A growing church requires growing leaders. Effective leadership development is an essential part of equipping every church to fulfill the Great Commission. Through Global LEAD, you can provide your churches with a model for leadership training that has proven effective in developing thousands of Christ-like leaders at a grassroots level.

Global LEAD calls clusters of churches to develop intentional, strategic plans to equip their own leaders and provides models of how this can be done in cost-effective, non-residential training programs focused on life transformation rather than simply on academic knowledge.

A core curriculum of 22 ready-to-use lessons is provided and it can be put to use by any cluster of churches applying for membership in the Global Disciples Alliance. Your local churches provide their own presenters and recruit the participants. The cost of the leadership training is minimal, and is normally covered by the participants themselves.

Global LEAD trains program directors selected by their cluster of churches. The initial 4½ day intensive training strengthens the leadership capacity of the directors. Each director develops a contextualized plan for their own program which typically meets one evening a week or one day a month for at least six months duration. By the end of the training, these directors are equipped to go back to their local churches where they can begin developing new leaders in three critical areas of leadership: character, knowledge and skills.

These leadership programs have been effective in transforming the character and attitude of thousands of leaders around the world. This not only multiplies Christ-like leaders, but the training programs themselves can quickly be multiplied into new areas where the Church is being established. This provides a solid foundation for continued growth and expansion of the Body of Christ into unreached areas

Multiplying Churches in Least-reached Areas

How do you start—or do more—to reach those who have yet to hear of Jesus Christ? What if your churches have a vision to reach a nearby people group but no way to send out and support your workers? Perhaps the young people in your churches are eager to share the Gospel but they lack training. Or your churches are growing rapidly—how will you develop the leaders you need? You seek to obey Christ’s command to go and make disciples, but your resources are limited. Does this sound familiar?

We can help! We are the Global Disciples Alliance and our mission is to assist churches and fellowships of believers to do their part in fulfilling the Great Commission of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19-20).

We can assist your cluster of churches to develop a model of training that is Christ-centered, discipleship-based, and mission-focused. It produces disciples who can make disciples, church planters who can support themselves and leaders who follow the example of Jesus Christ. Each training program is owned by your local fellowships and can be locally sustained and reproduced.

Global Disciples Alliance equips your churches for training in a three-part cycle: discipleship-mission, access or small business development, and leadership development.

• Discipleship-mission training focuses on helping believers become disciples of Jesus who disciple others with the goal to reach and plant churches among least-reached peoples.
• Access or small business training provides a disciple-maker with the tools to use small business for access to least-reached communities and for support while planting churches.
• Leadership training develops godly leaders who follow the model of Jesus and fulfill the need for leadership among newly-planted churches.

In each aspect of the training cycle, a disciple-maker, church planter and leader learns to train others in the same aspect. This produces more new disciples and churches, and extends the impact of training. We call this the Multiplying Churches Strategy.

Through it, the global Body of Christ multiplies, especially among those who have yet to hear and respond to the Good News of Jesus Christ. We believe that, by working together with a local body of believers like yours, this goal can be reached.

Take a closer look at the Global Disciples Alliance training cycle to discover how we can assist you to fulfill your mission as the Body of Christ.

Theme statement (lower edge of page): Vision to share Jesus with nearby peoples

The goal for a Global Disciple Training (GDT) program is to develop and send out disciple-makers and church planters who will take the Gospel to people in least-reached areas and multiply new fellowships of believers.

We focus on helping you develop a discipleship-mission training program which produces disciples able to make new disciples and plant churches. A GDT program trains participants to be Christ-like in their character and live as ambassadors of Jesus who make disciples and reach the world with the Gospel. They are prepared to understand and recognize

God’s purposes in the world and participate as co-laborers in the mission of Christ. Themes include nurturing godly relationships and developing a lifestyle of prayer, Bible study, witness, and service.

The GDT program model brings participants together for full-time training for a minimum 2 weeks and up to 4 months. This is followed by full-time outreach for at least 4 weeks and up to 11 months. At the end of the outreach experience, a time of 2 to 3 days to reflect or debrief is expected. A GDT program runs a maximum of one year in length.

Any discipleship-mission training program that wishes to be a part of the Global Disciples Alliance must be owned and operated by a minimum of three congregations. This cluster of churches selects a governing body which is responsible to make the program locally sustainable and reproducible. Some assistance in funding is available depending on what is supplied by the operating churches.

Talk to your Alliance facilitator for more details and request the GDT brochure. In Global Disciple Training, we enhance the overall effectiveness of your program by working, learning and praying together, and by sharing knowledge, insight and resources. We also link your new discipleship-mission program with existing GDT programs around the world to provide you with a network of support and encouragement.