Lausanne World Pulse – Training for Missions Requires Passion

July 2007

By Adriaan Adams

A group of younger people in South Africa is seeking to
see ministry training take on a new dimension.  

Early in 2003 a group of young people in South Africa came together and shared their frustrations in ministry with one another. Through these discussions and previous research they came to the following conclusion: “We can wait until we are in leadership to change the way things are done or start now to influence our generation and the upcoming generation so that when we are in leadership things are already moving in a different direction.”

This group of young people had and still have the passion to see ministry training take on a new dimension. This dimension has four strategic focuses: focus, team, leadership and training.

  • Focus is when the leader articulates a compelling vision for tomorrow that captures the imagination of the followers and energizes their attitudes and actions in the present.
  • Team is when each player commits to being a friend both now and in the future. It means committing to the relationship even when the other person follows a path that you cannot walk.
  • Leadership is a relationship in which one person seeks to influence the thoughts, behaviors, beliefs and values of another person.
  • Training is not done in an institution, university, college or school. Educational development is done through mentoring/coaching. It is a relational experience in which one person empowers another by sharing him or herself and his or her resources. It is an intentional, exclusive, intensive, voluntary relationship between the leader and the follower.1

Focus Team Leadership Training
Today these young people are all still involved in various ministries; however, together they have started a missionary training school called Focus Team Leadership Training (FTLT).

With a vision statement “Training the Mission Leaders of Tomorrow,” they are passionate about shaping, training and equipping a person who will have (1) a passion for impacting his or her sphere of influence with godly, biblical values and (2) a passion for missions and church planting among some of the least-reached people groups of the world.

In their attempt to achieve the above, these young people desire to see generations of mission leaders trained and equipped who are prepared to lay their lives and personal dreams down for the sake of expanding God’s kingdom.

Adriaan Adams is the founder and co-director of Focus Team Leadership Training (FTLT), an organisation focused on “Training the Mission Leaders of Tomorrow.”