I organized two church planter training events in Manila last month that were very exciting for me. Several years ago I attended a training event by Dynamic Church Planting International (DCPI, http://www.dcpi.org), and was quite impressed. I've had church planting training in Bible college and grad school, have attended several church planting seminars, have been mentored by seasoned church planters, and have helped plant 13 new churches myself in roles ranging from lackey to director--just so you know where I'm coming from when I say I was impressed by DCPI's approach. DCPI worked with me to launch their training in the Philippines, and Chris Centeio of DCPI came from California to take a part in things.
Edward Isidoro, President of the International Baptist College, offered to host the event. It was his request and his willingness to take care of the logistics of the event that spurred us to hold these training events at this particular time. Edward provided air-conditioned meeting rooms equipped with seating, a video projector, and snack tables, and made sure hot meals were ready for the participants each day. For my part, I consulted with Chris and Edward to set the schedule, published training materials, and publicized the event to other denominations.
The first event was to equip experienced church planters and leaders in a position to impact the planting of churches to teach church planting to others. As a DCPI-certified trainer, I assisted Chris in the teaching. During this four-day training, Chris and I also interviewed each participant individually to assess their desire and ability to teach church planting and influence others to plant churches. Most of those who attended were from churches of Christ or the International Baptist Missionary Fellowship; the church planting staff person at a large Manila megachurch also participated. Anyone seeking certification had to attend every training session, sit for an interview, and submit a detailed application; as it turned out, many of the attendees were unable to complete the entire process. In the end, seven experienced church planters were certified as trainers (picture); several more are "almost" ready for certification. I myself was certified by Chris Centeio on behalf of DCPI as a "master trainer," authorized to certify still more church planter trainers.
The next week we held a three-day event to teach church planting. During this event, Chris and I were joined by all the new trainers in teaching the material. Each participant was required to present to the group their vision for church planting, and share with us all some of their plan for making that vision reality. I believe one of the real strengths of DCPI's approach is their cultural adaptability. We taught biblical principles, phases, landmarks, and sample tasks, along with other material including landmines and family issues. But the participants themselves crystallized those principles into culturally specific applications. One man's plan centered on community basketball teams; another's targeted Filipinos working in call centers for multinational companies; yet another church planter--a Filipino who'd enjoyed affluence in the United States but felt God's call to return to the Philippines to plant churches--planned to start a rural church high in the mountains of northern Luzon, hours away from any city or road. This was the highlight for me--what a blessing, how inspiring to hear how God's Spirit was moving in the hearts of those people!
As the participants returned home to take their next steps in planting new churches, already further training events are being planned. We'll expand on the "Church Planting Essentials" taught last month with "Churches Planting Churches" (planting "daughter" churches) and "Becoming a Mentor" (interactive, comprehensive training designed to enable mentors to coach, shepherd and supervise church planters). We'll also continue to train more church planters to teach church planting.
After these two back-to-back training sessions, I was immediately faced with several days of special activities culminating with the graduation from high school of our daughter Callie. Carole and I are very proud of Callie and the challenges to which she's risen to finish high school well. Callie will be a student at Azusa Pacific University this fall. After commencement, our family had about a week to wrap things up in Manila, and last Sunday we returned to California for several weeks' time reporting to our church partners here.
We just don't have enough time to see all of you on a Sunday, but please contact us if you would like to see us this summer! Our calendar is filling up fast. We'd love to visit with as many of our ministry partners as possible--Sunday mornings, missions team meetings, home groups--whatever works best for you. Contact us via e-mail, or call us at (714) 782-4824 (a temporary cellphone number we'll use this summer).
Thanks for your prayers for our ministry in the Philippines. Please be praying for those who attended our training events in May--that God will bless their church planting efforts, and that church planters will be multiplied in the Philippines.
In Christ,
Chris McKinney
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