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WHY PASTORS AND MISSIONARIES FAIL TO TRAIN LEADERS

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WHY PASTORS AND MISSIONARIES FAIL TO TRAIN LEADERS

Baptist

“And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon.  And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.  Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king’s pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass.  Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned.  And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.  Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.  Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.” Nehemiah 2:12-18.

  1. MANY DON’T KNOW HOW TO TRAIN LEADERS
  2. MANY ASSUME NO ONE WANTS TO SERVE
  3. MANY ASSUME NO ONE IS SPIRITUAL ENOUGH TO SERVE
  4. MANY WANT TO DO IT ALL, THAT WAY THEY GET THE GLORY
  5. MANY ARE TOO INSECURE TO TRAIN OTHERS. THIS MAY BE THE #1 REASON
  6. MANY FEAR THAT OTHERS WILL EXCEL THEMSELVES IN LEADERSHIP
  7. MANY LOVE DOING IT ALL. THAT IS THEIR SELF-FULFILLMENT
  8. MANY WANT TO KEEP THE CHURCH SMALL FOR SELFISH AND PERSONAL REASONS
  9. MANY HAVE WIVES WHO DON’T WANT LEADERS WHO MIGHT COMPETE WITH THEIR HUSBANDS
  10. MANY DON’T REALIZE THAT JESUS SPENT MOST OF HIS MINISTRY TRAINING LEADERS

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PREACHING, TEACHING, AND TRAINING

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PREACHERS SHOULD PREACH, TEACH, AND TRAIN

“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.” Matthew 4:23.

“Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.” Acts 15:35.

“Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.” Acts 28:31

Preaching is the message announced by preachers and is primarily for the purpose of conversion. We could say, with accuracy, Jesus preached to the multitudes, and taught His Disciples. Perhaps the Twelve taught the Seventy and the Seventy, the hundred and twenty.

Teaching consist of the message taught by preachers that explains, clarifies, and applies, with exhortation. It is primarily for building faith, Christian conviction, and character. One of the qualifications of a pastor is he must be “apt to teach.” (I Tim. 3:2. II Tim. 2:24). Paul seemed to have his greatest success by teaching. Many pastors are excellent preachers, but they also need to distinguish between the two, and master teaching.

Training is a task whereby preachers develop skill sets in trainees.  According to Webster’s Dictionary, the definition of training is: the act, process, or method of one that trains. The skill, knowledge, or experience acquired by one that trains. The state of being trained. A young doctor who’s still in training. She’s in training for the Olympics.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Training others may be the greatest weakness of many good preachers.[/perfectpullquote]

Synonyms: drill, practice (also practice), routine, exercise, workout, assignment, homework, lesson; brush up, refresher, review, spring training, a process by which someone is taught the skills that are needed for an art, profession, or job. The process by which an athlete prepares for competition by exercising, practicing, etc. It is the skill, knowledge, or experience acquired by a person or animal who has trained. Thus, training is showing how, assisting in the task, the trainee performs the task. Correction and encouragement are given as necessary. Training others may be the greatest weakness of many good preachers.

MINISTRY AND BUSINESS

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YOUNG PASTORS DON’T UNDERSTAND THE MINISTRY

MINISTRYKen Blue

“Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.  But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.” Acts 6:3-4.

I went to Bible College to learn the Bible and be a preacher. One comment by our Homiletic’s professor stands out in my mind more clearly than any other. He said, “Preaching is about 1/10 of the ministry”. That comment offended me, and I didn’t believe it. I loved to preach, so he can’t be correct in that comment.

When Joyce and I started the Open Door Baptist Church in 1969 we had an empty building with about one hundred empty chairs. Back then everything was about soul winning and preaching however, before that year was over, we had over a hundred in the morning service and all in the same room.  We had a problem, and something had to change, and change quick!

We had to get the nursery age out of the preaching service so, I had to find a place and a worker for that problem. The girls’ bathroom became a place and my wife became the worker but that did not completely solve the problem. The six through eight year olds were bored, restless and distracting. There was an unfinished room in the back of the building.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“Preaching is about 1/10 of the ministry”[/perfectpullquote]

This room would work, but we needed a teacher. We found a faithful lady, so that problem was readily solved. However, now it was time to move to a new location if we were to continue our growth.

We found a local school where we met for about a year but, we had to set up and take down all the chairs. So someone had to be appointed for this task. In addition, we now needed ushers, money counters, book keepers and expenses paid. I had no idea that we needed to be incorporated in Washington State. This was “business” that was required by law, and Bible College forgot to tell me about these things.

