How we do it:
5-Level Leadership and Evangelism Development Program
Even brand-new Christians can begin training for leadership and evangelism. SOWERS International doesn’t believe Christians should just be in “receiving” mode all the time. Right from the go, we have a story to tell of how Jesus has changed our lives.
With some basic evangelism training, we can learn how to tell others about what God has done in a way that is effective, practical, and respectful.
Read testimonies from each Level.
Amazing stories of God’s transformative power and love!
The 5-Level Training Program is about leadership development and evangelism, not theology or Bible knowledge. That’s up to the church and the individual Christians, who need to nurture and grow their own faith. This Program is for people who want to impact their communities with the gospel.
The hallmark of the 5-Level Training Program is that it easily transfers across cultures. All materials get translated into local languages and taught, whenever possible, by local leaders.
Let’s imagine a new believer named Chike, who gets saved at an open air meeting and wants to devote his life to fulfilling the Great Commission. Let’s go with Chike as he progresses through the 5-Level Training Program.
Level 1
This 10–12 hour course is open to any member of a local church that has decided it wants training in the SOWERS method of open-air evangelism. You don’t need to be well-educated, or even know how to read. Chike can read, fortunately, and excitedly heads to the training.
Many people who attend Level 1 are just like Chike, and have recently given their lives to God in an open-air meeting. Now part of the local church, they want to learn how to tell others about God’s salvation.
What You Learn in Level 1
- How to be used by God
- How to use the SOWERS-developed booklet to lead someone to Christ
- How to behave as part of a team conducting an open air meeting
- Basic spiritual counseling – help someone see their sin and their need for repentance
- Basic spiritual parenting – follow up after the meeting with people who respond to the gospel
Before he graduates, Chike goes out on his first open air meeting as part of a team of about ten. Most of the other team members are Level 1 graduates like him. They won’t have to preach the message, but they all get to use the booklet to counsel people who respond to it.
Level 1’s evangelism training prepared Chike to lead individuals to Jesus through prayer and counseling. It equipped him to be part of an open-air ministry team. After going on a few outreaches, Chike is ready for more. He signs up for a Level 2 training.
Level 2
Level 2 will prepare him to lead his own ministry team and preach to a crowd of attenders using a sketch board.
This is a 30 hour course, and usually takes 4 or 5 days to complete. Sometimes they combine it with Level 1 and do both in 5 of 6 days.
It is a workshop-based, hands-on approach. Chike gets to practice preaching and creating materials for a real presentation. His faith and confidence grow as he preaches to a fellow student and the other student does the same. Then, they give feedback, and receive it from the Level 4 teacher as well.
What you learn in Level 2
- How to plan and conduct open air meetings
- Leading a team
- Giving your testimony in 3 minutes
- Sketch board training
- Practical presentation skills
- How to prepare and preach a gospel message
An ideal open ministry team has 10 or more people, and more than one Level 2 graduate. After the Level 2 training, Chike goes on his next outreach. This time, he is in charge of arranging the meeting location and preparing the sketch board materials. He will also be sharing his testimony to the crowd, after the other Level 2 graduate he’s partnered with gives the main presentation.
Chike has become an experienced and effective presenter of the gospel. After completing his tenth open air meeting, and preaching the gospel using the sketch board for the third time, he is asked by another leader from SOWERS if he’s interested in Level 3 training.
Level 3
As a Level 3 graduate, Chike will be able to teach Level 1 evangelism seminars.
The Level 3 class takes 2-3 days, and equips students to be even more versatile as they continue to lead open air meetings. But its primary goal is to train them to teach the Level 1 courses to people in their area. Like before, this includes role play, where they practice teaching the class to the other students. If possible, they will also get to teach a real class, under supervision from the teacher.
What you learn in Level 3
- Review and improve your open air ministry skills
- Enhance team leadership skills
- Training on how to teach the Level 1 course
Chike finds several ways to improve his ministry leadership, and then teaches his first Level 1 course. He gets feedback from his Level 5 instructor, and then returns home to start planning his next open air meeting.
It’s been a tough few months for Chike. Teaching Level 1 proves to be challenging, because now he has all these students he hopes will succeed in their evangelism, in addition to his own ministry outreaches. Some of them have done great, but others have struggled.
But still, Chike has taught five Level 1 classes, and continues to grow his own open air ministry. One outreach even led to his first church plant in a nearby town. After his fifth class, he is invited to enter the Level 4 Training Program.
Level 4
Level 4 will equip Chike to teach the Level 2 course. He’ll now be raising up future leaders who can run open air meetings, just like himself. Level 4 is more like an internship than a class, and it can take several months to complete.
What you learn in Level 4
- How to teach, promote, and organize Level 2 evangelism seminars
- Teach four or more Level 2 seminars under supervision
In all, there are seven benchmarks to meet in order to receive the Level 4 certification. The last one is the blessing and commendation of your church. After the Level 5 supervisor watches Chike teach a Level 2 class, he has the joy of being honored by his church as he receives his certificate.
Chike has a flourishing ministry. He has taught dozens of Level 1 and 2 courses, and several of his students are now leading their own open air evangelism outreaches.
But then he learns about a group of churches in a remote area has no one to teach the Level 1 course in their language. Chike asks another Sower what to do. “Become a Level 5 trainer!”
Level 5
As a Level 5, Chike will be able to teach the Level 3 course to the Level 2’s in that area who can understand him, and then his Level 3 students will be able to teach the Level 1 course in the native language.
The result of all this is simple – more people will hear and receive the gospel in a way they can understand and respond to. And the kingdom of God will spread.
What you learn in Level 5
- How to teach the Level 3 and 4 courses
- Additional encouragement, teaching, and conferences according the needs of the individuals
- Additional ministry experiences and strategic planning and administration
Now a Level 5 SOWERS Trainer of Trainers, Chike teaches the teachers of Level 3 and Level 4. And when the first open air meeting in that remote area takes place, he is overjoyed upon hearing the report of how many have turned to God.
As Jesus said, “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” Reading this passage one day, Chike realizes just how great the need is.
By taking the last step and becoming a Level 5, Chike can devote his entire life to equipping and releasing more workers for Christ into ministry.
By learning how to evaluate Level 4 trainers and being given more responsibility in his nation, Chike will be influencing thousands of people every year with the gospel, directly and indirectly.
Your Level – Supporting the Spread of the Gospel in All Nations
You may not live in a SOWERS nation, but you can still be like Chike as part of spreading the gospel to thousands of people every year.
When Sowers like Chike can’t raise enough support, they have to find ways to fund it themselves. Sometimes this means special projects. Other times they have to find work for themselves or their families.
Either way, this distracts them from their mission for the lost, and reduces their effectiveness.
SOWERS is incredibly efficient – it only takes a small amount to fully fund one minister, and as you’ve seen from these Levels – one minister will influence thousands of people per year.
You can be a part of leading thousands to turn to Jesus. You can change nations.
Zambia is changing.
Malawi is changing.
The Philippines is changing.
Nepal is changing.
Ghana is changing.
Ivory Coast is changing.
As we keep expanding in these and other nations, you will see the effects of the gospel.
You will see an increase in family stability.
A decrease in poverty, crime, and disease.
A decrease in political instability and corruption.
An increase in economic growth.
An increase in education and world influence.
The gospel changes hearts first. But in the long run, it changes cultures, and eventually the world.