Crossroads Church Planting Training 2023

Crossroads Church Planting Training 2023

Two Crossroads Church Planting Training Workshops were conducted in November, further expanding the number of potential church planters operating in SA Asia within the Crossroads Church Planters Network.

The first Workshop, conducted on the 15th of Nov. 2023, took place in the Dubagaon Village of Dimapur. Here, Crossroads conducted a two-day Church Planters Workshop for 22 indigenous Naga Church Planters. These new Church Planters are focused on expanding the gospel throughout the greater region of Dimapur, Nagaland, India. Participants in the Training are seen below.

Our second Workshop took place on the 18th of Nov 2023. Crossroads was invited to present a Church Planters Workshop for the ministerial students of the Doulos College. Thirty-five future missionaries, church planters, and pastors attended this two-day Workshop.

The goal of this Training was to better prepare indigenous missionaries for effective Church Planting in a diverse region with many sub-cultures throughout SA Asia. Again, the participants are seen below.

Our final CCP Training Workshop for 2023 is scheduled for the 27th of Nov in Assam. More about that later.

Thanks again for joining us in advancing the gospel throughout SA Asia.

All the best,
Kent

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South Africa’s Mission

Crossroads International is spearheading several groundbreaking initiatives in South Africa to advance the gospel and establish the Church of Christ in three key areas of development. These areas include Church Curriculum Development for Youth and Early Childhood, establishing the Issachar Initiative (a discipleship program), and mobilizing the African church for global missions’ engagement (Reimagine Missions and Africa’s Role in Missions).

Significant progress was made in all three initiatives last month. See below for a progress report on each.

Church Curriculum Development for Youth & Early Childhood: A significant meeting was held by Crossroads International, bringing together 22 prominent South Africans on the weekend of August 25 to 27. The main objective of the gathering was to initiate the groundwork for creating a Sunday School curriculum that would be focused on Early Childhood and Youth from an African perspective. It would be written by Africans for Africans, with a biblical perspective on life issues and cultural challenges faced by Africans. The group was a diverse mix of individuals, including a university professor, a graduate student pursuing a Master’s degree in Psychology, a government employee who works with displaced children and impoverished households, several experienced school teachers, and a few pastors.

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During the weekend, Brandon Snavely presented a revolutionary framework for developing a Sunday School curriculum that would cater to the needs of children and youth in South Africa. Following this, several smaller groups were formed to address the challenges faced by this demographic more effectively. These groups got to work by creating preliminary lesson plans, which will undergo extensive refinement over the next few months.

The goal is to implement this curriculum in local African churches to provide unparalleled discipleship and biblical guidance to the next generation of South African children and youth.

The Issachar Initiative: Crossroads has launched a new discipleship initiative within South Africa called The Issachar Initiative. The name is taken from 1 Chronicles 12:32—”the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do”. This conveys the scope of what Crossroads seeks to accomplish through this new discipleship initiative—raising up a generation of young adults grounded in a biblical worldview who become “agents of change” in their communities, passionately working to advance God’s kingdom with unwavering enthusiasm and conviction.

Meetings were held with Crossroads leadership and key stakeholders throughout South Africa. Organizational policies and structures were finalized, registration as a non-profit Christian organization is now underway, the discipleship curriculum is being designed and written, and all additional structures and players are being put into place. Our hope is to launch The Issachar Initiative’s first three-phase school of discipleship late in 2024 or early 2025. Recruiting, Financing, and Promoting The Issachar Initiative will begin early in 2024.

Reimaging Missions and Africa’s Role in Missions: We conducted two round table meetings with South African pastors around the topic of Reimaging Missions and Africa’s Role in Missions. Forty- seven pastors of diverse races, ages, and backgrounds gathered to begin reframing Missions and their role as South African pastors in accomplishing the Great Commission. The meetings were a tremendous success. The feedback our national partners in Durban, South Africa, and Pretoria, South Africa, have received from pastors attending is as encouraging as it is revealing.

The crucial importance of meetings with these pastors on Reimagining Missions is underscored by research that by 2050, there will be 2.6 billion Christians in the world, with 77% of them living in the southern

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hemisphere. Africa makes up more than 50% of that 2.6 billion total. Further, it is predicted that one out of every four evangelical Christians in the world will be of African descent by 2050. Also, if current missional trends continue, one out of every four active missionaries working globally will be out of the African church.

