Sending Pathways

 Sending Pathways is a UBA initiative working with local churches to develop intentional systems leading to sustainable, multiplicative sending.

We want to see a city full of churches that cooperatively produce their own sent out ones for an array of Great Commission tasks.

This is how Houston (and beyond) reaches gospel saturation.

Sending Pathways

Sending Pathways

“And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.” Acts 13:49 CSB

Reaching all nations with the good news of Jesus requires this good news to match the density and diversity of the world.

As the most diverse major metro in the U.S., Houston has a unique opportunity to reach the nations and display Jesus to people of all kinds of languages, peoples, and contexts.

No single church can saturate Houston with the gospel. We need to work together.

The Recruitment Problem

In the last decade, churches in North America have rightfully shifted to emphasize becoming a sending church and supporting church planting. This shift was a significant step forward for gospel work.

However, the church that calls an agency, a network, or a state convention and asks for a planter is not actually a sending church. It is, at best, a supporting church. We need supporting churches, but we must not confuse those with the church that actually produces its own sent-out ones.

Sending church language must mean more than recruiting if we ever want a shot at approaching real multiplication. A “sending” church must mean a church that develops from within, not simply sends someone else’s people.

We must create systems to equip every church member in every kind of church.

Recruitment vs. Development

For too long now, our sending paradigm has been one of recruitment. And, our churches, our networks, our conventions, and associations have all played a part in doing it this way.

Our organizations tasked with planting simply become recruiters. Churches that want to take part in sending often do the same. In this way, the sending church is involved in identification, but it is identifying ministers from outside. Everyone wants an equipping pipeline, but after it is set up, they begin looking outside of themselves for the people to fill it.

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Recruitment Paradigm

Recruitment alone can never multiply effectively. A church that recruits its next planter from outside did not add another planter to the pool. They merely moved one discovered by another church. For every planter recruited and gained from the outside, another equipping system loses a planter.

Cooperative equipping strategies with national sending agencies, through state conventions and associations, and even boutique networks are good and needed, but we must address a root problem: a waning supply of people to send.

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Development Paradigm

We have long discussed leadership development in the local church. However, we often assume these leaders will then scale up the ministry of the local congregation. But it doesn’t have to be either or.

A healthy sending process not only raises up ministers to send to other ministry fields, it also creates an ecosystem where new leaders are equipped to take their place inside the church.

Sending out people equipped for an array of Great Commission tasks is the true heart of a sending church.

The Sending Process

In order to truly be a sending church, a congregation must identify, equip, send, and support those from within the congregation. Without the process of identification inside the local congregation, we will not have sustainable sending.

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Benefits of Sending Pathways

  • Identifying the Called

    Sending Pathways audits a church’s current culture and practice in order to create a culture of identifying those God is calling. Without a healthy culture that continually calls church members to all kinds of ministry, churches cannot accomplish multiplicative sending.

    Creating a real sending culture takes time and repeated effort from the pulpit, small groups, and even talk in the hallways. Sending Pathways aims to simplify the call and develop a clear pathway to aid the sending process.

  • Cooperative Equipping

    After identifying those called, churches cooperate with other churches to provide equipping cohorts.

    In the past, equipping pipelines were often established inside individual churches. However, cooperative equipping has several significant benefits:

    1. No longer is equipping only for churches large enough to run equipping residencies or specialize in each kind of sending.

    2. Sent-out ones receive training in the strengths and approaches of multiple churches instead of just one.

    3. Finally, cooperative equipping forms the basis of team sending. As potential ministers from different churches are equipped together, they can form sending teams that span multiple churches. This approach is key to developing a strategy for coordinated sending.

  • Coordinated Sending

    As churches equip together, they can send together in new ways. Imagine a church plant or international missions team developed from multiple churches through cooperative equipping. This team now has two, three, or four sending churches with which to partner and from which they can receive support.

    Coordinated sending also means easy on-ramps to the many sending structures our churches already have.

    Sending Pathways connects those who feel called to equipping which allows them to easily begin the assessment process with other partners such as the Houston Church Planting Network, state conventions, the International Mission Board, or other sending agencies.

  • Continued Support

    Sending churches continue to support the work of those they send. Sometimes, support is financial, helping a new church become sustainable or meeting the financial needs of an international missionary. At other times, ministers need human resources as supporting churches come alongside new church plants for community outreach. Either way, support should always involve prayer, counsel, and fellowship.

    As teams are cooperatively equipped and sending is coordinated, these multi-church support networks allow for more sustainable sending and care.

Become a Part of Sending Pathways.

Every church can benefit from an intentional process of examination concerning their sending process. Even if your church is already a true sending church, you can accomplish more when you work with other churches to develop pathways to multiplicative sending. We want to see a city full of churches that cooperatively produce their own sent out ones for an array of Great Commission tasks. This is how Houston (and beyond) reaches gospel saturation.

If you’re interested in your church starting down one or more sending pathways, click the button below to request more info. One of our consultants will be in touch to discuss how your church can get started.