Lessons from Paul Becker

February 2, 2005

Dear Friend,

As a church planter, the most important action you can take to build your new church is to pray everyday that God will build his church and show you how to join him in that work.

What is the second most important action you can take to build your new church?

      • Is it to organize the workers into teams?

      • Is it to raise money to strengthen the new churches financial base?

      • Is it to reach out into the community with culturally appropriate
outreach methods?

While all of these actions are crucial, there is an action you can take that is more important.  The second most important action you can take is to develop leaders for your new church.

You remember the great mission team of Barnabas and Paul.  The church of Jerusalem was afraid of Paul due to his prior persecution of Christians.  They didn’t believe Paul was a disciple.  Acts 9:27 “But Barnabas took him (Paul) and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul (Paul) on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.”  As a result, Paul had freedom in the church and preached boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Barnabas continued to develop the leader in Paul.  He traveled across the sea to recruit him for the church plant in Antioch.  He mentored him during their first missionary journey in which together, they planted six churches in one year.  He allowed Paul’s leadership to grow beyond his own so that this man would become the great Apostle Paul.  

What are some of the lessons that we can learn from Barnabas as he develops Paul’s leadership?  

       1. Believe in the leader you are developing, even when others don’t.
       2. Speak on behalf of your developing leader.  Affirm him in front of others.
       3. Help your developing leader to reach his potential, even when it is greater than yours.
Stop right now.  Ask God to help you make a list of potential leaders you can develop.  Write down their names.  How can you take action to develop these leaders?
       1. Meet with them regularly and teach them about leadership.  (At DCPI, from 9 to 10 on Monday mornings, at the beginning of our work week, I meet with our staff and share a leadership lesson from the Maxwell Leadership Bible.  Then, we praise God and pray for the needs of our mission.)
       2. Give your developing leader a challenging task to perform.
       3. Pray for your developing leaders every day.  

Ask God to help your developing leaders become who he has made them to be.

Until the whole world knows Him!

Paul Becker
President and Founder Dynamic Church Planting International
www.dcpi.org