Open Lecture: Training For All, Training For Some

By Gary Ellison

Ministry is more like a relay than a marathon and we drop the baton if we do not train leaders to replace us. In order for the work of the church to continue to grow and flourish we must train pastors and other leaders to pass the baton to. This was the idea Liam Garvie introduced in his lecture, ‘Training for All, Training for Some’. Liam serves as the Associate Pastor at Charlotte Chapel, Edinburgh, with specific responsibility for training and discipling new leaders. He is also the international director of The Pillar Network, a global network focused on planting churches.

As a pastor, the challenge struck me afresh, especially Liam’s searching questions:

• What does my calendar say about my commitment to training leaders?
• What does my dinner table say about my commitment to training leaders?
• What does the church’s budget say about our commitment to training leaders?
• What does the pathway to pastoral ministry (or leadership of church ministries etc.) look like in your church?

We were, very helpfully, led to consider Jesus’ example of training others. Matthew 9:35-38 shows us Jesus’ clear understanding of the need for workers for the gospel harvest. While Jesus trained all, a large group of disciples who followed him, he also specifically trained some: the seventy, the twelve and his three closest disciples. His training method was allowing his disciples to come and see what he was doing. He then observed as they took part, after which he sent them out, to serve.

I remember being drafted into the relay team for the inter-house relay race on sports day as a teenager at school. I was terrified of letting the team down, mostly due to the pressure of handing the baton over as it was easy to get wrong. Liam alleviated my fears of ensuring I hand over the baton well in church by providing some helpful examples of how we can follow Jesus’ model:

• He reminded us that we are spotters. We are to spot potential leaders, particularly those who are responsive to the Word.
• We were encouraged to seek out those who are able to or are passionate about defending the authority of Scripture and explaining the gospel.
• It makes more sense to train groups of three, who in turn will minister to another group of three. It is a more efficient than focusing on just one person as you can affect a greater number of people.
• We also need to involve the whole church. We cannot do it by ourselves, and the church will be blessed by the ministry of these young, potential pastors and leaders.

Liam also served up a healthy dose of reality, reminding us to work with what God has given to us, not with what we wish he had given. These principles needed to be applied to each context appropriately as each church will have different resources.

In everyday ministry, it can be easy to lose sight of the big picture, especially the priorities that we have established, like passing the baton and training new leaders. The College open lectures deal with issues that help us to lift our head and be reminded of some of the priorities from which we may have been distracted. I encourage you to come along to the next one to be challenged and encouraged to press on in serving Jesus.