14 April 2003 Greetings in the wonderful name of Jesus! I want to tell you about an important step forward for the ministry of Pacific Partners. It comes as an answer to our prayer over many years. ______________ I recently heard that there are THREE STEPS OF MATURITY in any Christian cross-cultural ministry. The FIRST STEP is when outsiders come into a country and do all the ministry work themselves. The SECOND STEP is when local people begin doing the work of the ministry under outside leadership. The THIRD STEP is when the ministry begins to grow under the leadership of local people, with the help of outsiders.

This is the way the Apostle Paul established churches during his missionary trips. He told Timothy (a local leader) "You have heard me teach many things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Teach these great truths to trustworthy people who are able to pass them on to others." (2 Timothy 2:2 NLT) This is God's method of discipling the nations and we are seeing it happen through Pacific Partners.

And I think there is also a FOURTH STEP. When local leaders start sharing and sending their skills (and people) outside their own area to help plant ministry in other nations. This step brings us right back to the FIRST STEP. We now have leaders from Tonga responsible for Pacific Partners Trust at board level, and we are now ready to send someone from Tonga to help establish Christian radio in Vanuatu (and then in other places).