Five Ways I Would Equip For Ministry In An Under 200 Church

“It was he [the resurrected, glorified Son of God] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fulness of Christ.” The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 4:11-13

I’ve been asked to tackle the subject of training Christians for ministry in a local church, and I’m excited to do so in light of the truth celebrated above: The all-powerful Son of God himself has given, equipped and empowered gifted men to carry out this task in our churches.

You may be one of them, and since Christ commanded it, it’s not impossible.

One short warning before we proceed: If a pastor is going to give himself to this task – and I think he should – he’s going to need the understanding and maybe even the encouragement of a congregation which understands this calling and concept. Some churches require extensive re-education before they’ll allow their solo or senior pastor to shift from being a fulltime caregiver to being a nearly fulltime, focused, equipper/trainer.

That’s not a transition that pastors simply dance into, but if you’re ready, and your church is ready for you to get to work doing what the Apostle says you should be doing, here goes:

1. I would work to create and maintain a “hothouse” disciple-making culture.

‘Easier said than done, right?

You’re right, it is, but it’s not impossible. The four points (#’s 2-5) I’ll present below will make this more specific, but foundationally:

• I would preach/teach the Word of God (the whole thing, as in Acts 20:20-27, II Timothy 3:16,17) clearly, simply and boldly, always with the end in mind of creating strong, obedient, active Christians and never with the goal in mind of creating “Bible-balleyhooing” experts. Jesus did not say we should teach everything he commanded; He said we are to teach disciples to obey everything he commanded (Matthew 28:18-20).
• I would preach, explain, model and expect discipleship growth. I would constantly communicate that every member of this church should be regularly repenting, growing, developing and refining their God-given gifts.
• I would preach, explain, model and expect that every member of our mission (our church) should be serving the church and seeking to win the lost. “Every member ministry and every member evangelism” are great descriptive terms.
• As I said above, the following points will help to clarify this new (for many churches) but ancient paradigm.

2. I would seek to persuade the church to adopt a simple, flexible module for growth in discipleship.

It has become fashionable these days to make fun of discipleship training via “fill-in-the-blanks” booklets. I’m aware of how easy it is to assume that the person who has looked up the verses and filled in the blanks has grasped the concepts involved, the worst scenarios being the ones where folks are allowed to fill in the blanks with the answers they’ve heard from the people sitting next to them in a class or small group.

It’s true that the transfer of information is not enough; New Testament-era disciple-making involved following examples (I Thessalonians 1:4-7) and the encouragement and challenge of serious relationships (I Thessalonians 5:14, Galatians 6:1-4, etc.). Sermons, books and booklets will never be enough without real relationships with real people.

But there’s still a place for the flexible use of curricula, books and booklets which teach the basics of Christian discipleship. They are not an end in themselves, but they can be very helpful when used in the right way by the right people. It certainly looks like the Apostle Paul himself had a curriculum for basic Christian living which he used everywhere (I Corinthians 11:2 & 16, II Timothy 1:13,14, 2:1,2).

The right booklet or curricula (1) reflects closely the theology of the church which adopts it, (2) is sometimes written by a leader in that congregation, (3) is based on that particular congregation’s understanding of what Christian maturity looks like, (4) is used in multiple formats including classes, small groups and one-on-one discipling relationships, (5) helps establish a clear discipleship pattern and nomenclature and can even (6) become a basis for church discipline.

Increasingly, materials created by publishers for this purpose are action and application oriented¹ and represent a big improvement over the old “fill-in-the blanks” booklets of the past.

3. I would seek to persuade the church to adopt a clear, simple, model for every-member evangelism.

• The chosen model should be accessible to introverts and extroverts, gifted evangelists and even by those who are terrified by evangelism.
• The BLESS model² is not the only option available by any means, but it illustrates what I’m talking about. Used consistently and persistently (did you notice those two words?), the whole congregation knows that they – along with their leaders – are expected to: Begin with prayer for non-Christians whom they know, Listen to them well, Eat meals with them, Serve them in love and Share their own salvation stories with them. Am I fair in saying that any Christian should be able to do this?
• The keys to making this work are challenging and simple. The pastor and the church’s lay leaders must practice this consistently. It must be reiterated and encouraged from the pulpit often. You cannot let it become a secret passcode (known only to a few) or last year’s special program. People will test you on this; those not inclined to follow pastoral leadership will wait for you to forget about it and move on to something else. Please don’t say that “the campaign didn’t work” if your people don’t even remember what the letters of BLESS stand for.
• Beware of substituting a series of evangelism seminars for the every-member-evangelism proposal I’m making here. Evangelism seminars are almost exclusively attended by those who are already practicing evangelism (probably less than 10% of your church). Your seminars may improve the work of these precious folks, but they’ll never be attended by 90% of your church.

4. I would recruit and train ministry leaders, whether paid staff members, as in larger churches, or key volunteers in smaller churches, to always be discipling and mentoring at least one other person who can eventually take their place.

• Pastors who want cooperation with this will need to set the pace by seeking to equip future church board member or even pastors, if possible (II Timothy 2:1-2).
• Leaders who are being expected to train their successors can be greatly helped by being equipped with a simple mentoring program. In my long-term pastorate, we used something called Leadership Development Through S.E.R.V.I.C.E.³ I purchased one 8 1/2 by 11 book (with tear-out pages) to work the program. We used it, with joy, for years.
• In the S.E.R.V.I.C.E program, each letter stands for a training assignment chosen by the mentor, such as a Study course, a Reading project or Convention attendance. Mentor and mentee meet together monthly. They talk about life, problems, ministries, S.E.R.V.I.C.E. program assignments and pray together. This method is incredibly flexible. Assignments are given which fit the gifts, the ministry passions and the learning styles of the mentees. Mentors report to the pastor on the progress of their mentee. Those who are struggling with their mentees can turn to the pastor for help or guidance.

5. I would develop and deploy flexible training modules for equipping men and women in a variety of ministry skills needed in a particular church ministry. In my long-term pastorate I did this primarily in the form of 3-6 hour-long Saturday or Sunday seminars, as well as shorter training sessions held on weeknights. In my subsequent interim pastorates, I discovered that I needed to adapt the materials I had deployed earlier to use in multiple formats.

Training sessions I developed – some of them in coordination with some wonderful, gifted church members who shared the teaching with me – included: Inductive Bible study, Bible interpretation, classroom Bible teaching, children’s Sunday School teaching, volunteer recruiting and management, evangelism (referred to with a “sigh” above), leadership, life-management, conflict resolution, “boardsmanship” (how to be a board member), ushering and greeting, public Scripture reading as well as baptism preparation and child-dedication readiness.

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Let’s end this with the truth with which we began: We can do this. We can do this because our living Savior has called us to it and gifted us for it. Initially, it will be extremely labor-intensive for the pastor. Long-term, it will multiply the effectiveness of the pastor and the church.

Want to talk or pray?  Contact me at churchwhisperer@gmail.com and let’s set something up. I won’t charge you for a good conversation and some compassionate prayer.

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¹ Rooted, is a great example of this kind of action-oriented discipleship training program, but there are many other options available.  See www.experiencerooted.com

  ² David and Jon Ferguson, BLESS: Everyday Ways To Love Your Neighbor And Change The World.

³ See Leadership Development Through S.E.R.V.I.C.E. by Robert C. Messner, Standard Publishing, 1989. This book is still available with a little searching. In the book, the S is for “study course,” the E. is for “educational planning,” the R is for “reading project,” the V is for “visitation experience,” the I is for “interest expansion,” the C is for “convention attendance” and the final E is for “evaluation period.” In our church, we took great liberty with matching assignments to participants.