Moreover, for the first three years I was the song leader, so it was my task to select songs everybody knew. In time, God gave us someone to play a piano, but at that time, we did not have one, so that became another order of business. In addition, I also directed our small choir and taught the teachers next Sunday’s lesson…..Whew!

More and more I needed the help of others. In a few years there where hundreds of ministries that needed to be attended to, and someone had to attend them and I was learning that my professor was right.

There are many gifted preachers who can’t tie their own shoes, thus they can never build a growing church. Then, there are men gifted in management, who are not the best of preachers. Guess who builds a growing church? The one who learns how to manage the business side of the ministry!

My advice to the novice pastor is three things. Learn all you can about soul winning, (I mean getting them saved, baptized and in the church membership). Learn how to recruit, delegate and manage the total ministry and learn how to rightly divide the Bible and how to teach it. Bathe all this in prayer, depending on the Holy Spirit.

You must learn how to manage as well as preach, but if management is a weakness of yours, then find someone in the church you can trust, and let them help you in this area. “Preaching is about 1/10 of the ministry” but, “Pastoring” takes both preaching and management.

HOW TO KILL A CHURCH; A MILE DEEP AND AN INCH WIDE

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Kill a church

 

By Ken Blue

All of us have heard of the tragic results when doctors make a mistake and give the patient the wrong injection or pills. Many times the results are fatal. That is one reason others should be brought in to assist and assure that mistakes are not made.

I’m sure no pastor or church member would purposely inject a church with ministry concepts that would kill it. In most cases the intended goal is to make the church better. However, many of those decisions are based on preferences rather than on proven methods.

A few years ago, at a preacher’s conference, I heard a pastor criticize churches larger than his own by accusing them of being an “inch deep and a mile wide.” I discovered that his church was neither an inch deep nor an inch wide. I was more like ¼ inch in both directions.

One sure way to kill a church is to put more emphasis on maturity than reaching the lost. When a church becomes more concerned about teaching than reaching, it is only a matter of time till rigor mortis sets in. The leadership then continues to inject embalming fluid, in an attempt to make the corpse appear to be alive. The shift to teaching will kill church growth.

[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]One sure way to kill a church is to put more emphasis on teaching than reaching.[/pullquote]

Another sure way to kill a church is to have a dead, dull music service. Dr. Jack Hyles built one of the largest churches in America. I personally heard him say that the KEY to an exciting church is atmosphere. Music and decor set the atmosphere. So liven up and mix up your music. You cannot have an Episcopal song service, a Lutheran sermon, and a Pentecostal invitation.

Finally, you kill a church by making sure that your preaching’s only purpose is to fill up the 11:00 hour. The average pastor has no purpose or theme in his messages to reach the purpose statement of the church; if it has one. Can you connect your sermons, lessons, activities, and advertisement to your church purpose statement? If not, your statement means nothing, or your sermons serve no purpose.

If I had to choose, which I did not, between a church that was “an inch deep and a mile wide or a church that was a mile deep and an inch wide,” the choice would be easy. I would take the wider church every time. I have no interest in a handful of “deeper life Christians” that sit around and criticize those of us who have not reached their spiritual depth. Also, there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who gets saved than there is over your deeper life sermon. So, aim at reaching the lost and infuse new life in your church.

THE DRIFTING CHURCH

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Drifting church

By Ken Blue

If a church is drifting, one of two causes exists: The church has no charted destination, or the captain is asleep at the wheel.

The church that is adrift, with no clear destination, is at the mercy of the current. Its only objective is to get through another Sunday. Next Sunday will be another day, and we will deal with it as we did today.

This is the status of many churches. Their only goal is have church Sunday and observe another phenomena. The bulletin is printed because churches are expected to have them. The songs are selected with no relevance to the pastor’s message, and the sermon is preached with no intended purpose or expected results. Everything rises and ebbs with the tide. This is the church without clear objectives or destination and is adrift.

Some churches have a purpose statement, somewhere, but like a New Year’s resolution; they write it and forget it. It has no bearing on anything that actually happens. Statements are easy to write, but old habits are hard to break. Unless we plan everything according to a clear destination, we are simply drifting in circles.

Even with a clear destination, it is difficult to keep a church on course. Churches are like ships and airplanes. All are prone to drift. The only hope is to have a strong rudder and an alert captain at the wheel.

The question is, is your church adrift; if so, why? Is it because you don’t have a clear vision of what you are trying to do, how to do it, and where you want to go? Or, is it because your church activities have nothing to do with the purpose statement you have misplaced? Only you can stop the drifting.