A Message from Founder and CEO, Steven Loots
Modern missions are generally considered to have started in the late 18th century, marked by the establishment of the Baptist Missionary Society in 1792 by William Carey, often called the “Father of Modern Missions.” Carey’s influence was instrumental in pioneering a structured approach to missions focused on cross-cultural evangelism, translation work, and local leadership development. His ideas emphasized the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) as a universal command, not just for the apostles but for all believers, inspiring a wave of mission organizations in the West.
This era continued to expand through the 19th century with key figures like Hudson Taylor in China, Adoniram Judson in Burma, and David Livingstone in Africa. These missionaries introduced a model of living among local populations, adapting to their cultures, and prioritizing indigenous leadership—a framework that greatly influenced mission practices and led to the establishment of many mission-sending agencies worldwide. Overall, we could call the model that has dominated missions for over 200 years the “Train and Send” model.
God has used this method to reach into much of the known world and has led to millions coming to Christ. However, in the modern world, this model is generally expensive and slow.
The “Train and Send” model, while being a cornerstone of Christian missions for over a century, focused on equipping individuals through intensive training before sending them into the mission field. In the early 20th century, missionary organizations like the China Inland Mission and the Student Volunteer Movement implemented this model, emphasizing cultural training, language acquisition, and theological study before sending missionaries abroad. This approach sought to prepare individuals to effectively engage with diverse communities and spread the gospel in culturally sensitive ways. For many decades, the model was primarily focused on sending missionaries from the West to foreign fields, with local indigenous leaders receiving support but often playing a secondary role.
The “Train and Send” model, while historically valuable, has several limitations that have slowed the spread of the gospel in relation to the growing global need. One major limitation is the extensive time and resources required for formal theological training. The traditional model often demands several years of study in a seminary or Bible college before a pastor or missionary is considered adequately trained to be sent. This lengthy preparation process severely limits the number of workers that can be mobilized, as each candidate must go through this extended period of education before being deployed. This bottleneck delays the immediate planting of churches and hinders the ability to respond quickly to new mission opportunities, particularly in areas that have little to no gospel presence.
Seminaries and Bible colleges play a central role in this model, often demanding years of study that include biblical languages, doctrine, church history, and pastoral care. While this formal training has been invaluable for producing well-educated leaders, it is costly and largely inaccessible for many rural people, particularly in developing nations, who feel called to ministry. The financial burden, travel logistics, and time commitment often make it nearly impossible for indigenous leaders from remote areas to receive the education necessary to be “sent.” Furthermore, the model’s reliance on lengthy preparation times before leaders can be deployed severely limits the number of churches that can be planted. Seminaries and training institutions are not equipped to handle the rapid multiplication of leaders and churches that are needed in areas with little to no gospel presence. This results in a bottleneck, slowing down the growth of the church.
Additionally, the financial costs associated with formal theological education make the model inaccessible to many people, particularly those in rural or impoverished areas. The expense of tuition, living costs, and sometimes relocation for years of study can prevent those who feel called to ministry from pursuing it. This restricts the number of trained leaders in regions where the need for church planting is most urgent, as potential local leaders are often excluded due to financial barriers. As a result, the spread of the gospel is slowed, particularly in the developing world, where resources are scarce, but the spiritual need is immense.
Moreover, the “Train and Send” model is largely centralized and reliant on sending missionaries from Western or established churches to other regions, often overlooking the potential for rapid multiplication through local leadership. This approach focuses on preparing a select few for missions rather than equipping and mobilizing local believers who are already within the target regions. Indigenous leaders, who understand their own cultures and contexts, are not empowered early enough, which further delays the establishment of self-sustaining, locally led churches. This model cannot easily scale to match the speed required to meet the vast spiritual need across the globe, where millions remain unreached due to these constraints.
In the “Train and Send” model, another significant limitation is that many missionaries and pastors are required to raise their own financial support before being sent, which further delays their deployment to the mission field. After completing formal theological training, which is often expensive and time-consuming, these individuals must spend additional time building relationships with donors, churches, and other organizations to secure the necessary funds for their salary, living expenses, and ministry costs. This fundraising process can take months or even years, significantly slowing down the timeline for getting missionaries into the field, particularly in areas where the need for the gospel is urgent.
The reliance on missionaries to raise their own support also places a heavy financial burden on sending churches or denominations, as they are often expected to contribute substantially to these fundraising efforts. This is on top of the expectation that they will provide long-term financial support to cover the missionary’s salary once they are sent. In many cases, this creates a bottleneck where only a limited number of missionaries can be fully funded and deployed, further reducing the number of church plants and limiting the reach and impact of the mission.
Additionally, the traditional model often assumes that a physical church building will be necessary once a missionary or pastor is sent. The cost of constructing or acquiring a church building is a major financial hurdle for many sending churches and denominations, especially in areas where real estate or construction costs are high. Combined with the need to provide ongoing financial support for the missionary or pastor, this adds even more strain on sending churches, making it difficult to multiply churches and leaders quickly. These factors—lengthy theological training, fundraising, the expectation of providing a salary, and the costs of a church building—have all contributed to the slow spread of the gospel under the “Train and Send” model, particularly in resource-poor or unreached areas.
A Disruptive Model Changing How We Do Church Planting
In recent years, Harvesters Ministries has introduced a disruptive shift in the traditional Missions model by moving from “Train and Send” to a “Plant and Train” approach. Instead of focusing solely on training missionaries to be sent out, Harvesters begins with evangelism and discipleship leading to the planting of churches as the first step. This strategy prioritizes the rapid establishment of local churches in unreached areas, and once these churches are planted, Harvesters trains local indigenous pastors and church members to lead and sustain these congregations. By starting with church planting, the gospel takes root immediately in communities, allowing discipleship and leadership development to happen within the context of an existing church body, rather than waiting for a trained missionary to arrive.
