BILD’s stewardship in equipping top church leaders and church network leaders globally continues to bear fruit in the multiplication of grassroots church leaders who are being developed in their local churches to lead and/or plant churches.
During a 10-day online workshop in July, top leaders from each civilization led workshops with over 1,200 church leaders from eight major countries participating. India alone had five specific language cohorts with nearly 750 participants.
Leaders were encouraged to register leaders under their training as an opportunity for them to make progress in the various pathways that focused on the first four books of The First Principles Series and Church Multiplication Movements encyclical that includes The Churches of the First Century; Kerygmatic Communities: Evangelism and the Early Churches; and The Gathering. Many of the leaders were continuing or finishing work they had already begun in pursuit of a ministry degree. This was also an opportunity for many grassroots leaders to participate in an event that illustrates the larger global church network, similar to when BILD hosts the Global Summit each year in Ames.
Michael Vos explained that part of a leader’s role and their job as a leader of leaders was to help others understand that Christ’s plan is bigger than their local network, bigger than a single church, and bigger than them individually. “We are building God’s kingdom. Collectively, all of us together make up a global movement,” Michael said.
During the workshops, a teaching time led by leaders in their local languages was followed by discussion around biblical ideas that led to a deeper understanding of the patterns of Christ and His apostles and the early church. There was time for them to work on their projects, upload them to the BILD Cloud, and get them assessed so they could immediately see the progress they had made.
On the last day of the workshops, many leaders gathered together online to share what impacted them most. Timothy Kaygude, a leader from India who also led one of the workshops, said leading helped him articulate what he had already learned from the encyclicals and First Principles Series. He also gained more clarity on many biblical concepts during the discussion time as he heard different viewpoints from leaders outside his own network that broadened his own perspective.
Knowing and understanding biblical concepts was also something he said was beneficial to leaders within his network, from second-level to grassroots leaders. As they went through the resources and participated in the discussion, they were able to see where the ideas were rooted in Scripture. Having a deeper understanding of the biblical framework for establishing churches would make it easier for these leaders to implement changes within their local contexts, he said.
The multi-level training of leaders during the working workshops is part of a larger strategy that top leaders are implementing from ministry plans they have developed with ongoing coaching from BILD team members. As top leaders have been equipped, they can train all levels of leadership, down to the individuals in their network churches, to understand how to study and apply the scriptures so the gospel and the teachings can be deeply rooted and lived out.
At this time, more working workshops are scheduled for November 4-12, 2025.