ongoing seminars and workshops, and access to online seminaries.