Reaching the Unengaged: The Leader on the Bridge

In order to reach many, invest in a few.

How does a half dozen people reach 5000 unengaged Christian leaders in Africa?

It’s simple, really, though certainly not simplistic. It is actually not too unlike the way our Lord Jesus did with The Twelve. In order to engage the masses of Christian leaders who need the tools to grow as Christ-centered leaders in their churches and communities we invest in the one we call “The Leader on the Bridge.” By investing in this leader on the bridge, we mentor him or her as he takes the material across the “bridge” of language, culture, and geography to transfer these principles to those truly at the grassroots level. Each bridge leader is different in terms of culture, language, personality, and gender. He or she is also different in terms of background, area of ministry, and theological leanings – just as God created us uniquely to be. However, the common threads among these leaders on the bridge include the following:

The Leader on the Bridge

is a follower of Jesus Christ
may be a man or a woman, but he or she is already a leader of influence in their church or community.
has a network of other leaders who look to him or her for guidance
may or may not be formally educated
may or may not speak English (usually he or she doesn’t)
speaks the local language (and possibly the trade language and most likely several other languages as well)
may or may not be able to read (but, regardless of literacy level he still prefers storycentric methods of communication)
is available and teachable
has a name and a family and a story
has a burning desire to see the church grow, and knows that in order for the church to grow in healthy ways then good Christ-centered leaders need to be given the tools that will help them lead
this leader on the bridge is the bridge between FTL and the unengaged grassroots leader that needs this material the most.

For by developing this man or woman “on the bridge”, we are developing many more like them.

Here are some of the faces of these leaders on the bridge

For security’s sake we do not give names publicly. But perhaps when you pray you will remember their faces. This is the future of leadership in Africa.