Leading for Healthy Growth Cohort
Application Deadline: October 1, 2021
Overview
This three-year cohort within Fuller’s DMin program is designed for pastors leading existing churches and for planters starting new churches. It includes the essential ministry structures for leading a church toward healthy growth focusing on “the basics”: making disciples, loving God and loving others, mobilizing believers in their gifts, gathering in groups for worship, serving the community, and helping others grow as disciples.
The end goal of these practices is a healthy, growing ministry that impacts the community missionally as well as multiplies disciples, leaders, groups, and ministries. This cohort will guide students through the process of kickstarting disciple-making, developing leaders, and putting essential ministry systems in place to make this vision become a reality. Together, these components create a ministry flow that results in healthy ministry growth, flourishing churches, and communities reached with the gospel.
This course includes five intensive days together on-site each year, with 20 hours of online contact before and/or after the course to prepare for our time together and later debrief it. Much of that time will include online coaching in clusters. The cohort will culminate in walking students through their final ministry project: a three-to-five-year plan for the healthy growth of their church.
Cohort Overview
Year One
MISSIONAL DISCIPLESHIP (12 UNITS)
April 24-29, 2022
Year One focuses on the essential roots of discipleship. Growing the roots down deep this year will result in the growth and fruit of the subsequent years: discipleship is the root of all successful ministry. This first year will include both personal applications for the students as well as relevant applications to their ministry situation. Topics will include cultivating disciple-making and missional engagement, the evaluation of current group life and spiritual formation, and the basics of coaching and being coached for fruitful discipleship.
During this year we will also focus on the following six pastoral competencies:
- Personal spirituality
- Establishing personal credibility
- Unity of vision in marriage
- Reaching unchurched people
- Disciple-making
- Fostering spiritual transformation
Some of the resources that will be used include The Missional Journey and The Discipleship Difference.
Year Two
TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP (12 UNITS)
May 1-5, 2023
From the roots of discipleship flows the growth of new leaders. We will examine methods for identifying and developing new leaders, who are essential for the ongoing growth of healthy ministry. Year Two will focus both on helping students develop their own leadership capacity, as well as teaching them how to develop the leadership capacity of others. Each student will create a clear path to leadership development for their ministry. Topics covered will include gifts mobilization, effective ministry flow, accountable leadership, team building, staff reviews and supervision, training and management, and situational leadership. The goal is to embed the DNA of leadership development into the culture of the church.
During this year we will also focus on the following six pastoral competencies:
- Building body cohesiveness
- Creating Vision
- Facilitating healthy change
- Empowering
- Leading and managing
- Shepherding
Some of the resources that will be used include From Followers to Leaders and The Leadership Difference.
Year Three
FRUITFUL MINISTRY (12 UNITS)
April 29-May 3, 2024
Building on the roots of discipleship and the growth of leadership development, Year Three of the cohort brings us to a focus on the multiplication of fruitful ministry. Toward this end, we will do an assessment of the Body of Christ and its essential systems: how they are functioning, how they are interconnected, and how they are working together to accomplish their intended purpose. The awareness of what is working well and what is not working well is essential for determining where improvement and alignment are needed––the multiplication of ministry is dependent on the health of the body. After learning to assess, students will then learn to facilitate change effectively alongside others, leading to sustainable, continuous improvement and long-term growth. Essentially, they will learn to work on the ministry to make it effective, fruitful, and sustainable.
During this year we will also focus on the eight quality characteristics of healthy churches, based on the research by Natural Church Development:
- Empowering leadership
- Gift-based ministries
- Passionate spirituality
- Effective structures
- Inspiring worship service
- Holistic small groups
- Need-oriented evangelism
- Loving relationships
Some of the resources that will be used include Releasing Your Church’s Potential and The Church Planting Journey.
INSTRUCTOR
Bob Logan
Professor Bob Logan is an experienced church planter, pastor, coach, and ministry consultant. An internationally recognized authority in discipleship, leadership, healthy church growth, and church multiplication, Bob creates principle-based resources from the crucible of experience that can be contextualized for effective implementation. Bob and his wife, Janet, live in Pasadena and are actively engaged in hands-on ministry. Instead of continuing to do church as usual, Bob believes that our current challenges offer us a unique chance—a window of opportunity—to see the kingdom expanded in significant ways. Dissatisfaction with the status quo can be channeled into positive energy and change. Bob has a passion and calling to work with leaders who understand that we are on the verge of a seismic shift in the church today. This is a time for fresh thinking and decisive action.
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