BY DAVID DIXON, EPD DISTRICT TEAM
One of the most significant challenges of leadership is how to develop and send out new workers into the harvest.
As we consider what it will take to see increasing Gospel impact in our district, each church and region will have to work together to address this challenge.
The reality of the moment is that if we are going to see a disciple-making movement breakout in Eastern PA, it will be because leaders burdened with a passion for multiplication will be sent out across the state.
Yet the question remains: How will we prepare them to be sent out?
The Beauty of Disciple Making
The beauty of disciple making is that you do not need professional training, seminary, or just the right program to learn how to do it. One of the best ways that we can train people to make disciples that make disciples—that’s multiplication—is in the context of our own churches and communities through the rhythms of everyday life.
This is a bit of the heart behind our desire to see churches build residencies in Eastern PA. We want to see our churches become the incubators for the next wave of disciple-making leaders in the Alliance.
Whether preparing church planters, training college campus workers, equipping future international workers, or simply creating space for future lead pastors to mature, a residency is a great place for us to cultivate the hearts and practices of those we are sending out.
Multiplying Leaders
The district encourages each church that starts a residency to structure it around the goal of helping the resident become a multiplying leader. A residency can be anywhere between 18-30 months depending on the church, the developmental needs of the resident, and the desired outcomes for the residency.
In the last six months of our district, we have seen two new residencies get started, one at Common Places Church in Lockhaven and one at Daybreak Church in Mechanicsburg. These two are great examples of a church embracing a residency program using the same essential framework yet modifying it to fit their ministry contexts.
New Residency in Mechanicsburg
With a strong desire to reach the West Shore region with the Gospel, Daybreak has recognized their need to raise up new leaders. In an open letter to their congregation, the governing board of the church wrote, “Finding the right people to join our team as leaders has become increasingly difficult. We are hopeful that the residency program will be an incubator for future pastors and staff leaders here at Daybreak as well as in the region.”
To this end, they brought on Eric Jacobs as their first full-time resident in January 2023. In this residency, Eric has begun to realize the need for the Church to be present in the different neighborhoods and areas of the West Shore.
“Just a few weeks ago a man showed up to our church for the first time in 20 years,” Eric wrote. “He chose to attend our Daybreak campus because it was right around the corner from his neighborhood. Following the service, he admitted his need for healing and support and immediately got connected with one of our care ministries. A life was suddenly changed and ready for God’s work of healing simply because we were right down the street."
New Residency in Lockhaven
It's the same in Lockhaven but with a slightly different approach. Part of Common Places Church’s mission is that they “strive to launch new, nimble churches in common places.” For them, this looks like a team of mostly bi-vocational or co-vocational pastors who work together to reach the western portions of our Williamsport Region.
Because of their proximity to Lockhaven University and their current ministry on campus, this has led them to create two tracks in their residency, one for campus ministry and one for church planting. They see the two as working together.
That’s why they were excited to bring on Gerry Peña as a co-vocational resident in the Fall of last year. While Gerry is in the church planter residency, his training has seen him involved on campus as he learns what it means to make disciples among college-aged adults.
For him, the residency has been a space for him to grow and trust God. Earlier in his residency he wrote, “I have been learning a great deal about how to engage and inspire a congregation to be active in ministry, both in church and in their personal lives. I am excited to see how God will push me to use these new skills for His Kingdom.”
Ready For More
You can see just a bit in Eric’s and Gerry’s stories that these residencies are giving them the opportunities to put into practice what they are learning. Out of those opportunities, they are being developed not only with skills of disciple making but their hearts are being shaped to trust Jesus as they grow in leadership.
These are the kinds of stories that we want to hear told more and more in Eastern PA. We want to see workers developed and sent out into the harvest. For that, we will need workers and leaders, ready to make disciples that make disciples. Please consider how you and your region can be a part of forming new generations of leaders through a residency.
If you’d like to learn more about launching a residency at your church, please let our team know and we would be happy to interact with you more about what this could look like in your church or region.