Welcome to
our global on-line training school for 21st Century church and mission
leaders. This is a training school without walls, without frontiers, without
any fees and one that leaps over every barrier of political, religious,
racist, sexist and denominational prejudice, in the name of Jesus.
We hope
that these lessons will inspire and bless both you and thousands of similar
like-minded people who live and dream in the passion of their first love for
Jesus.
The fact
that you starting this course today means that you want to want to know the
Lord better yourself, and in your heart you want to see the people in your
family and nation, and the unreached peoples of the world and the poor of
the world turning to live a disciplined, holy life in the love and care of
God through faith in Jesus Christ.
This Course
will help you to do just that.
This is
Lesson One, it is very simple and just an introduction. The lessons that
follow are more complete and filled with good things to learn and to do. I
have personally done them all, taught them in class, handed them on to
thousands of people and now they are yours. I hope and pray that you will be
as blessed, challenged and moved towards the Lord and His ways as I have
been and continue to be as the years go on.

Dr. Les
Norman
1.
First of all we are going to pass on to you an outline of what we have
learned over the years and with the help of the Holy Spirit, the Bible, our
prayers and an open mind you will grasp the ideas.
The Course
moves through various interlinking themes in an order which seems to most
appealing and useful to the churches in the developing nations:
-
Evangelism
-
Mission
-
Discipleship basic
level for new believers
-
Discipleship
advanced level
-
Call of God
-
Believing God for
Finances
-
Leadership
Training
-
Building The
Church
-
The Kingdom Comes
2.
Secondly, if it is at all
possible in your circumstances we really want you to pass on to others all
that you learn, so that the word of God spreads. We will show you how to do
that without spending a lot of money which we know is hard to find.
To see how to do this
please see:
How the School of Mission works best
How To Open Your Own School
and Lesson 66
A Discipling Church
By the way when we say a
school we do not mean that you have to open a special building with
professional staff. Our students meet in church halls, in homes, in shops
and even under palm trees in the open air. All you need is a group of
willing people, a Bible, these materials and the presence of God with you
though prayer. We will help you to make a start and help you along every
step of the way.
Then, what
we really want is to see the people that learn from you going and telling
the people they know, using the same notes and simple ways of passing on the
word of God.
Question: How does this
Course work best ?
Answer: This Course
works at its very best when a leader follows the same effective approach
that Jesus adopted to train His disciples, and later Paul took the same
approach with Timothy,
"The
things you have heard me say . . entrust to reliable men
. . who will
also teach others."
Paul to Timothy, 2 Timothy 2.2.
We would
like you to grasp this from the very start. In 2001 this Biblical approach
began to be known among the fast-growing churches of the world as G12, a
development of the cell church principle taught originally by Pastor Yonggi
Cho of Korea and now very successfully developed by Pastor Cesar Castellanos
of Bogota, Colombia who saw his congregation grow from 8 to 120,000 in ten
years. He says,
"I began to see Jesus'
ministry with clarity. The multitudes followed, but He didn't train the
multitudes. He only trained 12, and everything he did
with the multitudes was to teach the 12. Then the Lord asked me
another question: "If Jesus trained 12, should you win more than 12 or
less than 12?" Jesus chose 12 to reach the multitudes. He stayed with
these 12 permanently, until they were trained and He released them, gave
them authority and empowered them to disciple the nations.
Pastor, leader, student -
the best thing to do is to find 12 to meet with you to take these studies
together. The Word of God and the Spirit of God will consolidate everybody's
faith and commitment and reproduce Christ's character in you by discipleship
and then release those who are willing to go to win 12 more each whilst
staying in fellowship with the original group of 12 friends."
-
Look at
the incredible mathematics of 2
Timothy 2.2
If you learn for yourself ~
1
person hears the word of the Lord
If you share the lesson
with 12 people ~
13
people hear the word of the Lord
If the 12 were to tell 12
more people ~
1
57
people hear the word of the Lord
If the 157 were to tell 12
more people ~
1,884
people hear the word of the Lord.
If the 1,884 people were to
tell 12 more people ~
22,608
people hear the word of the
Lord.
This has happened in China and is
happening every day in parts of South America and Africa where 'Training
by Multiplication' courses such as this are proving to be the only
cost-effective way to teach the thousands of people who are deciding to
follow Jesus. This is possible for you and your church or School of
Mission.
No special buildings or materials required just meeting and talking.
"The things you
have heard me say . . entrust to reliable men. .
who will also teach
others."
Paul to Timothy, 2 Timothy 2.2.
Together we
can train many people to become mature believers and they themselves will go
and do the work of the ministry - in evangelism, discipleship and in care
for the poor, having found the faith, the works and the finances that are
necessary to advance the gospel. In the first chapter of Genesis, when the
Word of God came together with the Spirit of God, there was an explosion of
new life and that is our prayer, that the Lord would do the same again, this
time in your lives and in your community.
Relax
If leading a group, developing a School
of Mission or working in a group is not possible for you, then you are still
more than welcome to take this programme as an individual, or in the best
way that your circumstances permit. We have no second-class students. Not
one.
Is the
course difficult?
These lessons have been
well tested in the churches of Africa, India and the Hispanic world, adapted
of course to the local culture. They say the teaching is biblical, true,
relevant to the developing world and focused on their passion, to finish the
Great Commission so that Jesus can return. Many of the ideas have been born,
tried and tested in the developing world, which is not very different from
the first century Bible times.
With God's
help the lessons will not be too difficult even for people with little or no
education. The teaching is simple and uncomplicated ands the words should be
easy for you to translate if you need to.
The notes
are clear and easy to read and your friends can also download them free of
charge and copy them by hand or by machine. Each lesson can be downloaded
and copied separately so it is easy and affordable to obtain these studies.
People can make photocopies of the studies one sheet at a time if necessary
so even copying the whole course will not be too expensive. In some parts of
the world the people copy every lesson by handwriting.
Now, please go back to the
List of Studies
and have a good look at all the
studies and see what you will learn and all that you can pass on to others.
This gentle introduction which is also lesson one
ends by asking you to read every section of the
Information Page
to make sure that you know what to
do. From lesson two onwards you will really start learning.