Some of us remember this statement from many years ago. However, it has lost none of its relevance and importance to the work of multiplying disciples and communities of believers.
“Nationals do it better” is meant to focus our eyes on the ‘end’ as well as the process of ministry. 
The ‘end’ to which cross cultural ministry is directed is a movement of multiplication across a people group. The most fruitful or effective way for this to happen is when national believers take responsibility for the ministry. One researcher noted that no long term church planting movement has ever been launched or carried out by expat workers. If that is the case, then more effort needs to be made in investing in others.
Investing in others, particularly nationals, runs into a number of potential hindrances.
First, the hindrance of short term fruit versus long term fruit. The work of ‘investing in’ others is long term. You will not see the fruit or results of working to help others grow in Christ in a short period of time. This is why we often prefer to do the ministry ourselves. Fruit comes more quickly, but may not be the long term fruit needed to see a ministry multiply in the long term.
Second, the hindrance of a limited view of the Spirit’s work in the lives of others. How many times have we thought our efforts wasted when no discernible fruit was seen in the lives of those we discipled? Yet, at a much later point that effort finally yielded more fruit than we thought possible. Our efforts were not in vain (1 Corinthians 15), the Spirit applied the truths of Scripture at His appointed time, and we learned that these national believers did a better job of sharing those same truths with others.
Finally, the hindrance of wrongly attributed glory. We can be unaware of how often the ministry centres on us. If we listen to our conversations (or read our prayer letters), it is uncanny how often we talk about ‘my ministry’ or ‘the church I am leading’ or ‘the small group I started’. The glory is being attributed to the wrong person. God seeks for ‘all the saints’ to be participating and ministering in this temple He calls the Church. The glory goes to him as we give away the ministry to those we serve.
“Nationals do it better” means we look long term, we trust the Spirit, and we decide that “whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, we do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31)
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rapped up in Him and our mission flows out of that identity.
rkers have been encouraging you for a while to think about next steps in the church planting continuum. Now you are feeling that it is time to ‘turn over’ this group to the local believers. 
l T. “Foundations are forever” means that the principles we first ‘pour into’ our work of discipleship and church planting cannot be easily changed at a later point.
se days and seeing their enduring importance to life and ministry.
