Strategy
How does a movement of God gain momentum? God’s own breath gives life and energy to His church, and we believe that He has begun to move in a special way in Central and Eastern Europe. We know from the book of Acts that the church grows through faithful disciples, as those who have been reached go on to reach others.
In the Gospels, we see this process of disciple making modeled in the way Christ challenged his followers from their initial positions of unbelief to a point of spiritual maturity and fruitfulness. The disciple making process can be summed up in five basic challenges from the ministry of Christ. “Come and see” EXPOSE, “repent and believe” EVANGELIZE, “follow me” BUILD, “I will make you fishers of men” EQUIP, and “I am sending you” SEND.
Our goal in Josiah Venture is to walk young people through this process of disciple making, challenging them to take the next step in the journey from unbelief to spiritual maturity. Our strategy for training young leaders is based on the life and ministry of Jesus and His disciples.
Christ’s commitment to “become flesh and live among us” is a great inspiration to us. We believe that an incarnational ministry style with its emphasis on relationships and an understanding of the local setting is essential if ministry is to bear long-term fruit. In addition, we desire to be multiplicational, ultimately impacting entire nations for Christ.
Style of Ministry
Incarnational (John 1:14, I Thess. 2:8)
- We become students of local youth ministry before we teach it.
- We apply ourselves to mastering the language and culture.
- We identify with a local body of believers and work through the national church.
- We develop ministry models that maximize the local culture.
- We rely on the power of God in our lives and the channels of friendship.
Multiplicational (II Tim. 2:2)
- We strategize to affect an entire nation.
- We model in order to multiply.
- We codify key concepts to make them easily transferable.
- We commit to developing key leaders.
- We work to leave a self-directed and self-sustaining movement, a group of nationals who are multiplying a passion for Great Commission ministries within the local church.
