Disciple Making Leaders

Disciple Making Leaders
by Bill Easum

Turning church members into disciples= who make other disciples is one of the
most pressing challenges of our time.= Too many of our church members at best
warm pews and at worst never attend w= orship or participate in mission. With
the advent of a skeptical generation = that demands authenticity, it is fair to
say that Christians are the biggest obstacle to the expansion of
Christianity.

We are entering a time when the empha= sis upon a denominationally accredited,<= br> professional clergy is being replaced= by an emphasis on laity with personal
authenticity and spiritual integrity.= We are reverting to a time in which
laity were the ministers of the churc= h and when clergy had not been to
seminary. More important than what a = person knows is can a person reproduce
themselves by making disciples. Estim= ates are that it takes ninety Church
members to reproduce one new Christia= n.

Perhaps it would help if I defined wh= at I mean by disciple. Church membership
has nothing to do with being a discip= le. A disciple is one who intentionally
seeks to emulate Jesus in everyday li= fe. This means deliberately taking on
the cause of Christ (Luke 98:23-25), = puts Jesus before self, family, and
friends (Luke 14:25-35), committed to= world evangelism (Matthew 9:36-38),
loves others (John 13:4-35), and abid= es in and is obedient to Christ (John
5:7-17). How then does a church leade= r go about making disciples who make
disciples?

First, most church leaders have to ch= ange their understanding of the role of
clergy and paid staff. Ephesians 4:12= has long been a basic reference point
for my teaching ministry. This text r= eminds us that the role of church
leaders is "to prepare God’= ;s people for works of service." This service is
not "running the church" and going to meetings. The role of church leaders is
more than just taking care of members. Their primary role is to provide an
environment in which they can grow to= be disciples who make disciples. They
live and breathe helping others grow = in their faith rather than merely taking
care of them. True, some people need = to be taken care of. However, most
people have within them so much more = to give to the cause of Christ. Many are
just waiting for the opportunity to s= tretch their spiritual wings. Church leaders who truly care about them, give them that opportunity instea= d of
keeping them dependent upon them.

