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!
