Multiplication Starts Here: Building Leadership Pathways for a Disciple-Making Church (3-part series) - Part 3/3

Andy Hodgson
10 hours ago
7 min read

Part 3 — Become What You Want to Multiply: A Practical Pathway You Can Run

If systems deliver outcomes, then the pathway matters.

And although I believe that there's more to it than just 'systems'...the reality in most local churches is that there isn't even a system or an intentional process or pathway in place. And whether we like it or not, the outcomes of this reality are clear

Our work with churches around Australia focuses on a customisable leadership pathway that develops and equips people in the context of their calling.

One of our core values is

'Developing you in the context of your calling'.

Which is simple to say.

And even easier to have as a slogan...

But when you pause and begin to reflect on how spread churches are across Australia, and even more so when considering regional churches, and then take into consideration how diverse each context could be.

Well, let's just say a traditional city-centric approach won't cut it!

Along with this, we emphasise the idea that the first step for any leader is to

Become what you want to multiply.

Let's be honest for a moment.

If we had more leaders just like you, would we have more churches run well but still not reaching the unreached, or would there be a revival happening across our nation?

The reality is that the majority of leaders in our churches are not leading churches that are seeing disciple-making happening. Regardless of which statistics you're reading at the time, all would indicate that there are fewer than 5% of churches in Australia seeing true multiplication happening; with a generous few, perhaps suggesting less than 10% are seeing genuine disciple-making occurring.

So, our first step at The Emerging Leaders Program is often to help the key leaders to 'become what they want to multiply'.

This is going to be the greatest impact you can have immediately as a leader.

But once you become a disciple-making leader, who authentically lives this out in your everyday life...

Then we need to quickly move towards, or sometimes this is happening simultaneously, creating pathways for leadership multiplication to occur.

This is a holistic approach, as the large majority of attenders at your church will never move into paid ministry, and yet, it is crucial to increase the overall leadership capacity of our whole church to enable multiplication on all levels.

For us, here’s a glimpse of what some of that looks like—remember, the aim is to keep it simple on purpose.

(If you would like a broader understanding of how we customise leadership pathways for your context, CLICK HERE.)

Four levels, eight core competencies (kept flexible)

Our focus is on developing leaders for ministry, mission, and all areas of their lives through the local church. Whether you're pursuing a career in ministry, interested in starting a church, or called to serve in any other role in society, our leadership competencies are designed to meet your needs.

Imagine having a broader community, whereby the best leaders were developed through your local church...

Where an increasing amount of local businesses and community groups were being led by christians who their primary leadership influence was as a result of being developed in leadership through a Kingdom lens.

Imagine what difference that would make...not just for your church, but the broader community.

As we reflected on these things, we identified four levels of leadership, and for each level, we've developed eight core units.

Here it is at a glance.

Every church can map a four-level journey like this:

Volunteer/Disciple-Maker: Following Jesus in everyday life; basic practices, initial leadership development practices, identity, aligning with Jesus' mission.
Leader/Disciple-Maker: Able to lead a group/team and multiply people.
Ministry Director/Team Leader: Builds culture, strategy, and collaboration across teams.
Senior Leader/Multiplier: Gathers, equips, and sends; builds teams beyond a single ministry.

Across these levels sit eight core competencies. From biblical and theological foundations, to vision & strategy, collaboration, people development, stewardship and even formation. The leadership competencies are designed to build upon each area, yet can stand alone.

It's essential to note that, despite the leadership examples listed below each level (ie Level 1 - Volunteer), as it is competency-based, most people generally do not fit cleanly into any one level. Rather, depending on the desired outcomes and previous competence, we tailor them accordingly.

For example, I regularly find that our vision and strategy level 1 modules are far more appropriate for people who may think they sit in level 2 or 3...and even 4. In fact, I recently had an eldership team work through the strategy level 1 module, as this is something they had never had specific training on, and they were about to enter a strategic review period.

To put it simply, it is an individual leadership pathway, not an assumed leadership pathway. This acknowledges that we are all gifted and have experience and training in a variety of areas, which should be taken into account when creating pathways.

Therefore, the exact eight can be tailored to your context; the key is clarity and continuity across levels.

