Currently, 9 out of 10 churches worldwide are led by brothers and sisters in Christ who have not received adequate training. To address this immense leadership deficit, United World Mission has embraced a bold goal: To see relevant theological education, spiritual formation, and practical training accessible to every ministry leader in every nation.
Without well-equipped, flourishing leaders who are preaching Scripture and serving in the way of Jesus, churches are wide-open to heresies and self-inflated leadership. We don’t just hope for more churches in the world. We hope for more churches that are led by well-equipped leaders. Equipped Leaders are positioned to care for and strengthen their churches. Stronger, healthier, flourishing churches are positioned to love well and evangelize effectively.
For several decades, UWM has participated in the strengthening of leaders and churches throughout the world. We work in partnership with 130 of the best seminaries and training centers in the world to equip pastors and thought leaders in their nations. We also seek to equip church planters where they are, knowing that training is needed at every level. One example is a work of church planter training in Cuba called Sembradores.
Sembradores has provided Cuban pastors and leaders with tools and strategies based on the experiences of years of church planting in many nations but contextualized with Cuban leaders for Cuba. Those in training are also practitioners, planting churches while they study. At each training session, trainers and church planters-in-training share successes and failures, and they pray for each other for the real challenges they face. These times together nourish the participants with the spirit and desire to continue the work even when it is hard. It doesn’t matter where they work or the church they come from, the vision of expanding the Kingdom of God is what unites them. And they know that despite resistance, church planting is the means given by God to saturate the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Church planters need the encouragement of training.
We have heard these words about the impact of Sembradores on Cuban church planters:
“Sembradores has given me helpful tools for my ministry.”
“After Sembradores, my ministry has become stronger.”
“Sembradores encourages me to continue on in ministry.”
We are grateful to God that Sembradores has impacted more than 1,500 church planters in 36 denominations in Cuba resulting in more than 800 new congregations established and hundreds of prayer groups started.
Today, Sembradores is led by a team of experienced Cuban leaders that were equipped and encouraged for this ministry by United World Mission trainers. Sembradores enjoys respect, credibility, and trust within the Cuban church, and has begun to focus not only on church planting in Cuba but in sending Cuban missionaries to the nations as well.
For more details of this leadership transformation that is taking place in Cuba, watch the official video! For more information on UWM’s global partnerships and leadership development in the Global Church, click here or send an email inquiry to Sean Mitchell, UWM’s Chief Advancement Officer, at sean.mitchell@uwm.org.
