Unpacking Origins

Last week, I was honored to attend a conference in LA with Nathan, Stephen, Parke, and Christina. The Origins Project was hosted by Mosaic LA. I must say that it was, at times, much like drinking from a fire hydrant! I am still processing the info, and will unpack some of that here as I flesh out how it fits my context.

One of the most striking things that I brought home is about systems. At one point, one of the speakers mentioned how most faith communities gather their leadership; hiring them away from other faith communities. Two things strike me as odd about this practice:
1) Most churches do not have a system in place to develop leadership from within. They hire it from without...
2) Most of the leaders who are hired from without will not develop a system to grow leadership from within.

With these two things in mind, it makes the current dichotomy between clergy and laity understandable. For the faith communities of the 21st century to make the shift to indigenous ministry among people groups, internal leadership development becomes an imperative. As I listened in LA, I found out that Mosaic LA only hires leaders from within. Most of their hired staff serves as volunteers first, and most of their leadership stays volunteer. One leader even turned down the opportunity to his ministry into his career, opting to stay involved in the public school system.

For The Journey, we must develop leaders from within, and this means developing character and discipling people. This idea of discipleship is what I will unpack in my next post.