The
Ministry-
Ministry Model
Key Question: To whom do we
minister? What is offered? How is ministry effectiveness assessed?
What is the scope of ministry?
The Rapier’s model for ministry has
remained focused since 1981 on providing leadership development to
national, local church leaders.
·To Whom We Minister:
National, local church leaders.
Our passion is to see the body of Christ succeed. We are not just
evangelists or teachers; although we have done and will continue to do
that. Our primary focus is the national, local church leader.
Scriptural basis: Matthew 28:18-20 “Make Disciples”
·
What We Offer:
Leadership development.
It is through the local church leaders that the church of Christ is
growing. The greatest thing we can provide to these church leaders,
therefore, is leadership development.
Scriptural basis: Romans 12:8 “Lead diligently”
·
How We Assess Effectiveness:
Church leaders demonstrating leadership and local churches multiplying.
Ministry success is measured over time and in the words of local church
leaders. Pastor Vincent Nyati states,
"Whether you (Bill) live in the US or South Africa makes little
difference. I know you are committed to me and my family and I can pick
up the phone and call you and you call me like you did when you lived
here. Our relationship allows us to be able to continue working and
growing together as I build the Powerhouse Church with God's help.
Bless You!"
Pastor Phillip Mogwera states, "Ebenezer Bible Church misses you, as do
I, but I know you are with me by the number of calls and by the plans we
have for the future. Not only are we traveling together when you come
back to South Africa, but we will minister together in daughter churches
in Zimbabwe and South Africa. You are a phone call away. Bless you
Brother!"
Scriptural basis: Acts 13:1,2 “Set apart”
Scope of Ministry:
Mentoring, empowering and networking.
Mentoring: Providing tools, conducting seminars and
providing one-on-one mentoring to church leaders.
Empowering: Providing enabling resources to strategic
local ministry opportunities without creating a sustained church /
ministry dependency.
Networking: Connecting churches with other churches to
motivate input, sharing and feeding among churches.
Scriptural basis: Acts 9:27 “Barnabas brought him (Saul) to the
apostles”
Ministry Innovation:
Key Question: How has innovation
played a role in this ministry?
No ministry can achieve its basic
intent or sustain its effectiveness without an active system of
exploration and experimentation that keeps pace with the world, society
and the needs of people and of the local church. The foundational
elements of the Rapier’s ministry mission were field tested in Germany
from 1981 to 1989. Bill provided mentoring and evangelistic Church
Growth training to German pastors and church leaders. Working with well
educated local pastors in this economically developed country of rich
Christian heritage grounded his beliefs in the importance of leadership
development and allowed him to sharpen his skills, approach and
techniques.
An innovation in their ministry
occurred during 1989 to 1991 when they were called to
 Swaziland, an
undeveloped country with much less Christian heritage and church leaders
with deep passion but much less education. Here Bill was forced to
adapt his skills, approaches and techniques to be relevant to the needs
of a local church in a much different environment.
The next innovation in their ministry
occurred when they served in the United States from 1991 to 1996. Bill
recruited new missionaries for Overseas Crusades including twelve who
went to serve in the Southern African region. Here Bill was forced to
consider how he could multiply his ministry through other missionaries
who he could in turn teach to mentor, empower and network.
Then, another innovation occurred
when they returned to Southern Africa to live in South Africa from 1996
to 2004. They found ourselves working with several of the missionaries
Bill had recruited while in the U.S. Bill expanded the breadth of his
leadership development reach. This included building networking
relationships between pastors and churches he worked with in Germany and
the churches and church leaders he knew in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
They are now riding the crest of yet
another wave of innovation. They have relocated back to the U.S. and
they see this next innovation to be the building of substantial
partnerships between church leaders and churches in the United States
and Germany and church leaders and churches in Southern Africa.
Ministry Execution:
Key Question: What will ministry
execution focus on?
Execution of this current phase of
the Rapier’s ministry will focus on aligning key organizational elements
to ensure effective ministry.
· People and Skills:
Providing leadership development to national, local church leaders will
remain a focus of ministry. This is accomplished through the following:
- Continued
personal contact (e.g., conference calls and three to four annual trips
to Southern Africa). (Mentoring)
- Develop
key resources in the area of leadership development for the pastors to
be able to implement personally and in their churches. (Mentoring)
· Critical Tasks and
Processes: Several critical tasks will be important contributors to
ministry success.
- Develop
church-to-church partnership programs between churches in the United
States and Germany and churches in Southern Africa. (Networking)
- Identify
and develop new and additional methods to provide resources to churches
in Southern Africa. (Empowering)
- Develop
individual-to-individual partnership programs by which lay people can
directly participate in field ministry with local churches in Southern
Africa. (Mentoring)
·
Organization:
Several organizational changes will be required to enable ministry
success. These changes are intended to 1) reorient ourselves to what is
happening today in American evangelical Christian churches and 2) align
the resources of American and German evangelical Christian churches to
the developing churches of Southern Africa.
Operate
from the U.S. and conduct three to four annual trips to Southern Africa.
- Serve
as Pastor of Global Outreach at First Baptist Church of Elmhurst,
Illinois beginning November, 2004. The church is where Bill grew up and
has been supported for more than twenty-five years. It is also a
Conservative Baptist Church that is possibly going to be one of the
partner churches for a church in South Africa. This is an uncompensated
adjunct pastoral position for a term not to exceed twenty four months.
- Form a ministry advisory board
focused specifically on African Leadership Development. Two of the
members have been chosen at this time.
Ministry Governance:
Key Question: What ministry
governance exists?
The ministry advisory board
will serve as a governance council to maintain clear ministry focus and
to maximize ministry effectiveness in building individual-to-individual
and church-to-church partnerships.
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