elders

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Growing Leaders and Developing Disciples: How To

Last time I made the point that we consistently struggle to train leaders and develop disciples. My observation was that in my own denomination, there have been few systematic examples of intentional, coherent and effective discipleship processes.

What can we do about that?

At the outset I want to say there is no cookbook. What I mean is there’s no sure fire method of leadership and discipleship development that will work in every context. I am often surprised how quickly church leaders will look to one or the other model of something that is working well somewhere else, thinking they can just unscrew it from that local church context and bolt it on to their own. In so doing they ignore the factors of development in the original context, and they underestimate the unique developmental characteristics of their own local church. In reality, every local church is different, and will be best served by an approach that applies Scriptural emphases in their own specific context. Sure, we can learn from what others do, but nothing beats an approach that grows out of the local context, addresses local issues, works with local strengths, and which addresses local challenges.

Growing healthy churches and leading disciples toward maturity will be best advanced by a combination of thoughtfully applied programs pitched toward sound discipleship processes.

Here’s what we are prayerfully undertaking in 2014 to address the ‘program’ or ministry side of things at Gateway Community Church:

Leader & Elder Training

We’ll be doing some focused leader/elder training which will look at – amongst other things – the nature of biblical leadership (which is servanthood), the leader’s spirituality, the leader’s character, the leader’s faith and life, leading and teamwork. There will be extension units available which will address aspects of leadership specific to elders: pastoral visiting, pastoral skills, the call to eldership, elder qualifications.

As we progress through these units we’re hoping various leadership skills and passions will be unearthed among those who participate. The hope is that these training contexts will become a natural breeding ground for all kinds of leaders. The more we demystify the task and calling, and the more we prepare and equip people for ministry, the more depth we will have in our future leadership. Further, the more leaders we have, the more people we will have to train and develop others.

Preaching group

We want to start a preaching group. Ideally, this will develop people with preaching gifts or aspirations, giving them opportunity to discover what preaching is, and develop a few basic skills. This is not to compete with seminary training, but more to recognise the place of the local church in identifying gifts and equipping people for service.

The other advantage is that this group will provide participants with some responsible hermenuetic. Skills acquired will be useful for anyone who wants to lead a bible study, develop a talk, or even just read the Bible with greater understanding and benefit.

Mentoring

We want to develop a mentoring ministry where more experienced Christians lead others. While there are some basic processes and structure to be developed, they big deal is that people have another, their mentor, to pray for them, encourage them, and stimulate them to growth. The prayer is that mentoring contexts will be wonderful environments to stimulate growth in individual followers of Jesus.

Gospel and life

We want to encourage clarity around the core truths of the Christian faith, and we’re wanting our church to be united around those truths. We have already worked through Matt Chandler’s Explicit Gospel in our leadership. This year we’ll be asking all ministry leaders to work through this book. It’s the best book available to help people understand the broader cosmic implications of the gospel, as well as the individual implications, and how the two relate to one another. This book will also be a tremendous resource for mentors, developing leaders, and future elders.

Witnessing and sharing

Related to the above, how good would it be for people to be confident in simply sharing ‘the gospel’ without using typical Christian or ‘Churchian’ jargon. So, we also want to run a few seminars that will – we trust – develop these proficiencies in Christians.

We know this will not be a perfect raft of ministries. From time to time we’ll need to assess what we’re doing and see if it’s meeting our goals. We also know that even if all of these ministries work really well, they still might not lead people into growth, or the church toward health.

To do that, we need a tool that will help people work out where they are in their Christian development, and then move them on into growth. I’ll be writing about that in my next post.

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Why your church needs effective structures

Night watch

In my last post I spoke of the need for church health, and how God changes churches one life, one decision at a time. It would be nice if all that growth would happen automatically.

Problem: growth and health are never automatic. If we go back to my vegetable garden analogy, we’re reminded how you have to do a lot of work to get good growth – especially in Perth. We had to turn 10 square metres of sand into arable land. We added all sorts of stuff: Organic matter. All round fertiliser. Bentonite clay to help the sand clump into something like loam. Bags of sheep manure (apologies to my neighbours). On the top we mulched with nitrogen rich lucerne hay. Add to that more water than our rainwater tank could hold, and we were starting to head in the right direction.

We did this because (A) we looked at what we had, and (B) we knew what it needed to be. Once we knew those things, we could work out (C) what we had to do to our garden to get to where we wanted to be. Through it all our goal was to create the best environment for growth.

We can use a similar process when we’re thinking about bringing our churches to health. It is the task of the church, and in particular the leaders of the church, to set the best environment for growth. So leaders need to (A) take a realistic look at how things are, and (B) listen to God’s word to determine where they should be. Once they know these things they can (C) develop strategies to reach their goal.

I actually think this method is pretty helpful. (A) – where are we? (B) – where do we need to be? (C) – what do we need to do to get there? Sure, there are lots of little things to complicate the picture: what factors have led us to this point? What barriers might we encounter in the future? What limitations do we face? But the basic method is still helpful.

And just so we’re clear, moving toward health is more than a matter of method. The questions of A, B & C are best addressed in a spirit of humble dependence on God, of prayerful searching of God’s will, and a deep desire to honour Jesus and bring his new creation to expression. So we need pastors, elders and leaders with more than a smart methodology. They need to be people with a Gospel heart, who are rich in the Word, and filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom. People who can honestly assess their current situation, and interpret relevant factors and influences.

When leaders like this seek to move a church toward health, they will be wrestling with the need to have the most effective structures, systems and ministries. They will be seeking to create the best context they can for growth and health. They will be working for a church that embraces change.

The church needs leaders who seek the best context for growth and health


We all know change like this is hard. We will need to let go of some things we love. Things that make us comfortable. Mostly it is hard work, but if these are the changes God calls us to, they are right and they are good.

‘The Night Watch’ is a colossal painting by Rembrandt van Rijn. Measuring around 3.5 x 4.4 metres it dominates an entire room in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum. The painting was completed in 1642 – the height of the Dutch golden age. Over the next 300 years, the painting was lovingly preserved and maintained. The custodians of the painting no doubt had the best intentions, but all those coats of lacquer darkened to tones of the painting so much that people thought it was a night scene, hence the popular title. After Word War II, however, the painting was restored to reveal its well lit early morning hues.

Here’s my point: for the first 300 years the restorers had the absolute best intentions. They were the experts in their day. No one better for the job, and no better methods than the ones they employed. But in time more effective preservation methods were discovered, and the old methods were dispensed with. See, the method was not the important thing. What really mattered was the end result, and the beauty of the work.

Sometimes Churches focus on the wrong thing. And the methods, the well worn practices become the focus. These things might not be wrong in themselves, but when they become the focus, the beauty of what needs to be seen can be so easily obscured. What started as clear as day might end up dark as night. And then we need the courage to undergo a work of restoration and transformation. Hard work. And those focused primarily on the traditional methods and practices may find this an uncomfortable and disturbing process. But at the end of the day, our prayer is that the work of the Master will be seen for what it really is, and that he will receive the praise which rightfully belongs to him.

Q: Are you aware of methods and practices in your church which obscure the Master’s work? What might you do to address this?