Before we ever set foot among the Mahafaly, we knew we needed an end goal. As they say, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.” Deciding on a general end goal wasn’t too tough: A multitude of Mahafaly knowing and worshipping the Lord! But what exactly is a multitude? 100, 1000, 100,000? And do we just need to reach a certain number of believers or do we need a certain number of churches? And if we want a certain number of churches, do we just go by quantity or do we also judge by quality?

 

Over the years, we came up with our own human definitions of what those goals should look like. But, as we have actually reached the “exit” phase, the truth we have found is that there is no magical number, no perfect goal we can check off. Church planting is messy. It constantly evolves in all directions. We can set a goal of one hundred churches, leave and within a year find that only one remains. Or we can “exit” with one church and return to find that they have multiplied into one hundred. The importance is not in the number, but in the obedience to the Lord. We sincerely believe that if we are abiding in Christ each and every day, He will lead us in his timing.

 

With that being said, we do have hopes, dreams, and goals we feel the Lord is leading us in as a team. Here are a few of the milestones we would like to see reached before leaving, God willing.

 

1. Healthy churches that are reproducing healthy churches: This is one of the toughest for us to measure. We have several hundred groups and churches working to grow as believers and church bodies. They definitely have the reproduction part down, but we need to make sure that these churches have a strong theology. Most of this will just come through time, experience, and discipleship.

2. Healthy leadership: We want a strong core leadership, capable of leading the work theologically, spiritually, and missionally. For us this means making sure our leaders are not only equipped in these areas and able to carry on the work without us, but also have a vision for reaching all Mahafaly and beyond with the Good News. This practically plays out as we pass on the leadership slowly, according to capability, until they are functioning in all leadership capacities without us.  

3. Healthy Support Structures: We want theologically and organizational grounded support for the leaders and churches to turn to for further theological training, accountability, and encouragement. For us, this means connecting them to the national Baptist convention, both relationally and structurally. It also means working to train up the Baptist convention in vision and strategy in order to align the two partners in a meaningful and cohesive way.