Train Leaders for Ministry
The process of caring for those who have committed themselves
to full-time service.
Paul J. Bucknell
Train up! | Support God's Work | Leader's Responsibility
Confirmation of the Call | Training Process | General Plan | Specific Plan
Too Many People | Summary
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The Leader's Responsibility
Purpose
The Leader's Responsibility is part three of a series on Train Leaders for Ministry which shows how church leaders are responsible for caring for the training of the upcoming leaders in the church.
The question that faces us is, “How does a church leader best help a person who comes forward at a mission’s conference in response to God’s call to full-time service?”
Let’s think about this a moment. The decision to go into full-time service is very important. This person has put his or her life into God’s hands.
More often than not, however, they do not really know what this kind of decision practically means. They have no idea the challenges of being a pastor or a missionary, nor the skills required to serve effectively. Unlike many around them, they are not usually responding to the job opportunity but to the Lord Himself and His truth.
God has impressed certain truths very clearly on their minds and hearts and so that they are willing to make that decision public.
I was personally studying at the University of Maine to become an engineer when God called me. I had to grapple with many decisions. 
No one was there at my side to help me discern these issues. This was partly because of my quiet nature and partly because there was no one there to discuss these deep spiritual issues.
As a leader in the church, I believe that God has given you and others about you sufficient wisdom, resources, experience, and grace to help this person get to where he needs to go.
You might feel inadequate for this assignment. If you haven’t been to seminary, you don’t know how to train them. If you have been to seminary, you might miss out on your training opportunity by simply suggesting that they attend a school like yours and share how you were helped by your seminary experience.
Both of these responses will, unfortunately, keep you from rightly carrying out your faith-building role as God's leader. God chooses to give birth to a child through the mother because she is capable of nurturing the child. In the same way, God will give you wisdom to encourage these upcoming leaders as you depend upon Him for help.
A Leader’s Project
- Take a step of faith and entrust yourself to God as He leads you to help those seeking after the Lord’s will. Confess your weakness and acknowledge His wisdom.
Let this be a journey of faith for you as much as for them. They have a lot to learn from you, but if you are like many leaders, you don’t very well understand the process of passing experience, insight, and knowledge on to others. Our good mentor, the Spirit of God, is there to lead us.
Next => Inward and Outward Confirmation of the Call