Multiplying Leaders in Intercultural Contexts: Recognizing and Developing Grassroots Potential
Ebook
Develop Leaders in Culturally Relevant Ways
Often, church planters, disciplers, and pastors struggle to identify grassroots leaders and develop them in their context. As leaders who want to develop other leaders, our task is to come alongside these leaders and learn and grow together with them.
Multiplying Leaders in Intercultural Contexts focuses on how to develop grassroots Christian leaders across cultures. These often unrecognized leaders mostly lead small groups at the growing edges of the church. They are ordinary people who faithfully share Christ amid the demands of daily life. Another focus of the book is shaping the character of developers as they humbly walk beside leaders in the leaders’ community.
Using the four C’s of Christian leadership—Community, Character, Clarity, and Care—the authors weave together research, experience, and practical application to show how these characteristics are expressed across different cultures. The book then discusses five principles, illustrated in common settings, for an intentional process that develops leaders and their communities collectively. Take the next step now in developing yourself and others in the task of leading Jesus’s church wherever that might be.
Preface
Chapter 1: Grow the Edge of the Church
Focus on Groups
Reproduce Life
Find the Followers and the People Who Pass Things On
Develop People, Not Programs
Examine Ourselves
Book Outline
Chapter 2: Value Cultural Difference
Understand How Culture Affects Leadership
Adjust Our Approach according to Culture
Chapter 3: Investigate Leadership Dimensions of Culture
Gauge Power Distance
Research Paternalistic Expectations
Determine Tolerance for Uncertainty
Pay Attention to Context
Look at Groups
Explore Group Influence on Individuals
Learn with Humility
Chapter 4: Disciple Leaders Like All Other Disciples
Test Leaders First as Disciples
Identify Exemplary Disciples
Foster Continuing Growth
Remember That We Are Also Disciples
Chapter 5: Identify All the Leaders
Identify the Growing-Edge Leaders
Focus on the Majority
Chapter 6: Foster Biblical Leadership
Strengthen the 4 Cs—Community, Character, Clarity, Care
Apply Biblical Metaphors Carefully
Nurture Life in All Its Fullness
Promote One-Another Care
Cultivate Generosity
Chapter 7: Guard against Leaders’ Vulnerabilities
Research Vulnerabilities and Accountability
Model Self-Awareness
Chapter 8: Strengthen the Community (C1)
Keep Leaders in Their Communities
Look for Community Endorsement
Strengthen Community Decision-Making Processes
Include the Community in Leaders’ Development
Promote Community Values through Group-Based Learning
Chapter 9: Build Character (C2)
Strengthen Capacity for Pain-Bearing
Model Integrity and Transparency
Support God’s Forging of Christian Character
Be Examples
Chapter 10: Clarify the Community’s Purpose (C3)
Promote Clear Vision
Help Leaders Craft Collective Vision
Encourage Clear Communication
Encourage Vision Review
Chapter 11: Develop Care across the Community (C4)
Lift Up Carers
Nurture Healthy Relationships
Share Life Together
Coordinate Believers’ Gifts
Build the Local Community
Chapter 12: What Should We, as Developers, Do?
Build Relationships
Be Models
Research the Culture
Contextualize
Adjust Our Methods and Expectations
Mediate
Become Reflective Practitioners
Chapter 13: Leadership-Development Principles
1. Disciple Leaders Like All Other Disciples
2. Select Leaders Who Are Endorsed by Their Communities
3. Include the Community around the Leader and Strengthen It
4. Develop the 4 Cs
5. Connect Knowledge with Experience
Chapter 14: Putting Leadership-Development into Practice
Context 1—Pioneer Church Planting
Context 2—Movement of Multiplying Churches
Context 3—Churches in Contexts Where Pastors Are Expected to Attend Bible
Colleges
Do Life with Leaders
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Figures and Tables
Figure 1: A model for understanding culture (adapted from Hiebert, 2008, 32–33)
Figure 2: Variation between and within cultures in scheduling (Organized vs. Flexible)
Figure 3: Leadership types and estimated number of each type in a church movement of 10,000 people
Figure 4: The four critical characteristics of Christian leadership (4 Cs)
Figure 5: The 4 Cs of Christian leadership
Figure 6: Photos of shepherds in different parts of the world
Figure 7: Vision in linear time
Figure 8: Vision in cyclical time
Figure 9: Vision focused on the past
Figure 10: Making connections between life and theory
Visiting Lecturer, Sydney Missionary & Bible College and the Nazarene
Theological College in the UK, Author, Clues to Africa, Islam, and the Gospel
Perhaps the most difficult and most important step in cross-cultural church
planting is leadership development. I once heard a pastor from the Middle
East say to a group of missionaries, “We need missionaries who want to work
themselves out of a job ASAP! Let the nationals be the pastors.” Multiplying
Leaders in Intercultural Contexts provides church planters with a practical guide
for this important aspect of church planting. The emphases on the influence of
culture on leadership and developing leaders at all levels of ministry are important
contributions of Multiplying Leaders that are often overlooked in books on
leadership development. Evelyn and Richard write from years of experience in
cross-cultural ministry and have provided the missionary community a valuable
church-planting resource.
