| Missional Learning and Development | ||||||||||
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Our Ministry | |||||||||
:: Video of the MLD MinistryQuickTime VersionsClick Here to See Smaller Video (for slower internet connections) Click Here to See Larger Video (for faster internet connections) If you have trouble viewing either of these, you might try... :: Read About the MLD MinistryIn 2001 MTW Latin America created a new Missional Learning and Development team (MLD) tasked with promoting the effectiveness of church-planting teams. The MLD team seeks to support mission teams by helping them evaluate and develop the different aspects of their mission and how they all fit together. These might include philosophy of ministry, strategy, design and implementation of ministries, and team dynamics. The MLD team has been helping most of our church-planting teams through seminars and through an online resource center. It has assisted some teams in greater depth with such issues as increased effectiveness in training local pastors and church planters, how to plant churches without imposing one’s culture, and how to apply the gospel not only to individual lives but also to the ways ministries are designed and implemented. For example, the MLD team has helped teams understand how different personality types tend to interpret team documents differently. It has been helping a church-planting team think through the relationship between its missionaries and its local leaders. In other locations it is helping develop a more effective design for training pastors and church planters. With regard to training design, MTW’s International Director for Latin America Bill Yarbrough says, “One of the greatest needs throughout Latin America and the world is discipling in grace that is not just about head knowledge but about heart knowledge and life formation. The Missional Learning and Development team has been key in restoring an emphasis not only on the hearing of the Word but on the incarnation of the Word in life and ministry. That one ingredient is transformational.” The MLD team prefers to help by participating in the ministry of teams whenever possible—for days or weeks or possibly months at a time. For example, the MLD team has been doing an in depth onsite analysis of the ministry of an MTW church-planting team. This analysis has included both observation of the ministry, interviews, and participation in the ministry. At another location the MLD team is helping train people for ministry in order to provide a live model of a non-traditional training method. The goal of MLD’s participation with teams is not only to lend a helping hand, but also 1) to communicate through actions as well as words, and 2) to understand a team’s particular context, challenges, and the insights the Lord has been giving them. The MLD team seeks to be a learner of what is happening at our church planting sites. Instead of just handing out solutions, the MLD team seeks to develop a dialogue-in-ministry that brings together local knowledge and experience, the experience of missionaries in other places, insights from relevant books and articles, and their own expertise—all within a biblical and Christ-centered framework. In this way the MLD team promotes learning together about the mission to which the Lord has called each of our teams, our organization and the church. MTW missionary to Colombia Joe Harrell says, “The Missional Learning and Development team has helped us by making onsite visits to our work. It is so helpful to have someone with missions experience—someone who has a more objective perspective because he is not a part of the work here—come along side of us to give us valuable insights and help us evaluate our ministry.” |