Multiplication Pipeline

 

 

Multiplication Pipeline is a resource developed by the North American Mission Board, made available for free to churches. Multiplication Pipeline exists to train believers in leadership skills, including Why Every Member Should Serve, How to Read the Bible, Evangelism and Discipleship, Emotional and Spiritual Health, Leading Others in Service, Finding Ministry Opportunities, Community Engagement, Church Planting, and More.

 

There are three levels in the Multiplication Pipeline training. Each level has various competencies (or topics) participants will cover in the modules. Each module contains the goal, a memory verse, the assignments and more.

 

 

 

 

Level 1: Living on Mission

 

The competencies in Level 1 are designed to help participants to discover and begin developing disciples who are demonstrating a desire to grow and mature in Christ. They may also be displaying the potential to be a missional leader in your church, a church planting team member or a lead church planter.

 

 

This competency covers the foundational process for developing disciples who are intentionally growing and maturing in order to make a difference in fulfilling God’s mission.

 

Being Formed—What is the significance of being created in God’s image, and how does that impact the disciple’s role in fulfilling God’s mission? This module seeks to answer those questions in order to reinforce a disciple’s foundational identity.

 

Being Disciplined—How does practicing basic spiritual disciplines impact the process of spiritual transformation? Consistently engaging in these disciplines is the key to developing in Christ’s image.

 

Being Honest—What impact does active participation in authentic, biblical community through the local church have on the growth and development of a disciple? The spiritual transformation process is not a solo endeavor.

 

Being Balanced—Why does rest matter in the process of spiritual formation? Learning to practice this spiritual discipline can have a positive, long-term effect on a disciple’s growth and success.

 

This competency pertains to a disciple’s knowledge of and ability to utilize basic Bible interpretation principles and apply them to the overarching biblical narrative. This will aid in developing disciples who have a biblical, gospel-saturated worldview.

 

Gospel Fluency—Why is having a holistic understanding of the Bible’s main story significant? This module provides the disciple with an opportunity to develop an overarching framework of the narrative of Scripture, centered on Jesus.

 

Bible Reading and Interpretation—Should every disciple have an intentional plan to read the Bible and help teach others to do the same? This module seeks to help each participant develop the skills to accomplish both.

 

Kingdom View—What is the relationship between the Kingdom of God and the main story of the Bible? Why do good works and Good News both matter? What are the defining marks of the Kingdom of God and the domain of darkness? Wrestling with the answers to these questions will help a disciple develop a Kingdom perspective.

 

Communicating the Bible—How does someone find the key theological principle(s) in a Bible text and prepare to teach a passage of Scripture. This module is built to help a growing disciple begin to develop skills in interpreting Scripture and teach the Bible in a faithful way.

 

How does the combination of gifts, passions, and calling work together in the believer’s life to point each person in a God-shaped direction? As each follower of Jesus discovers what it means to rely upon God’s Spirit and serve the local church, each one should develop a growing sense of God’s design.

 

Discovering & Shaping Spiritual Gifts—What principles can help everyday believers discern their spiritual gifts? Every participant will be challenged to consider these principles, discern their gifts based on serving and bearing spiritual fruit, and seek affirmation from their spiritual leaders.

 

Discovering & Shaping Passions—What place do God-directed passions have in the life of the disciple? How can those passions be used to serve the local church? With coaching, every person on the pipeline journey will be challenged to discern their passions and discover how God desires to utilize them through the local church.

 

Discovering the Sent Life—What is God’s mission, and what does it mean to be an active part of fulfilling His mission? Each disciple will be invited to consider his/her role in being His witnesses, serving others in love, and experiencing His victory.

 

Discovering Calling—How is calling defined, and how does God call His people in different ways? What are some things God specifically calls Christians to be and do? This module will help each disciple begin developing a clear sense of God’s call based on his/her spiritual journey.

 

Who are we as disciples of Jesus Christ? One primary answer to that question is witnesses—those who verbally proclaim or announce the good news of who Jesus is and what He has done for everyone. This competency unpacks how disciples can build relationships with lost people and share the gospel.

 

Motivation for Evangelism—What is the connection between theology and evangelism? What fears and negative motivations hinder gospel proclamation? This module calls disciples to wrestle with their motivations and engage in witnessing to people God is placing in their lives.

