Leaders Equipping Leaders

Hey friends! This week I am on Spring Break from my studies! Maybe you are too. I'm taking a one week long class entitled Training Local Church Leaders. To be honest, it is proving to must more difficult than I expected. So... 

I wanted to share with you an exert from one of my oral presentations. It is a little different than what you normally get from me on here. It's a lot more leadership focused. However, I believe that it will either challenge you to be a part of a healthy church body and or focus you on the call of all believers to make disciples for Christ! So read on...

 

The church's main goal is to glorify God. The church's mission is to make disciples (Mt. 28:19-20). The Scriptures are clear that in order for this to happen leaders are to equip others to understand and fulfill their role in the body of Christ. 

In The Leadership Baton, author Jeff Jones says, "If we evaluate pastors primarily on how well they are doing ministry as individuals, we are emphasizing the wrong criterion" (p.35). The goal of the pastor is to equip. It is imperative that leadership development remain (or become) a high priority for any congregational body and it's leaders, if they hope to be biblical and effective in their ministry. "Without leadership the church is unable to fulfill it's purposes of ministering effectively to those within and reaching those on the outside, nor can it render the glory to God that he deserves" (Pastoral Ministry, MacArthur, ch.17). An underdeveloped leadership within the context of the local church is a recipe for a direct contradiction of Paul's exhortation for a mature body of Christ. 

"And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelist, the shepherds and teachers (pastors), to equip he saints for the work of ministry, for building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ," (Eph. 4:11-13). 

It is the responsibility of all believers to make disciples. This is a biblical principle. The fact that we call ourselves Christians is synonymous with the identity of disciple-makers (PM, MacArthur). But pastors and leaders are to set an example and create a culture for developing leaders by realizing and fulfilling their calling to equip. Paul disciples Timothy to live by example when he says, 

"Let no one despise you (...) but set an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity" (1 Tim. 4:12).

This exemplary discipline of leadership must be a part of every believer's heartbeat or DNA. It must be a part of the church's culture. "As [we] work to develop a culture of leadership development, remember that [we] will create in a church what[we] model" (Baton, p.35). It is understood that most churches have no intention strategy for developing leaders. Understanding that "Strategic thinkers determine the most important long-term goals, and then develop plans to reach those goals" (p.61), leads one to acknowledge thee need for alignment among those involved in leading. Often there is a common goal of discipleship with varying philosophies about of discipleship. This even happens in the context of a local church among leadership. It is the equivalent of a car being out of alignment. This of course is a recipe for disaster as well (thought borrowed from Simple Church, Eric Gieger). 

I suggest that the most effective to equip those following is to faithfully equip by example. This will lead to the Church becoming what Paul describes as one working properly, building itself up in love (Eph. 4:16). 

(end of exert)

It is my hope and prayer that this has been encouraging to you as you seek to live obediently to the call on all believer's lives to reach the world with the love of Christ and His Gospel! 

Blessings!

Promotion or Devotion?

One of the most common Scriptures that I hear quoted is Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through him who strengthens me." It is a powerful, motivational and great claim to grab on to this truth! The concern I have is that most of the time I hear people quoting it they are speaking of "all things" in reference to their worldly ambitions. Is this you? Do you say, "I will get that promotion, or I will achieve this goal"? 

The word ambition comes from the Latin word meaning "campaigning for promotion." I have often thought of myself as an ambitious guy. When I was 18 I couldn't sleep one night thinking about what I was going to do with my life. The year before was the year of 9/11 when our towers fell because of terrorist's ambition. I got out of bed and researched online about the military. The next day I spoke with a recruiter. The next week I enlisted in the Marine Corp. I was very ambitious. I think I even remember saying, "I can do this through Christ who strengthens me." It is true that Christ could strengthen me to serve in our nations military but was he asking me to that or was I simply compelled by my own ambition? I've learned that the later is true. A year later God provided a way out of this commitment that I had made and through a series of events I ended up in my first ministry position as a youth pastor. 

The amazing thing to understand is that Paul was referring to living a life of being content without in any situation. Read vv.10-12 to see what I mean. Never single out a verse and claim it apart from it's context. 

Think of how this applies to a believer's service to the kingdom of God and the body of Christ. Are we really ready to be a servant as Christ was a servant. "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life..." (Mk 10:45). Oswald Chambers said, "It is one thing to follow God's way of service if you are regarded as a hero, but quite another if the road marked out for you by God requires becoming a doormat under other people's feet" (Utmost for His Highest; Feb. 5th). Are we servants when in all circumstances or just the easy ones? I pray all! 

It is not wrong to want better. Ambition is no sin. The sin is in the heart of the ambitious. By what are we compelled? Promotion or devotion? J Oswald Sanders said, "Ambition which centers on the glory of God and welfare of the church is a mighty force for good" (Spiritual Leadership, p.13). Chambers asks, "Are you willing to give and be poured out until you are used up and exhausted - not seeking to be ministered to but to minister?" (Feb. 5th).

It is this type of service Jesus was talking about when he said, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Mt 16:24). I believe it is this type of servant who can truly cling to the proclamation "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13). 

Blessings! 

Copyright: Jonathan Spencer, 2009.