Local churches rise or fall according to the health and ministry of their elders or spiritual leaders. And healthy, growing churches have healthy, growing, and serving spiritual leaders. These churches also recruit, train, equip, and multiply spiritual leaders. My prayer is that this blog will assist your church in training present and future elders.
Let's define training in the context of the local church. Training is not just offering a one or even two-day seminar on who church elders are and what they do to lead the church. That would only be sufficient for providing an orientation. And that kind of orientation doesn't have much sticking power when done as a stand-alone ministry or event. It can offer some head knowledge, but it does not encourage long-term application for the hands and heart. Rather, training is the building and use of an intentional system of helping people apply knowledge and skills to the head, hands, and heart in ways that encourage and produce health, growth, maturity, and results in life and ministry.
Here are some principles to guide you in training elders or spiritual leaders for your church.
Training elders for church ministry needs to be past, present, and future tense – it should occur before, during, and after the ministry of spiritual leadership. It's a process that takes time and investment in the lives and ministries of leaders in your church. Make sure you clearly define your objective and goals of the training for spiritual leadership.
Also, be sure to develop a clear job description including a list of expectations for the spiritual leadership of your church, and evaluate and review it each year.
Ask God to show you who might be potential elders for your church (see Luke 10:2). This was a priority for Jesus as he selected the apostles. Watch and listen to the Holy Spirit for answers to your prayers for potential leaders.
Look for people who are growing in the application of the qualifications for elders found in 1 Tim. 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9. Especially focus on people in younger generations.
Gather potential elders on a regular basis. A one-year training for potential leaders is recommended. During these gatherings, do the following: (1) give them small assignments of serving and teaching others; (2) teach them what and how to pray; (3) give them occasional opportunities to help lead the church in worship (i.e., praying, the public reading of Scripture, sharing a testimony, etc.); (4) observe how they relate to one another and to the lead pastor or pastoral staff; (5) select a book about leadership in the church to study together. A good recommendation is The Measure of a Man by Gene Getz.
For existing elders and spiritual leaders of the church, use one meeting a month to train them using reading and discussion in books about church leadership. I recommend you choose one for each year from the following list or other books you might have in mind:
Church Elders by Jeramie Rinne
Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders
Being Leaders by Aubrey Malphurs
Simple Church (Updated Edition) by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger
Discipleshift by Jim Putman and Bobby Harrington
Doing Church as a Team by Wayne Cordeiro
Disciple these men, especially those who are candidates for selection as elders, and while they are being discipled, have them disciple someone else.
Hold a church leadership retreat every year for existing and possible new elders.
Use a yearly evaluation of your training and experience for elders and spiritual leaders. Have the group evaluate itself and the church. I also encourage you to have each elder or elder in training evaluate themselves and their individual performance and growth just before the group evaluation.
What other suggestions or recommendations do you have for developing and training spiritual leaders for your church?
[Photo by Dylan Gillis on Unsplash]