 

Partners in Evangelism—What is the role of the Holy Spirit, prayer, and asking questions in the process of evangelism? Followers of Jesus are reminded how God is at work in each witnessing encounter and has provided resources for every encounter.

 

Presenting the Gospel—What are a couple of good tools that any disciple can use to engage others with the gospel? In this module, pipeline participants will be encouraged to learn and use a couple of accessible gospel presentation tools.

 

Communicating the Gospel—What is the connection between the gospel message and how a disciple interacts with others by his/her words and actions? Each disciple will be exhorted to consider how non-verbal skills and cues can also impact sharing the gospel.

 

Why are family, friends, and neighbors so vital to the life of every believer? Because effective ministry doesn’t just involve people; ministry is people. In this competency, each disciple will be challenged to consider the strategic nature and importance of different kinds of relationships.

 

Family & Friendships—Why are healthy family relationships and friendships vital for life and ministry to others? Every disciple will be directed to take a Relational Health Assessment and consider better rhythms for family relationships and friendships.

 

Church Relationships—What steps can the developing disciple and ministry leader take to enhance healthy relationships within his/her local church? Each pipeline participant will be challenged to take a fresh look at this and develop a new friendship.

 

Community Relationships—Why do relationships with neighbors and community leaders matter for everyday believers and churches who want to engage their community? Every disciple will interview a community leader and begin developing a simple, strategic plan for engaging community leaders for ongoing relationships and gospel engagement.

 

Managing Conflict—What are some solid, biblical principles for navigating conflict when it occurs in relationships? In this module, each pipeline participant will be challenged to learn how to be a peacemaker and pursue reconciliation with others.

 

What is the Church and, more specifically, the local church? Why does it exist? What is it designed to be and do? This competency unpacks the foundational aspects and nature of the local church so that every participant has a clear understanding of its importance.

 

What Is the Church?—What are some of the key biblical images that define the church, and how they are vital for putting the local church on display in the world? This module calls for each participant to contemplate the biblical nature and function of the local church and gain fresh perspective on what the local community thinks about the church.

 

Why Does the Church Exist in the World?—What is the relationship between the local church and the Missio Dei? What is the mission of the church? What does it mean for the church to be a “contrast community”? This module challenges the disciple to begin answering these questions and take practical steps toward a missionary posture.

 

The Values of Biblical Community—What is authentic, biblical community, and why is unity in that kind of community vital to the mission of the church? Every pipeline participant is summoned to value and protect that kind of authentic, biblical community.

 

The Mission of Biblical Community—How do we multiply authentic biblical community? This module explores some methods or reproducing biblical community. If building this kind of genuine community is right and good, then multiplying it is even better.

 

What makes a good leader? This competency unpacks key components of good leadership like being a servant, being a learner, practicing self-care, and maintaining a healthy, team perspective.

 

Abiding—What does it mean to abide in Christ, and what happens to those who don’t? What role does abiding in Christ play in sustaining the weight and responsibility of leadership in the home and in the church? This module unpacks the importance of self- leadership in this regard.

 

Self-Care—Why would anyone who is following Jesus need to worry about self-care? Isn’t He sufficient to meet our needs? Yes. At the same time, Jesus modeled this for His disciples. In this module, disciples will be directed to assess their relational, physical, mental, and spiritual health.

 

Leadership Disciplines—What are some of the key disciplines for being an effective, servant leader? This module will challenge each participant to assess things like time management, being a self-starter and self-discipline.

 

Servant Leadership—What evidence of humility do we see in the life of Jesus? What can we learn from the way He served? This module will challenge every disciple to create a plan to serve others and develop in regard to serving with pure motives.

 

Level 2: Disciple Making

 

The competencies in Level 2 have been designed to equip maturing disciples to develop the mindset and skills necessary to become more effective leaders in the church. Those placed in this level will be challenged to consider how God may be leading them to fulfill His purpose as a missional leader in the local church, as a church planting team member or as a lead church planter.

 

 

This competency covers one of the most important aspects of becoming an effective leader. Leading others well has a lot to do with learning to lead yourself. Moreover, leading yourself well begins with learning to rely upon God.

 

Self-Awareness—What are the patterns of behavior, both positive and negative, that define an aspiring leader? Every developing leader will be asked to create a Self- Awareness Profile and get feedback from two key people in order to sharpen that profile.

