Judah and Candace Trabulsi were youth pastors with Peter and Jill Henderson at Living Way Fellowship (Littleton Foursquare Church) in Highlands Ranch, Colo., when they began to discern a tug on their hearts for the nearby city of Denver. They processed this and discerned that the Lord was sending them out.
However, they realized that pastoring a long-standing congregation in Highlands Ranch and pioneering a new community among the urban core of Denver were vastly different and required a vastly different set of skills. That’s when they got in touch with Foursquare Multiply. We were able to come alongside the Trabulsis and Hendersons to provide training, coaching, funding and other structural supports to equip each of them in this journey of planting the gospel in a new context.
Several states away, another change was in motion. Jared and Kelly Mueller were also youth pastors, serving with Paul and Ainsley Harmon at Hope Chapel (Huntington Beach Foursquare Church) in Southern California. This great sending church partnered with Foursquare Missions International (FMI) to train, equip and send them to church plant in San Salvador, El Salvador, while partnering with the local churches in that country. Today, the Muellers continue to serve the churches in El Salvador and pastor a local church, while also serving as the newly appointed FMI regional coordinators for Central America.
We see this same kind of partnership in Acts 13, where a very diverse church plant was working together on mission: “As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away” (vv. 2-3, NKJV).
As we locally make disciples who love the whole world, the Holy Spirit will inevitably end up sending His disciples near and far. This is organic kingdom multiplication. This is more and growing leaders together on mission. Yet, even in Acts, some disciples, such as Paul and Barnabas, were sent to the wider Roman Empire, while others, such as Peter and James, were called to the Jewish Christians in Judea. So, too, in our current moment, as the church continues to make disciples, God will send some near and others far.
Foursquare is commissioned and positioned similarly. Foursquare Multiply and FMI exist as two of the sending mechanisms of our movement.
As we locally make disciples who love the whole world, the Holy Spirit will inevitably end up sending His disciples near and far. This is organic kingdom multiplication.
FMI partners as the global sending arm of the U.S. Foursquare Church by training, sending and supporting workers in the U.S. and around the world to multiply disciples, churches and leaders. That’s right, sending into all the world includes sending to the U.S. When Janelle Ibaven answered the call to be a chaplain at Harvard University, there was no clear path for her to do so. She had supporters, but nowhere for them to donate, for example. She went through FMI’s training and deployment and is now fruitfully serving her domestic mission assignment on camps—her mission field.
Foursquare Multiply also partners to send leaders and planters of the gospel across the U.S. This could mean a local church adopting a nearby church plant as area partners to spiritually and physically support the new church plant. It could be a leader with a vision for a city applying for a Multiply cohort and in turn being connected with other leaders who help coach and train them as they navigate new terrain. If you have a heart for the gospel to be multiplied: Let Multiply help!
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Let’s Go!
Whether locally or globally, Foursquare Multiply and FMI cultivate Spirit-filled leaders called to plant and multiply the gospel, developing new models, in new regions, among new groups of people, in this new cultural moment.
Here are a few of the ways that Foursquare Multiply and FMI can help get future leaders started:
- Assess leaders’ gifts, experience and calling for possible placement cross-culturally, globally and indigenously
- Holistic training and coaching for leaders, no matter the context to which they are called
- Opportunities for cohorts and retreats with leaders serving in similar contexts
- Funding models congruent with each individual’s model and context
- Long-term, ongoing care and coaching once placed on the field
- Connecting you to other Foursquare entities that may match your gift mix, such as Foursquare Chaplains, Affinity Groups or Foursquare Disaster Relief
The mission of the church is to bring the kingdom of heaven to the earth. In a current social moment that feels uncharted, and where God is doing His most creative work, perhaps it’s time for us to re-engage the Missio Dei and send those God is calling into a new chapter. Foursquare is positioned and ready to serve our leaders who have been discipled and sent to reveal the kingdom.
So, where might be God calling you? Whether locally or globally, through prayer, discipleship, prioritizing holistic health and doing all of this together, we are ready to come alongside you and equip you in your journey, that we might fulfill our, and God’s, mandate of more and growing leaders together on mission.