What this means is that not only has there been a seismic shift of Christianity from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere, but Africa is becoming the epicenter of Christianity and, therefore, missionary sending activity after 2050. If these mission trends hold true and the shift happens, it’s not hard to understand why today, a conversation about Reimagining Missions and Africa’s Role in Missions is not only crucial but pivotal for the completion of the Great Commission. Crossroads is positioning itself to be at the forefront of forging a new understanding of Missions— how it is done and by whom it is done.

Your continuing prayers for these three missional initiatives are crucial for the future unfolding of God’s eternal plans and finishing the Great Commission. Again, here we are, seeking God’s favor, wisdom, opportunities, and the emergence of new leaders within South Africa who think “outside of the box” to forge a new reality for the kingdom of God.

  • For open hearts and minds of the Persian people to the gospel – Afghanistan, Tajikistan, & Iran.
  • That Crossroads can develop highly efficient digital platforms and methods for making disciples in a growingly complex world, especially in places where the gospel is outlawed and persecution is common.
  • That Crossroads will effectively prepare and train the next generation of house church leaders capable of taking the gospel into all the world.
  • For the funding required to produce our next-generation digital online platform – $16,000 needed to build the platform with all its capacities (a one-time expense) plus $6,000 for a year of Google ads targeting “seekers” who are online looking for answers to life’s 13 most pressing questions. A total of $22,000.
  • For Ramazan and his family:
    • Open doors for Ramazan to raise his missionary support – he now must raise support, something he has never done before.
    • Adjustments to living in the USA – dealing with the cultural realities and struggles living in a strange new country.

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Project Beautification Report

Six months ago, seven young Pakistani women were enrolled in the Crossroads Women’s Empowerment Program called the Beautification Project.

The Beautification Project, in partnership with a professional Cosmetology Institute, sponsored young women caught in the grip of generational poverty with six months of professional Cosmetology training. For many young Christian Pakistani women, Crossroads Women’s Empowerment Projects—like this Beautification Project—are the difference between abject poverty and making a living helping to provide for their families.

On September 30, 2023, each of these young women successfully graduated and received their Professional Certification as Cosmetologists and Stylists.

What this means in real-life terms is that seven women previously destitute and without hope of upliftment financially now have a real possibility of raising themselves and their families from the dungeons of generational poverty. The granting of a professional certification in Cosmetology not only opens the door to economic prosperity, puts food on their tables, but also makes possible the education of their children. Your gift has irrevocably produced a lasting change in the lives of seven marginalized and forgotten individuals.

An integral part of all Crossroads Women’s Empowerment Programming is an intentional discipleship aspect woven into its daily programming. Working with the President of the Cosmetology Institute, our Crossroads, Pakistan staff members carried out daily bible studies between and after training classes. Whereas the Cosmetology Institute prepared these young women for a career as Stylists and Cosmetologists, the discipleship training they received prepares each graduate with the skills, confidence, and knowledge to become genuine Christ-centered disciple-makers.

Emerging from this Empowerment Program has been the emboldened sharing of the faith with each participant’s Muslim and Hindu friends and neighbors—risky business in a country where Muslims have a “license to kill” non-Muslims, especially anyone trying to convert Muslims to another faith. A few of these women have also started small seeker-sensitive bible studies in their homes for Muslims and Hindus curious to know more about Jesus.

Looking toward the future, each of these graduating women has indicated a deep desire to be instrumental in planting churches, using their trade as Cosmetologists to open gospel conversations about Jesus Christ. Using their profession and client base to open doors for spiritual conversations, these women are truly serving as indigenous missionaries in a spiritually dark place. Collectively, these once-impoverished individuals have set a target of planting 20 to 30 house churches over the next number of years, potentially resulting in 140 to 210 new house. churches (working under the guidance and auspices of Crossroads, Pakistan).

To facilitate the economic upliftment of these women and their extended families, to break the cycle of generational poverty, and to facilitate the church-planting aspirations of these women, Crossroads is asking you to prayerfully consider making a one-time “designated” gift to be used for the establishment of start-up Entrepreneurial Business Micro-loans. These micro-loans will be used to finance the opening of small salon businesses that seek to advance the gospel, plant churches (house churches), and lift fellow believers out of the drudges of poverty. Micro-loans have previously been used very successfully by Crossroads in Pakistan to address poverty among believers.

Finally, we would ask for your continuing prayers for these women— praying for unique open doors to employment or the resources for business start-ups to open their own salons; praying for divine appointments to share the gospel courageously with individuals and clients whom they service and amongst their neighbors.

Thank you again for playing a key role in this Project. Seven lives have been irrevocably changed because of your gift and generosity.

To Him be honor and glory,

Kent Kelley
Executive Director of Global Strategies
Crossroads International
www.crossroadsinternational.org
417.234.5495

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