 

Setting Boundaries (Protecting Others from Me)—What are the “blind spots” in the maturing disciple’s life that may be negatively impacting others? In this module, potential leaders will be challenged to identify areas of weakness, reinforce spiritual disciplines to address that, and set better relational boundaries accordingly.

 

Setting Boundaries (Protecting Me from Others)—What is the difference between the fear of God and the fear of man? How does each shape sanctification and ministry effectiveness? Pipeline participants will be challenged to set healthier boundaries in order to overcome the fear of man and live more consistently according to the fear of God.

 

Discernment and Wisdom—What is the connection between wisdom and the fear of God? Then, what is the connection between wisdom and your relationship with others? Aspiring leaders will be asked to interview experienced leaders in order to glean key insights on wise leadership principles in order to apply them in life and ministry.

 

This competency addresses some of the soft skills (interpersonal communication, conflict management, and team building) that complement hard skills (like knowledge, mastery of a trade, or subject matter expertise) in organizational culture.

 

Verbal, Nonverbal and Written Communication—Why is effective verbal, nonverbal, and written communication critical for ministry leadership? Pipeline participants will be asked to evaluate their social media presence, interpersonal communication, and written communication in order to improve as a communicator.

 

Listening Skills—Listening is an incredibly valuable discipline. Aspiring leaders will develop this skill to become more effective leaders. One of the best ways to do that is to practice asking good questions when you interact with others.

 

Valuing Teamwork—Why did God design the church to function as a team? How does a plurality of leadership and teamwork serve to protect the church? Pipeline participants will be led to consider what can make teams effective as well as dysfunctional.

 

Building and Leading a Team—What are the characteristics of high-performance teams? What are some models for this in Scripture? After considering these questions, aspiring leaders will be challenged to build a ministry team for a specific purpose with input from their ministry leaders.

 

This competency explores the different skill sets that can be applied in order to exegete any context. Local churches, as well as church planters and their teams, are called to know and love the people in their context. This involves learning about the communities, neighborhoods, cities, and streets—the places and spaces.

 

Looking—What does it mean to exegete a culture? How can this process make a missional leader in the church more effective? This module will call the developing leader to engage in the process of understanding their context better.

 

Building—What are some keys to building relationships with non-Christians? What needs to change in order to have more meaningful relationships with non-believers? In this module, pipeline participants will be challenged to develop an actionable strategy for building trust-filled relationships with lost people.

 

Bridging—How can you find meaningful entry points into a culture for the sake of demonstrating and declaring the gospel? Aspiring leaders will be challenged to begin identifying different groups of people in their communities who are united to a leader, an idea, and one another and to engage those groups with the gospel message.

 

Contextualizing—How is your church seeking to contextualize the gospel message? What challenges and inroads does that present? On one hand, the gospel message never changes. On the other hand, all cultures are different, so the message must be communicated in a way that others understand.

 

This competency addresses the reality that spiritual vitality is a must for ministry preparation and ongoing effectiveness. Through repentance, the pursuit of holiness, the commitment to prayer, and a passion for reading God’s Word, the Holy Spirit will keep you spiritually prepared for the ministry ahead.

 

Walking in the Spirit—What role does ongoing spiritual formation play in protecting you and others from struggling in or leaving ministry leadership? Being filled with the Spirit, walking by the Spirit, and not quenching the Spirit involves a daily obedience to a passive command. How will the developing leader practice these disciplines moving forward?

 

Walking in Grace—What essential factors shape a developing leader’s growth in grace? Whle it always begins with God’s undeserved favor, He often uses suffering, failure, and ongoing sin battles as vehicles to mature His people.

 

Spiritual Warfare—How does spiritual warfare manifest itself in a fallen world? What steps should believers take to protect themselves and others from the reality of these attacks? Pipeline participants will be challenged to prepare themselves to fight the current and coming spiritual battles they will face.

 

Spiritual Resilience—Why is long-term faithfulness more important than a position or influence in the short-term? Be warned, leadership in the church will make you desire to give up at times.

 

Pipeline participants will be reminded that the most effective way to persevere during seasons of doubt, discouragement, or despair is to remember God’s promises.

 

This competency unpacks four key practices involved in making disciples that make disciples: Identify those around you in need of the gospel. Invest in the lives of those identified to share the gospel. Invite people into a relationship with Jesus and the church. Increase the scope of God’s Kingdom through meaningful multiplication.