The effective church leaders I have m= et in my travels are committed to four
BHAGs(Big, Hairy, Audacious, Goals). They risk just= about anything to be part of carrying out the Great Commis= sion. They focus their energy on developing the priesthood of all beli= evers. They encourage people to seek God’s gift within them through a process of discernment. They are rabid about the multiplication of everything impo= rtant. In other words, growing people is more important to them than doing for people what they could be doing for others. Second, church leaders must realize t= hat not all church members are or will become disciples much less disciples = who make disciples. This simple observation helps clear the way for c= hurch leaders to concentrate their time on the few who are ready for disciple= ship as well as to comb their acquaintances for people who are open= to the possibility of becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ. It is bibli= cal for church leaders to concentrate most of their effort and time on a fe= w. Jesus spent most of his time with the Twelve. Often, he zeroed in on just Peter, James, and John. By spending t= ime with a few, Jesus set the stage for others to win many. He knew he could = do just so much. By multiplying himself, he could make a lasting difference. L= ike Jesus, pastors who want to make a lasting difference spend the bulk of = their time working with people who are ready to take on responsibility inste= ad of spreading themselves too thin. This group is always a small percenta= ge of a congregation. This is in stark contrast to pastors in dying congrega= tions who spend most of their time taking care of the equivalent of spir= itual hangnails. Instead of starting spiritual fires, they spent time putt= ing out fires. Third, pastors must become focused on= the long term vision of disciple-making instead of the day-to-day management = of the church and the care of feeding the membership. In doing so, the past= or does four things: consistently proclaims the good news in ways that = are indigenous to the people in the area; equips paid and unpaid staff to= equip other laity "for works of service;" casts and guards the s= hared vision of the church; and gets out of the way enough so that others blossom= in their faith. More important than what the pastor d= oes is who the pastor is. The pastor is the spiritual leader of the church. T= he pastor’s spiritual life and spiritual call are mutually reinforcing. Their is no separation of what this person= does and who this person is. The past= or lives to role model making disciples. This is far more difficult than just = taking care of people. Fourth, staff who know how and are wi= lling to equip and empower people for ministry is the next essential. These people do not "do" ministry. They equip and empower others to "do" ministry and then coach them along their spiritual journey. Equipping and empowering are different. Church leaders often equip people but then do not empower them. Empowering a person means getting out of their way and allowing them to exerci= se the spiritual gift within them without having to ask for permission.= This way people grow in their faith instead of relying on the faith of those whom they hire.= Seven steps are involved in equipping disciples. Staff identify those who are ready for discipleship. One staff per= son has the capacity to identify 100-125 potential disciples a year. This assu= mes that they are free from managing programs so they can focus on disciple making. Remember, laity are the ones= who will run the ministries. Out of t= his group, staff recruits 50-75 people who are ready and willing to be coach= ed in their faith development (more on this later). Next the staff person us= es discernment opportunities to help this group discover their gifts and p= laces of service within the Body. Usually this staff person can then eq= uip 10-20 of these individuals into serious, hands-on ministry. This is a= time of internship when the staff person leads while the intern watches= and then the intern leads while the staff person watches. Delegation of a ministry and Deployment into that ministry are the next step. In time the staff person coaches the mos= t committed of this group into becoming leaders of leaders or lay pastors. Four steps are involved in empowering people. All information needed to live out one’s gift on behalf of the= Body needs to be shared with the person. Reduce or eliminate the barriers that= stand between the person and carrying out the ministry. Hierarchy must be r= educed to where it is not a hindrance to ministry or a drain on one’s en= ergy. People must be given autonomy and trusted to do what is best for the Bo= dy. A great book on the subject of empowerment is "Empowerment Take= s More Than a Minute." Fifth, empowered lay pastors are beco= ming the primary form of lay leadership. In time they will be to the 21st cent= ury what the "minister" was to the 20th century. The crit= eria for Lay Pastors includes the following. Lay pastors are called to a ministry instead of nomin= ated by a committee. They become Lay Pastors by feeling called to take responsibility for a ministry. They do not feel responsible to cast a representa= tive vote on some future issue. They are also accountable to the pastor and the mission/vision/purpose of their particular church. They participate d= aily in prayer and Bible study. Monthly training and regular mentoring is a n= ormal part of their service. For information about Lay Pastors see our= web site, www.easum.com, and search for Wesley Groups as well as Lay Pastors Manual. Sixth, small groups that multiply and= teams that produce are the places where most empowerment will take place. The= only people empowered by committees are those who already have power of leade= rship qualities. Spiritual wallflowers never blossom in committees. Multiply= ing small groups and effective teams bring out the latent qualities in peo= ple. A great website for small groups is www.smallgroups.com and for team based organizations www.teamcenter.com. Seventh, discernment is more importan= t than nominations and voting. More and more churches are eliminating most, i= f not all voting, and relying on God to raise= up the leaders and ministries needed. Spiritua= l gift inventories are replacing "dialing for people&qu= ot; encountered by most nomination committees when they call people to fill offices that= no body wants to fill. The Scary Part Most church leaders have had no training nor experience in making disciples.= Management and making decisions have = taken the place of making disciples. When you look out over the congregati= on or go to a church meeting, how many spiritual giants do you see? Most pas= tors don’t stay in one place long enough to know that most established church members have not grown spiritually since they were a teenager. This is not wan= t God intended. Making disciples can be a very threat= ening process for a pastor in an established church used to the pastor= doing everything for them. Most pastors inherent a group of leaders who may or may not be disciples. Often, = one or two of them seem to be power hungry. = So I’ve found the following recipe helpful. If you are in an unhealthy church, ta= ke a twenty year view of the situation. Realize that it will take several yea= rs to build a core of spiritual leaders. Cast your vision for a healthy church. Begin to work with the few who respond and nurture them in a small group as = long as it takes. In the interim work hard to get a few of the disciples in "official" places to make t= he process of decision making easier. Move forward as the opportunity arises. T= he operative words are either move or persevere. If you are in a healthy church, bring= the core leaders together to formulate a mission or purpose statement for the church that is no longer than one sentence, or two or three core values= . Then build everything from here on around this instrument. Our web site = offers lots of help on how to accomplish this task. Just go to our site, www.easum.com, and search for Mission Statements. Being a leader who makes disciples is= risky business in today’s environment. Ask God for strength and focus on the= Great Commission. Neither will ever fail you. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D David Loar http:= //www.loar.org ...family http://discipledavid.blogspot.com/ ...David's blog http://www.fairlawnwest.org ...church Akron, OH=