Like many Christian Reformed churches, Grace Christian Fellowship is looking for leaders at a time when good leadership can be very hard to find.
That’s why the Carson, Calif.-based church, planted with the help of Classis Greater Los Angeles and Christian Reformed Home Missions, recently formed an organization called Harvesters for Christ.
The group, consisting of several new-church developers, is the brainchild of Rev. Elmer Tandayu, pastor of Grace Christian Fellowship and a new church development specialist working for Home Missions’ West Coast Regional Ministry Team.
Tandayu said the group’s job is to find and recruit new leaders in the Los Angeles region in order to reach more people for Christ.
“If we can multiply the number of churches, we can multiply the number of opportunities for people to come to Christ,” he says.
He said that a key to success is to train the leaders of established churches to identify members of their congregation who have leadership gifts. The Harvesters help by training new church leaders to make good decisions about the people they appoint to leadership positions.
“It is a mistake to simply open the church doors and only offer preaching and a worship service, because church life depends on evangelism, discipleship, small groups, Christian education, training of young people, and other services,” Tandayu said.
A key component of the programs is a day-long training session. During this event, regional church leaders gather for educational sessions, small group interactions, presentations, and one-on-one prayer meetings.
Home Missions helps congregations and classes start up to 20 new churches annually throughout Canada and the United States. Since 1988, Home Missions has helped to start nearly 300 new churches across North America.
About the Author
Ben Van Houten is a senior writer for Christian Reformed Home Missions.