 

Who?—How do followers of Jesus incorporate non-Christians and Christians into the disciple- making process? In this module, pipeline participants will be challenged to build more intentional disciple-making relationships with both groups of people.

 

What?—What are the critical factors that must be in play for healthy discipleship to occur? Aspiring leaders will be invited to draft a Philosophy of Making Disciples that considers these factors— relationship, Scripture, time, the Holy Spirit and ministry.

 

How?—How should maturing believers strategically and intentionally make disciples? Is it a one- size-fits-all approach? To answer these questions, pipeline participants will be challenged to consider the following elements of disciple-making: witnessing, circumstances, accountability, Scripture, and intentionality.

 

Why?—What is the ultimate outcome of fulfilling Jesus’ command to make disciples? To be involved in a process that leads to disciples who make disciples who make disciples and so on.

 

Why does leadership multiplication matter? Because it reflects the nature of the gospel and the nature of the biblical model that we have been given. In addition, it reflects healthy leadership and a healthy church. Moreover, it understands that leadership is limited and without it, gospel movement won’t happen.

 

Model—Why is modeling more effective than just communicating facts and expecting others to follow instructions? Effective leadership demonstrates skills and competencies to people being discipled in the context of ministry.

 

Assist—After developing an action plan to begin modeling the MAWL concepts with others, pipeline participants will be challenged to continue the process of developing others in a way that considers the importance of the head, the hands, and the heart.

 

Watch—Why and how is feedback important in the process of developing others? What can we learn from Jesus’ example? Developing leaders will be called to incorporate several factors into their feedback process.

 

Leave/Coach—What does it look like to develop an ongoing coaching relationship with those who have been discipled and developed? How is meaningful ministry passed off to future leaders without them feeling like they live in a shadow? Pipeline participants will be challenged to develop coaching questions that can make a difference in this arena.

 

What do you call someone who goes to another place and starts baptizing people, making disciples, and teaching them all of the commands of Jesus? A church planter! Why does that matter? In most evangelical churches, fulfilling the Great Commission is not considered an optional activity, yet church planting is. If the Great Commission is a call to start new churches, the implication for local churches is clear. Every church should participate.

 

Why?—What are some of the biblical and practical reasons for engaging in church planting? Pipeline participants will be asked to interview church planters and seek to discover the sense of calling and motivation that led them to start churches.

 

Who?—Ultimately, churches plant churches. In order to understand the process of planting and consider a potential call to plant or be a church planting team member, pipeline participants will be asked to work through developing a support network and to create a vision brief.

 

How?—Why must disciple-making be a priority over emphasizing church planting? Aspiring leaders will be challenged to consider a healthy thought process looks something like this: Personal Transformation→ Evangelism→ Discipleship→ Church Planting.

 

What’s My Role?—Every aspiring leader will be challenged to consider his/her role in church planting and what it would take to build an effective team. In addition, each person will be asked to assess their readiness to be involved in the work of planting.

 

How does the gospel change a community to progress from one marked by brokenness, sin, sorrow, and shame to one that exhibits beauty, joy, and flourishing? This competency calls aspiring leaders to proclaim the good news and demonstrate living out that good news in a way that transforms neighborhoods and communities.

 

The Good News—How does the gospel change things? What are some effective methods for reaching the city with the good news? Pipeline participants will be challenged to consider what their communities would like in five years if King Jesus gets His way.

 

Neighbors—What are the marks of good missionaries loving their neighbors? Aspiring leaders will be encouraged to begin the community transformation process by consistently looking for ways to serve their neighbors.

 

The City—What are the benefits of collaborating with like-minded Christ-followers in your city? How can the various domains in a city (such as business and the arts) become places for missional influence? Developing leaders will be invited to consider how to leverage relationships and domains in their context to further the gospel.

 

Going Global—Pipeline participants will be challenged to help mobilize the church in order to take the gospel to those who have yet to hear the good news of Jesus Christ, to all peoples, and to the ends of the earth.

 

Level 3: Church Planting

 

The competencies in Level 3 have been designed to prepare potential lead planters for the process of being fully assessed for church planting. Wives and others who are being considered as core church planting team members may be included as well.

 

 

Church planters and their wives will be challenged to grasp that emotional and spiritual health is a never-ending process that requires discipline.

 

Part 1 focuses on learning from the emotional health challenges of biblical leaders, developing skills to pay closer attention to emotional and spiritual health, and navigating emotional expectations with spouses.

