» Looking for Charles

Recently I wrote, “Somewhere at the heart of every church planting movement you’ll find a Charles Simeon doing whatever he can to empower a new generation of leaders.” Let me introduce you to a contemporary version of Charles Simeon. . .

It’s mid winter and very cold. Nine guys are enjoying a weekend away on Lake Eildon, Victoria. “Who’s up for a swim?” asks Mark Ansell. None of the guys respond—except Frank. Mark and Frank strip off and dive in. They tread water for 20 minutes pretending it feels great trying to convince the other guys to jump in. One by one they take the plunge only to discover the water is icy cold.

Nine guys sitting around a houseboat… Every now and again in between the fun Mark throws out a question: “Who has made a real impact on your life?” What do you want written on your gravestone?” What have you struggled with this year?”

Frank is what Mark calls a “pagan Christian”. He had no Christian or church background when he first attended Gateway Family Church for his business partner’s baptism. Both Frank and his wife Carol gave their lives to Christ and have been involved ever since.

What was Mark doing on the houseboat? He’s growing leaders—life on life. Mark is one of the best ‘mentor pastors’ I know. He is highly relational and highly intentional.

Whenever I catch up with Mark he overflows with the stories of the people he’s investing his life in. And he has fun doing it. Mark is also highly intentional. He’s multiplying small accountability groups amongst Gateway’s people that help them stay on track with their personal, spiritual growth and stretch them in reaching out to others. Almost 200 people meet weekly in those groups. As people show faithfulness in their groups Mark challenges them to sign up for Leadership Level One, then Level Two then Level Three. Each course is designed to grow godly, effective leaders in the home, workplace, community and church.

Frank not only came to faith at Gateway, he joined an accountability group with Mark and then went on to be equipped as a leader. Frank now serves two days a week as a youth pastor at Gateway.

Gateway is a large church of 800. It’s one of the most effective churches I know of in reaching unchurched people like Frank. They’ve been doing it consistently for the last decade. Rick Paynter the senior pastor, often has people ask him where he got all these good leaders from. His reply—“We didn’t get them from anywhere, we grew them.”

Gateway grows leaders. Some will eventually plant churches across Australia and beyond. Gateway is pointing the way towards a new paradigm of leadership development that is much closer to Jesus’ model than the modern academic model we’ve inherited.

When we equip denominations and churches in fuelling church planting movements I bring Mark Ansell with me on the teaching team. He tells the stories of lives transformed by the gospel, of ordinary people who are growing into leaders, of the fun and the intentionality of a great mentor pastor. I cheer from the sidelines and remind the participants that it’s not rocket science. There is nothing Mark’s doing that they couldn’t do—apart from being silly enough to jump into Eildon Lake in the middle of winter.