This “Plant and Train” model has revolutionized how church planting is conducted, particularly in remote or restricted-access regions. By empowering local believers from the beginning, Harvesters Ministries equips indigenous pastors to lead their communities, using culturally relevant methods and understanding the unique needs of their people. This decentralized, grassroots approach not only accelerates the spread of the gospel but also makes the church more sustainable in the long term. Indigenous leaders are trained to multiply disciples and plant additional churches, creating a self-sustaining movement. While training remains a critical component, the “Plant and Train” model places church planting at the forefront, disrupting the traditional “Train and Send” paradigm and paving the way for exponential growth in global missions.
In addition to its innovative “Plant and Train” model, Harvesters Ministries has developed the Hub Model, which significantly reduces the cost of planting churches and training pastors.
In the USA the average total cost to train a missionary, relocate their family to the mission field, and support them for their first year ranges from approximately $115,000 to $330,000. This includes the costs of theological education, relocation expenses, annual living support, and ministry-related costs. The wide range reflects the various factors such as the type of training, cost of living in different countries, and specific ministry needs.
Harvesters could plant between 575 and 1,650 churches and train a pastor for each of them for the price of training and sending a single missionary and his family to the field. The process would also be rapid, with discernible results within 24 months, and all the churches planted, and pastors trained within 6-8 years.
Harvesters has also significantly disrupted the MDM (Multiplication Discipleship Movements) and other church planting movements, which do not provide adequate pastoral training for new churches and are experiencing high attrition rates. Harvesters addresses this by combining systematic church planting with pastoral training at every church planted.
The Importance of Training Pastors
Multiplication movements that do not prioritize formal training for pastors often see high attrition rates due to the lack of theological and leadership foundations. Without adequate training, leaders may lack the doctrinal understanding and pastoral skills needed to guide their congregations effectively. This can lead to theological errors, conflict, and eventual burnout, as leaders feel unprepared to address the complex challenges that arise in ministry. They and their churches are vulnerable to cults and false teaching.
In addition to theological gaps, untrained pastors often experience emotional and psychological burnout. Ministry can be demanding, and without the necessary tools for handling stress, conflict, and emotional pressures, many pastors in rapid multiplication movements quickly become overwhelmed. Moreover, the absence of ongoing support structures such as mentorship and accountability leaves these pastors isolated, increasing the likelihood of attrition when they face difficulties in their ministry context.
The practical challenges of ministry, such as cultural engagement, governance, and administration, also contribute to the high attrition rates. Many untrained pastors lack the skills to navigate these challenges, leading to frustration and instability in their churches. Without proper training, these leaders struggle to build sustainable ministries, which affects both their personal endurance and the long-term viability of the churches they lead. Consequently, movements that emphasize rapid multiplication without sufficient training often experience high rates of pastoral burnout and church closures.
Harvesters has committed to training a pastor for every church it plants. Using a four-year curriculum that equips local indigenous leaders while they serve in their local churches, the cost to plant a church and train a pastor is brought down to approximately $200. This remarkable reduction in expenses is achieved through the strategic method of training multiple Hub Leaders at once, in what Harvesters calls “Streams.” By training many leaders simultaneously, the organization leverages economies of scale, ensuring that resources are used efficiently while still providing in-depth training for each leader. This cost-effective approach allows for rapid multiplication of churches in areas with limited resources, making it possible to reach more unreached people with the gospel while ensuring that local pastors are well-prepared to lead and disciple their communities.
Disrupting How Churches and Individuals Support Missions
Asking hard questions of missionaries and agencies is becoming more important than ever. The need is huge, and resources are limited. Beyond asking about vision, calling, training, and the usual information, it is time to ask about effectiveness, impact, and sustainability. Are the results measurable? Is a system in place to track the results? Can they be verified? Can they be visited and inspected? Are new churches mapped out?
What is the attrition rate? This is vitally important. In the church planting world, we often hear about large numbers of churches being planted; however, in many cases, there might be up to a 70% attrition rate. Are these included in the reporting? If so, why?
Do new converts receive Bibles? What discipleship is taking place? Is there replication and multiplication?
Are pastors being trained for every church? Sadly, there are over 2 million churches around the world where the leader is inadequately trained.
What is the ROI of my gift? This is often problematic for people to ask; however, many churches support projects, missionaries, or organizations that are static, dormant, or simply ineffective. Giving is an investment into the fulfillment of the Great Commission, and we should expect results over time.
Harvesters helps churches plant churches, disciples make more disciples and provides adequate pastoral training. Currently, Harvesters works in almost 100 countries. Over 132,000 churches have been planted, and there are over 40,000 student pastors enrolled. Globally, there are almost 200 Streams (movements). The curriculum is available in 70 languages. Over 130 new churches are planted every day.
Vision
Harvesters is currently developing projects aimed at focusing on the 11 “Hot Zones” that we have identified. These areas could be a country or grouping of countries where we foresee (and have experienced) a fast rate of church planting and where we believe we can plant about 75,000 new churches over an 8-10 year period. Areas outside of these “Hot Zones” are “Passion Projects” or “Heart Zones”—areas where we want to work but where multiple factors lead to slower results. An example of a Passion Project would be Egypt. We have planted over 400 churches there but recognize that it, along with the rest of the MENA region, is unlikely to produce the required number of churches to be seen as a Hot Zone.
Together, we can change how missions are done and make a real impact in the world. Our vision is to plant 1,000,000 churches and train a pastor for each of them.