 

Part 2 focuses on learning to develop ongoing habits of assessing emotional health in light of the gospel, addressing emotional challenges through confession and prayer, and navigating emotional expectations in parenting.

 

Church planters will be challenged to express a clearly defined and inspired call to church planting and understand how essential a shared sense of calling is to the church planter and his spouse.

 

“The Call to Ministry” workbook will be a key tool used to develop a clear, shared sense of calling. Potential planters and their spouses will identify and complete a Calling Statement, Calling Milestones, Calling Self-Assessment, and Calling Journey Visual.

 

Church planting impacts all aspects of marriage and family life.

 

Part 1 focuses on asking aspiring church planters and their spouses to research and reflect on biblical marriages and explore other key resources on the topic. Modules will explore balancing “I” and “we,” as well as building a fail-proof marriage.

 

In Part 2, the potential planter and his spouse will be challenged to cultivate healthy family dynamics, explore keys to healthy communication, and grasp what it means to practice forgiveness among other topics. In addition, the aspiring planter and spouse will be challenged to develop a Family Declaration Statement, as well as a Marriage & Family Fitness Plan.

 

Identifying the church planting model that best fits the planter’s capacity and context is a significant key to effectiveness in planting.

 

Contemporary church planting can involve many different approaches, such as attractional/launch, missional communities, campus/multi-site and replanting. Each approach has its advantages and disadvantages. Church planters will be challenged to consider, select, and implement a model that fits who he is and where he is planting, while being reminded that a model is just a tool not the ultimate target.

 

Developing the skill to craft and cast a clear and compelling vision is foundational to the process of church planting.

 

In Part 1 of this competency, potential planters will be invited to assess their vision casting competency and confidence, define vision from a biblical and practical viewpoint, and schedule a personal and a team vision retreat in order to seek God’s vision.

 

In Part 2, future planters will be prompted to learn from visual as well as written examples of vision casting, take a leadership tendency assessment, as well as practice and input feedback from their own vision casting presentations.

 

Developing a support network is a practical and fundamental aspect of church planting. As planters craft and cast a God-sized vision, they need to ensure that the budget matches the vision. That should also compel the planter (and team) to invite others to partner.

 

In Part 1, this competency will explore different funding strategies such as developing economic engines, bivocational/ covocational, raising a support network, and managing partners. Planters will be exhorted to move from willing to ask to ready to ask, prepare a realistic financial picture, develop a list of potential partners, as well as craft a funding plan and goals.

 

In Part 2, potential planters will be summoned to develop a biblical apologetic for support development, prepare relationally and spiritually, and practice their support presentation.

 

Nothing will fuel the church planting endeavor and multiplication like developing an effective culture and system for making disciples.

 

In Part 1, future planters will be directed to digest two key resources (Among Wolves and The Master Plan of Evangelism), craft a clear and compelling definition of disciple-making, list and evaluate platforms for disciple-making, as well as develop a Strategic Action Plan for making disciples.

 

In Part 2, multiplying leaders will be exhorted to flesh out their DNA, evaluate their aims and values, as well as start a disciple-making bible study.

 

After developing skills in vision casting, support development, and disciple-making, aspiring planters will be charged to enhance their preaching skills. As things get started in planting, proclaiming God’s Word effectively is a central task in relationship to gathering people.

 

In Part 1, future planters will clarify what expository preaching is, explore what Christ-centered preaching is, evaluate themselves in light of pastoral qualifications, complete an outline of Philippians, and interview two preachers.

 

In Part 2, potential planters will explore key principles of interpretation, diagram a passage of Scripture, and complete an exegetical/conceptual outline of that passage.

 

In Part 3, developing planters will evaluate a sermon and sermon illustrations, write their own homiletical outline, create two key sermon illustrations, and begin writing the body of their sermon manuscript.

 

In Part 4, potential planters will complete the body of their sermon manuscript, preach the body of their sermon and evaluate themselves, develop the introduction and conclusion to their sermon, video themselves preaching the completed sermon, and then evaluate the sermon with a pastor.

 

Learning to identify, develop a strategy for, and engage in meeting the needs of a city instead of just building a new church.

 

How can you lead your church to be a restorative influence by seeing and meeting real people with real needs in your community? In what ways can God use you and your church to build bridges of gospel influence to restore broken people and systems in your context?