Aalia * spoke in a calm, confident voice, but her body language betrayed nervousness about our meeting. Her henna-tattooed hands clasped her Bible firmly as she shared her testimony of coming to Christ from a Muslim background.
She briefly mentioned sacrifice and persecution, then added in a nonchalant tone,“ I lead 26 churches.” When the translator repeated this in English, I interrupted.“ She has how many churches?” The translator asked her to repeat herself.
“ I currently have 26 churches,” Aalia reiterated,“ but I have already established leaders for the other churches we started, so I no longer lead those.”
“ So, you started more than 26 churches?” I asked.
“ Oh yes,” she replied.“ And many of the people I have discipled have started churches, too!”
Aalia was discipled within the churchplanting movement and equipped to share the Gospel, gather believers, and disciple them so they could replicate themselves in others. In this way, this stream of church plants has already seen 663 churches started. The day I interviewed Aalia was the same day we baptized 84 Muslim-background believers.
OMS has been engaged in disciplemaking and church-planting movements for many years. We believe that reaching the billions who do not yet know Christ requires a multiplication methodology that equips disciples to make disciples and plant churches. These churches must have a mission-driven vision to equip and release more disciplemakers and church planters.
It has been said that the greatest health marker of a church is not its seating capacity but its sending capacity. We encourage pastors and leaders to shift from growing church attendance to growing disciple-making capacity. This shifts the whole congregational culture from“ come join us” to“ we are coming to you.” A missional church will multiply disciples and new churches, moving ever outward toward the unfinished task.
OMS is committed to catalyzing, training, and resourcing Christward movements until every people group and place is saturated with the Gospel and has access to a local church. Churchplanting movements are fueled by multiplying disciples who are developed into leaders. Equipped leaders begin, grow, sustain, and replicate healthy congregations. OMS works around the world to provide discipleship training for new believers and robust formation in practical theology and church-planting skills. Leaders formed and equipped at every level propel movements of people toward Christ. The key to multiplication is encouraging and equipping lay people to multiply disciples and churches.
OMS cofounder Charles Cowman believed that the missionary’ s role was to train local leaders steeped in the Bible who could influence all classes of people in their local societies. He taught that these disciples would carry the movement forward. Multiplying disciples, churches, leaders, and missionaries in every part of the world is how God will fulfill his vision of people from every tribe, tongue, and nation gathered around the throne of King Jesus!
* Name changed for security.
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