One
of the things that spiritual leaders get confused about (or, maybe not even
confused if we don’t consciously think about it) is the difference between
making disciples & developing those disciples as spiritual leaders.
It’s
really important to know what our job is as pastors & spiritual leaders.
What is it? We could use Ephesians 4:11-13 as a basic description: “And He gave
some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 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.”
Notice
in the Book of Acts how Paul worked with Timothy:
· When Paul met Timothy,
he was a young disciple, whose character & faithfulness were already recognized
by those who knew him (16:2)
· Paul recognized
this, & wanted to bring him along (16:3-4)
· Paul apparently
trained him, & left him with Silas to continue the work (17:14-15)
It’s
not totally clear, but it my understanding is that Timothy’s mother &
grandmother raised him to know the Lord & discipled him in the faith (II
Timothy 1:5; 3:14-15). Paul then selected him & trained him for ministry.
From
this we learn something very important about our work as pastors & spiritual
leaders: Making disciples &
developing workers or spiritual leaders are not technically the same thing.
Here
are a few observations about these 2 things & how we need to understand the
relationship between them:
The
ultimate task of the Church is to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew
28:18-20; Mark 16:15-18; Luke 24:46-49)
· If I work hard as
a spiritual leader to evangelize & make disciples, I will win some people
to Christ & make some disciples
· If I train &
develop others to do these things, many more will be won & discipled
· If their disciples
can be empowered to do ministry, the Great Commission will be fulfilled much
more effectively
What
are the practical differences between making disciples & developing leaders?
· Discipling:
o
Primarily
about helping people be conformed to Christ’s image
o
Looks
for the same general result in all disciples
· Developing
workers:
o
Primarily
about equipping, training, empowering people to do ministry tasks effectively
o
Looks
for the specific tasks that God has created them to do
o
May
change over time as people become more aware of God’s plan for them
How
are these 2 things related?
· We make disciples
so that we can develop them as spiritual leaders
o
Discipleship
without development = lack of effectiveness, problems in the congregation
o
Development
without discipleship = legalism, activity but no spiritual power
· This is why the
Bible has requirements for spiritual leaders in the local church (I Timothy
3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9)
· It is true that
both of these things can happen simultaneously
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