Long, slow beginning leads to transferable training

We seek to design Christian leadership training systems adhering to these guiding principles:

TRANSFERABLE | Transformative | Contextualized | Collaborative | Accessible | Accountable & Transparent | Local Church

A vision

Livija Godina had a vision. Director of the Latvian Baptist Union’s women’s ministry board, she had encountered women from other countries who really knew their Bibles, knew how to share God’s word, knew how to lead with confidence. She wanted this for the Baptist women in Latvia.

Mo Blackmon also had a vision. She’d experienced God in a fresh way and sharpened her Bible study skills at an Entrust women’s ministry training. As a full-time ministry worker in Latvia, Mo wanted this for her Latvian sisters.

Mo Blackmon, standing, center, and Livija Godina, standing, right, with Latvian Baptist Union leaders, 2013.

A strategy

Entrust Equipping Women provides a slow, in-depth opportunity for women to learn and develop ministry and leadership skills, grow in their knowledge of Scripture and in Christlike character, and deepen their relationships with one another.

Mo cast her vision. Livija and her board agreed to give it a try in 2014. Slowly, the idea caught on. “The long-term success came from the fact that these women took what they learned and experienced from the Lord,” Mo says, “and they passed it on to others, and they kept passing it on to others.”

Multiplication of servant leaders

Each year, new women sign up for Entrust training in Latvia, drawn by the changes they see in friends who’ve taken part, the growing ministry skills demonstrated by their friends, the stories they hear about the trainings. From a first group of seven, 57 women have now taken at least one module; 15 have completed all four.

Transferable training

Now fully Latvian owned and directed, this ministry and discipleship process is called Sieviete Sievietei locally. Every year, more women invest what they’re learning in their local churches, homes and ministries, and equip new groups of women to do the same. It’s a process they have come to love and appreciate.

It’s Jesus’ model, multiplying slowly and deeply across Latvia.

Because a vision and strategy for multiplication of servant-leaders through training systems is critical, we establish sustainable multiplication models dependent on local men and women who recognize the need for transferable training, express the need for assistance in developing a solution, and are committed to its implementation and long-term success.