The General Training Process

God wants great leaders and good shepherds. We can be one hundred percent sure of this. God spoke harshly against lazy or selfish shepherds in the Bible. Great leaders are sensitive to God’s desires. They want to obey Him. They are there to serve others. I am sure you have seen wonderful examples of these hardworking shepherds that prioritize the needs of others like the Great Shepherd the Lord Jesus.

We need to strategically help these shepherds-in-training whether they work in our country or far away across the seas. We have seen too many men go into ministry only to give up after a few years of service.

Seminary is not designed to train a person’s character. That is not the purpose of seminary. Nor does it train them how to relate to others with whom they disagree. The place to train them in these areas is in your own church before they attend any formal training. Many church leaders want to pass this responsibility onto others because they have never been trained themselves. They might not know how to do it. Let’s trust God to use us to help better prepare these young (and maybe not so young) ones going into ministry.

We need a

general

and a

specific plan.

Training need not be so mystical as it seems. We need a general and a specific plan. The general plan helps us to get an overall picture of what needs to be done through the training process. It doesn’t mean you need to do it all, but we need to understand the process and end goal if we are going to help them. We will be a director of sorts.

Fortunately, we work under the Lord. As we seek Him, God will help us know how to proceed. Even if we have been involved in much training in the past, we still need to humbly seek God for His wisdom and direction for every individual concerned. We need this specific direction to guide us in taking practical steps to help them. We will speak more of this later.

Suggestion: Ask God to teach you to be an effective trainer and teacher. Specifically, ask Him to help you understand the training process and for a specific plan to help each individual seeking full-time service. Remember God is in control and you are His assistant.

• The General Plan

There are several ways to understand the overall training process. The most important thing to remember is that we are trying to present a complete man or woman in Christ. God will gift them. God has given them His Spirit. We are shapers to help conform them so that they can excel in their lives and service. In fact, this is true for all the people in our congregation.

For the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:12-13).

The Apostle Paul has mentioned that a full-time worker requires significant growth in a number of specific areas (see 1 Timothy 3:1-7). It is interesting that skills and gifts are not mentioned there. Evidently it is not as important as the issues of godly character. Character, know-how and willingness to conduct proper relationships with others is essential to a well-functioning servant of God. Four areas needing special focus are mentioned below.

Experience/training: Gaining all the skills and knowledge one needs to enter full-time ministry.
Character/spiritual: Acquiring the moral character and effective spiritual disciplines to maintain a close and intimate relationship with the Lord and proper attitudes toward others.
Agency/support: Making the proper contacts with a mission or denominational agency so that requirements are understood and met in a timely manner including the raising of needed support (prayer and financial).
Church relationships: Carrying on good and proper relationships with those in the home church and making sure clear communication is occurring.

These four items were designed for a person planning to be a full-time missionary. They differ somewhat for those going into the pastorate, teaching or other parachurch ministries. If any one of these four areas is lacking, then the person in training will often get confused and make wrong decisions. And so will the church!

Keep Track of each area of training. The person concerned will need to grow in knowledge, skills, and relationships and through this process make important good decisions. When we share these four areas of development with the person concerned, then they also know they need to grow in these four areas. Clear communication eliminates many misunderstandings and clarifies individual expectations.

Some people are more mature and need less training. They perhaps need more opportunity to mature as they serve. Other individuals need more training. That is fine. Whatever the Lord wants should be done. Just don’t forget to work with the individual and see how he really measures up. If we bypass a person because he is, for instance, the pastor’s son, then we will tend to neglect proper training, which will have long-lasting negative consequences. Don’t be partial but only faithful. More information on these four areas and helpful starter questions for the individual to think about can be found in the article, “Taking Your Next Step.”

Suggestion: For each individual that is seeking full-time service, buy a folder supplied with five pages. One page has general information about that person. The other four pages will resemble the four points mentioned above (or however you divide them).

Track a person’s progression in each area. Personally, I would make this an open folder for the person to see. Open it right in front of him. Give him a copy. It will remind him of the needed inward and outward steps to confirm his call to ministry. A pastor, elder or missionary chairman can oversee this process. We only ask that it would be a mature man in the faith.

Training Up New Leaders for Full-time Ministry