-Ed Grudier
Director of the Centre for Cross-Cultural Mission,
Sydney Missionary and Bible College
Evelyn and Richard Hibbert have provided practical insights into the journey
of leadership development in intercultural situations. This book is a guide to
intentional practices that recognise the diversity that is the body of Christ. It calls
all those involved in developing leaders to consider context, create space, learn to
listen, and continue their own discipleship journey as part of new communities of
Jesus followers. I found myself reflecting on many of my own experiences, engaging
the practical principles of this book that are set out so clearly. All those engaged in
intercultural contexts should add this book to their reading list as it calls us to live
the everyday faith journey in discipling, being discipled and growing community.
-Cathy Hine
Co-Founder and Coordinator, When Women Speak
Mentor, Angelina Noble Centre; Director, Interserve International
So much experience, thought, and Bible-tempered practical wisdom has been
poured into this book to make it a treasure chest of help for rookie (and veteran)
cross-cultural workers—especially church planters and disciplers hoping to
raise up a corps of leaders fit for the task of leading Jesus’s church wherever it
might be. The book has us wishing it had been written a lot earlier—like thirty
years ago! It cracks one’s mind out of inadvertent cultural routines. The strength
of the book—and its thesis—is that it insists that a leader is every bit a disciple
as the disciples he or she is to lead. This means training leaders in their natural
context; their community. So, the theory makes sense. But the beauty of the book
is that it makes practical sense of the theory all the way to the final chapters when
the practical becomes almost blow-by-blow. With so much to absorb I can see
the book becoming the Where There Is No Doctor for the cross-cultural leaderdeveloping
Christian worker.
-Ross and Lyndal Webb
Bible translators for over 30 years, Wycliffe Australia
There is no shortage of books on leadership these days, but there are not many
on the related intercultural issues, and those publications rarely achieve what this
book does. Evelyn and Richard start from an acknowledgement that leadership
is not something we export or install; leadership is part of human life and every
culture has forms and levels of leadership. This practical book explores how to
identify and develop leaders within their cultural context. Because we all have
our own cultural lenses, it is easy for foreign workers to look for what most aligns
with their own expectations when identifying leaders and to facilitate training
accordingly. This book is packed with real life examples and helps us to re-examine
our expectations and understanding of what leadership is, how we can best nurture
it, and, of course, how to best apply biblical principles.
Often when we hear the word “leadership,” our first thought is of senior
leaders, heads of substantial bodies and networks, etc., but leadership happens at
every level and developing leadership in appropriate ways from the lowest levels
up works for greater healthiness overall and this should not be neglected. This
book approaches the subject from a radically different angle than many others.
This is a great follow up to their book on intercultural disciple making and
integrating as it does awareness of cultural dynamics with the practicalities of
leadership development. I would hope that many working around the world will
patiently and repeatedly work through this material as they learn to serve fruitfully
in various contexts.
-Colin Bearup
The key to reaching the nations with the gospel is to see movements of reproducing
churches, and the key to healthy church planting movements is the development
of adequate numbers of leaders. Evelyn and Richard Hibbert’s latest book is
packed with academic reflections and practical insights based on their experience
of training leaders in the Millet revival in Bulgaria, and years of teaching students
in Australia. The book is written for cross-cultural “leadership developers,”
recognising that the missionary’s primary task is not to be the heroic, lone ranger
church planter, but to nurture and facilitate the development of national leaders.
Richard Hibbert passed away in November 2020, and this book is part
of his legacy, embodying his commitment to mission and leadership. I warmly
recommend this book to anyone who shares his concern to see godly leaders
equipped and able to shepherd growing churches among unreached peoples.
-Julyan Lidstone
Ambassador, Muslim Ministries of OM International
Evelyn and Richard call us to an incarnational style of leadership development
that goes beyond simple method. This book challenges cross-cultural workers
to understand leadership formation in the host culture and adapt training
appropriately. We especially liked the 4Cs (Community, Character, Clarity, Care)
and the four chapters where they were fleshed out. Multiplying Leaders is a must
read for any cross-cultural trainer who desires to equip local leadership. Don’t
formulate your strategic plan until you have read this book!
-Carolyn and Jerry Moyer
(Carolyn) Executive Director, World Team Australia
(Jerry) Director, World Team Europe
- Title: Multiplying Leaders in Intercultural Contexts: Recognizing and Developing Grassroots Potential
- Authors: Evelyn Hibbert, Richard Hibbert
- Publisher: William Carey Publishing
- Print Publication Date: 2023
- Logos Release Date: 2023
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781645084471, 1645084477
- Resource ID: LLS:9781645084471
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-06-11T00:51:57Z