PLI is all about training and developing multiplying missionary leaders all over the world! Through our training, we serve six regions: Africa, Asia, Eurasia, Latin America, USA/Canada, and Western Europe.

We believe God is raising up pastors and leaders for His church across the world. God has promised to do this and is answering our prayers. These pastors, spouses, and leaders yearn to effectively lead God’s people, to bring people together to work in unity to make disciples and start evangelistic communities for the sake of fulfilling God’s mission. And they need leadership Learning Communities and fellow, experienced Christian leaders who are willing to come alongside them and their spouses. They need to be encouraged, equipped, and empowered in their missional leadership development.

This is why we provide the training we do. We believe that through PLI’s training and an equipped and transformed pastor, spouse, and key leader, baptized believers can be released into and empowered for their participation in the Mission of God, together!

Over the last two weeks, we’ve looked at PLI’s Work in Africa and What We’ve Learned about Church Growth in Africa. Now, let’s look ahead at how our work in Africa is shaping our work elsewhere.

Looking Ahead in 2025

Dr. Felix Niba’s Cameroon-based team, along with the training they are already doing in eight regions around Cameroon, is planning to train an additional 500 couples in 50 locations in Cameroon and will expand PLI’s reach to Benin, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, and Nigeria. They also aim to begin to train a team of French-speaking Cameroonian immigrant pastors as Master Trainers in Belgium, France, Germany, and Italy, as well as to begin the training of Local Trainers in Canada with trained Cameroonian Master Trainers living in Canada.

Meanwhile, PLI will start training Master Trainers in Zambia and Malawi, bringing together multiple denominations. South Africa’s training, now in its third year, involves over ten denominations.

What Training Master Trainers means is that the training in those regions will multiply as those Master Trainers are empowered to train additional Local Trainers, who then along with the Master Trainers who trained them, begin to hold additional trainings on a local level for an ever-increasing number of leaders. The strategy is the following: We first work with our local PLI Leader who recruits a team of leaders to be trained as Master Trainers, and then a small team of Principle Trainers begin to train that group of Master Trainers. Those Master Trainers in teams of two couples, then begin to train an even larger group of Local Trainers. Those Local Trainers, along with Master Trainers in teams of two to three couples, then begin to train large groups of local ministry leaders in dozens of locations around their country or within their network. This approach makes it possible to train hundreds and even thousands of leaders beyond what we at PLI could ever train on our own.

Across Africa, PLI is equipping leaders from over 60 denominations and 100 church bodies. Based on this successful multiplication model, we are responding to new requests for training worldwide.

How Our Work in Africa Will Impact the US/Canada Region

We are exploring potential locations and dates for a pilot training program in the USA/Canada region, building on the international training model that has been so effective in Africa and beyond. Our goal is to learn from these pilot programs and create a framework for multiplication. To support this effort, we are developing communication materials for key leaders to assist in recruitment and to cast a vision for adapting the international curriculum and strategy to the USA/Canada context.

And Beyond… The Global Need for Leadership Training

According to the Pew Charitable Research Center, “The world’s Christian population is expected to grow from 2.2 billion in 2010 to 2.9 billion in 2050.”

This rapid growth, particularly in Africa, highlights the urgent need for leadership training to equip church leaders for these expanding Christian communities. While Africa is expected to have the largest increase, other regions are also in need of strategic training to sustain and strengthen the Church worldwide

IMPACT

Calculating Kingdom Impact

At PLI, we track the number of leaders who go through our training each year. In 2023, we trained nearly 4,000 leaders. In 2024, that number grew to over 17,000, and in 2025, we anticipate training at least that many. However, true kingdom impact is not just about leaders trained—it is about how many disciples are equipped to make more disciples. If each leader trains just 10 disciples, by the end of this decade, our kingdom impact will surpass 1,000,000!

How You Can Pray for PLI’s Expansion

PLI has inquiries from over 12  countries seeking training. Expanding into these regions depends on available trainers and funding. Please pray that God will continue to provide the resources needed to meet this growing demand. Additionally, as we explore opportunities in the United States and Canada, pray for wisdom in selecting locations, engaging the right leaders, and successfully adapting the international curriculum to the North American context.

Contributors: Rika Beckley, Rev. Dr. Scott Rische, Sherrah Behrens