Training leaders the way Jesus and the apostles did (1)
In India, house churches are multiplying by the thousands, creating an urgent need to train both more and less educated shepherds. Also in Europe we need more leaders to plant and lead simple churches. Even though traditional, institutional education cannot meet the need, yet God’s Word has the answer. Let us look at what the Bible teaches about teaching as it applies to training new leaders in a healthy movement for Christ.
A wise teacher lays a foundation of loving obedience to Jesus’ commands, just as he told us to do (Matthew 28:18-20). The first church in Jerusalem, empowered by the Holy Spirit, set an example by obeying, from the start, the commands of Christ in their most basic form (Acts 2:37-47). Their motive for obedience was not the Old Testament Law but love for Jesus (John 14:15). The foundation of all life and ministry, according to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, is obedience to His words (Matthew 7:24-29).
A. A good trainer of leaders has an assortment of studies that apply to different needs.
In Matthew 13:52, Jesus said to apply a variety of resources to current situations, “like the head of a household who brings out of his treasure things new and old.” This differs from the prevailing, traditional practice of simply teaching a systematic analysis of biblical truth. Jesus brought forth things old and new when He taught “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also” (Matthew 5:38-40).
Jesus and His apostles did not present an outline prepared ahead of time to the new leaders whom they trained. Rather, they taught in response to questions, needs, criticisms and events. New churches in pioneer fields benefit most from such a ‘menu’ approach to teaching. Like newborn babies, they have different, urgent needs that require immediate attention. The teacher or mentor, like Jesus and Paul, must listen to a new leader and learn the need of his flock, then use a ‘menu’ to select studies that fit the need.
We taught this in India with a skit about a man who asked a storekeeper for sugar. The retailer argued that sugar is bad for one’s teeth and handed the man coffee instead. They argued about this until the buyer left with his hands empty. Theological educators often fail to listen before they teach and offer what they arbitrarily and mistakenly decide that a shepherd needs to give his flock much later if not now.
A good teacher communicates Biblical truth with simple stories. “Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables” (Matthew 13:34). He used stories about common things that left sharp images in people’s mind about God and His Kingdom. Jesus’ parables are easy to remember and pass on to others. The Holy Spirit uses Bible stories to convict and illuminate both children and adults of all levels of society and educational backgrounds. Most of the Paul-Timothy studies that we prepare base their teaching on a biblical story about a person. For example, teaching about faith focuses on Abraham’s story. Some professional clergy, monopolizing sacred truth, purposefully use a style of teaching that their flock cannot imitate, thereby stifling the normal flow of God’s Word.
B. A wise teacher trains only those who obey the Word of God.
Jesus required that His disciples ‘shake the dust’ from their feet and leave people who fail to respond to God’s Word (Luke 9:5). He also told us not to throw our pearls before pigs (Matthew 7:6). Paul and Barnabas turned from people who rejected the good news to those who received it (Acts 13:45-46). We violate this guideline when we continue to proclaim God’s truth to people who merely attend meetings without growing or serving the Lord. However, it is sometimes the teacher who should abandon not the hearers but his method of teaching. Often one sees no growth, because of failing to mobilize believers to serve one another, which Jesus requires of a teacher.
C. A good trainer of leaders enables them immediately to equip believers in their flocks to instruct and serve one another.
Ephesians 4:11-16 reveals the aim and means of teaching believers. The aim is “equipping of the believers for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.” The means is to enable them to instruct and serve one another in loving harmony, according to the abilities of each one. “Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love”.
Such interaction is not allowed in most traditional churches. George Patterson recalls how he learned that to ‘build up’ means to strengthen something or add to it. An uneducated Honduran with whom he worked closely told him that he was “dancing with the devil”. He explained, “The devil causes a problem in a town, and we rush to deal with it. Then Satan makes trouble in another church and we dash over there. Then he causes a quarrel in another church and we hurry again to correct it, dancing with the devil.” He suggested, “Let us agree to do two things. First, let us deal with any problem briefly and leave it in God’s hands, never letting it take up more than half of our time. Second, let us not leave a place until we have added something positive. We will win people to Christ, organize a church, enroll pastoral students, or help them begin a ministry that is lacking.”
Source: George Patterson (www.mentorandmultiply.com)
