Dr. Phil & Brian Rushton – One of the keys to effective ministry overseas is working with the right people. Developing such a network in a region takes years. So when we are able to partner with a quality organization that has such a network it helps us enter a region and work with the right people from the first day. World Serve is such an organization and one which we have worked with in Cuba for many years.

The type of leadership training that we offer has taken years to develop and hone and offering it in a a partnership means that the partner organization does not need to take the years developing what we already been implementing in other regions. Over the last few years we have been making preparations for our launch of the training in China with WorldServe Ministries. They have the network, we have the leadership training.

Brian Rushton is their interim CEO and joined Phil and the team on the launch of the training in China. He has a passion for mentoring leaders, as it has been part of his DNA throughout his ministry. We are appreciative of WorldServe as they provided funds which enabled leaders to attend these conferences.

Working with the church in China has been very rewarding. Our mandate at WorldServe is to come alongside the national church and help these believers reach their country for Christ. China has a wonderful history of rapid church growth. However as we have witnessed that growth over the years, it has become apparent that, while the church in China is good at starting new churches and gaining new converts, healthy second-generation leadership is lacking.

In Cuba, WorldServe’s relationship with Phil and ICM Canada has been a wonderful blessing to that country. So in our view, the natural evolution of this relationship was to take the mentoring course to China as well. ICM has taken up the challenge by translating their material into Mandarin, for which we are very grateful.

Now, having just completed two level-one courses in Shanghai and Chengdu, the stage is set to see if the leaders in China will adopt this biblical way of Church growth. Right now China needs one million Christian leaders, so the 92 leaders who attended training in March seems like a drop in the bucket. Our prayer, though, is that from this small beginning, effective coaches will rise up and together we can encourage them to push forward in developing and multiplying leaders to fill the need.

Brian Rushton
CEO, WorldServe