How the learning runs: flipped, communal, reproducible

We encourage the use of learning communities that meet fortnightly over a meal (for me, food is a great way to gather, but you may prefer not to have food involved at all). Participants engage with content between gatherings (short online modules and reflective practice), then process, reflect, ask questions and plan the application of what they are learning, in the room using a facilitated conversation. It’s a flipped-classroom approach: less “lecture,” more practice + reflection with peers and a facilitator.

Why it works:

Lightweight for busy leaders
Directly connected to their frontline
Individualised without chaos—two leaders can do the same module at different competency levels.

Three pillars to help shape your culture...

It’s not what you do; it’s how you use it. There are plenty of good tools out there. I'm not trying to tell you that this is the only tool you can use to multiply leaders, but the likelihood is that if you aren't already raising and equipping leaders, then you're not using any. Choose one and use it well—consistently, relationally, and with accountability.
Equip leaders in the context of their calling. City-centric training excludes too many people. If we want multiplying leaders in every postcode, we must design for the person in the outer suburbs and the person south of Hobart, the person in the isolated regional churches—not just the person near a capital city.
Become what you want to multiply. Jesus said, “Students are to be like their teacher” (Matt 10:25). You will reproduce what you are, not just what you preach. Shape the pathway so leaders practise the very behaviours they’re passing on.

What we’re seeing (snapshots of 2023-25)

This is just a snapshot of some of the things that we have seen happening in local churches that we have been actively partnering with. And although these are exciting to talk about, the reality is that my excitement comes from what happens within the church community as we start to work with them, and they begin to see the culture shift. This is the outcome that some of these churches have seen; others haven't seen this yet, but they are all shifting and moving towards multiplication.

So, let's first look at some of the partnerships that we would normally put into newsletters, social posts, reels etc.

A revitalised regional church grew from <80 to 200+ over a few years as leaders embedded a disciple-making culture and pathway.
Another congregation recorded 39 new believers and 19 baptisms over two years while implementing cohorts and apprenticeship rhythms (this equated to 38% of attendees).
A youth-focused plant saw 24% conversion growth year-on-year; another partner plant recorded ~11.5% conversion growth.
One young church now approaching its second birthday has seen 67% conversion growth, and is building a pathway to become a church-planting church—not just a church that plants once.

And yet, perhaps some of the stories I prefer to share the most are the churches that we continue to work with, seeing people equipped and trained, seeing the local community engaged, still seeing lives transformed, and are continuing to prioritise disciple-making and being intentionally involved with the local community...

The churches that we have partnered with over a longer period of time, with a long-term vision of multiplication, and a strategy to match.

And yet, they will probably never be the 'Instagram worthy' church post.

Their numbers will never draw the attention of others.

And perhaps because of a number of reasons, they will never develop into a mega church...but they are having a big, unseen impact in the community.

(Stories anonymised to protect local contexts. Your mileage will vary—but simple systems plus persistent coaching produces fruit.)

I'm sure that you've heard the saying that there are no silver bullets...or perhaps that if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.

And that's why I want to reiterate...

If your reason for partnering with us is to become a mega church...then we are not for you.

You may very well realise that outcome with us, but that is not the metric that matters to us, or what we are counting.

We are looking at

How many disciples are multiplying?
How many leaders are you releasing?
How many groups are multiplying? and,
How many churches are you planting?

Start where you are: five customising questions

When we partner with a church to focus on leadership development/pipelines/pathways, we begin with five questions to tailor the pathway:

What is your current leadership pathway for developing this and the next generation of leaders?
Who could step in if key staff finished within three months?
Which two leaders would you recommend to another church right now?
How many emerging leaders can you realistically support through a cohort this year?
How are you equipping leaders to be sent to pioneer new communities of faith?

Your answers shape the first three months of design: which competencies to prioritise, how to schedule cohorts without burning people out, who to apprentice first, and how to collaborate locally.

And so, as we finish this 3-part series, perhaps these 5 questions are the starting point for you...

Regardless of whether you reach out to us at EL or not, start!

Take the next step...

Ask for help...

And start!

Key takeaway: Keep it simple, keep it communal, keep it multiplying.

Reflect: Which one move could you make this month—name apprentices, launch a cohort, share a pathway with a neighbouring church—that would most accelerate multiplication?