THE MISSIONAL LEADERSHIP COHORT

The Missional Leadership Cohort is a group for those who are exploring a potential call to vocational ministry, eldership, or other church leadership. These could be future church planters, pastors, missionaries, elders, or deacons. 

The 2023–2024 cohort will meet on the fourth Sunday of the month from 7–9 p.m. beginning August 25, 2024. (See below for the full schedule of meetings and assignments)

Expectations

• Maintain good standing as a member of Pillar Church of Washington DC
• Faithfully attend each cohort meetup. We want you to prioritize attendance. If work or travel necessitates, there will be the opportunity to join the cohort via Zoom call. 
• Purchase all books and fully complete the assigned readings and other assignments. 
• Enthusiastically participate in the group discussions. Please come prepared to talk about each of the readings. 
• Spend at least one hour each month going out to share the gospel with someone else from the cohort (e.g., Gospel and Grub)
• Download WhatsApp and join the Missional Leadership Cohort WhatsApp chat group 
• Complete two “practical ministry projects” for the year (see below)
• Prepare two ten-minute sermons or Bible lessons and deliver them to the cohort.

Readings

Reading assignments for each month should be completed before the meeting. There are no readings due for the first meeting.

Each member should purchase the following books:

• Systematic Theology by John Frame
• A Praying Life by Paul Miller
• Church Elders by Jeramie Rinne
• Other articles or chapters will be provided

(If you are unable to purchase these books for yourself, please let Doug Hanna know. There are scholarships available.)

Cohort Meetings

At most cohort meetings, we will meet to discuss that month’s readings.

Leading Discussion

Each cohort member will be assigned a specific portion of the content to present using a 3–2–1 format:

• THREE-Minute Summary of the Reading
• TWO Key Concepts (Something that was helpful, encouraging, or convicting for you)
• ONE Critique or Response to a Challenging Idea

After this presentation, you will facilitate a ten-minute group discussion with 3–4 discussion questions that you have prepared.

Please note, you are expected to complete ALL of the readings for each month, not just the sections assigned for you to present on.

Preaching and Teaching Practice

Two of the cohort meetings will be focused on preaching and teaching the Bible. Each member will be assigned a short passage of Scripture to prepare and deliver a ten-minute sermon or Bible lesson.

Practical Ministry Projects

In addition to the cohort meetings, you will be asked to do two of the following things over the next 12 months: 

• Disciple a non-believer – Be intentional about reaching out to your neighbors, co-workers, family, and others. Make a plan to evangelistically engage the people around you and faithfully pray for their salvation. Boldly share the gospel with them, pray for them to give their lives to Christ, and regularly study the Bible with them.
  We want to encourage everyone to disciple a non-believer as one of their ministry projects.
• Begin discipling a new believer – This could be someone you lead to Christ, someone who you know from your network of relationships, or it could also be a new believer from the church 
• Start an Alpha – Start and help facilitate an Alpha group and invite nonbelievers and the curious to participate.
• Start a small group made of non-believers or new believers – Start a small group in your home (or someone else’s home) to engage your neighbors who aren’t connected to a church.
• Plan and Execute an Outreach Event – Come up with an outreach idea, present the plan to the elders, and then recruit a team to help you and execute the event. It doesn’t have to be big. It could be in your apartment building, your street, etc… This could be anything from handing out water bottles at the park, to hosting a block party at the building.
• Teach the lesson for an existing Small Group, lead church-wide prayer meeting, or preach a sermon on Sunday – Prepare and teach/preach a lesson or sermon. (Permission to preach on Sunday morning will be at the discretion of the elders)

WhatsApp Group

Each member of the cohort will be invited to join the group’s WhatsApp chat so that we can encourage one another throughout the month and continue the discussion from each month’s meeting.