The Right Reasons for Training Christian Leaders
Be it in the spiritual realms or secular, business world or social works, everywhere people talk about leadership and leadership development.
Churches, missions, institutions and organisations also talk and practically do a lot for leadership development. Tons of books, curriculum and training material are available online and offline. We are flooded with videos and seminars offered online at reduced costs and, sometimes, free for leadership development.
Everyone has their own reasons for developing leaders. It could be for the popularity or fame of the trainer, financial benefit of the trainers, profit of the company, or the love of doing the work itself.
Our questionable reasons for training leaders
We Christian leaders need to ask ourselves, why do we raise leaders?
The church today may often think that we need to raise leaders so that the church can have enough workers to continue the present activities inside the church.
We need leaders for Sunday school. We want to raise worship leaders. Someone to continue bible studies. Others to take care of the social wings of our ministries/churches. Leaders to sustain and improve the ongoing programs and projects. Some raise leaders so that they can continue to lead organisations, institutions, and NGOs. Senior ministers think of successors.
Many of us could be raising leaders with intentions, biblical or non-biblical, good or bad. The question we should really deal with – are our intentions and purposes of raising leaders identical with that of the early church, or do they differ at large?
Why did the first church raise leaders, and why do we?
Paul’s unquestionable reason for training leaders
Apostle Paul and the early church did count raising leaders important and so they endeavoured to raise and train leaders. But for Paul, what was the point of training leaders?
Paul’s pattern of raising leaders, his writings to these leaders and the churches, patently make it clear that he did not want more capable guys just to carry on church activities, or to sustain the existing churches, activities, and programs.
But discernibly, the reason Paul trained leaders was to continue the church planting movement until the gospel reaches the world and the churches are planted all over.
As Paul trained and raised leaders, he was predominantly thinking of planting and establishing churches. Paul’s purpose, as per the Great Commission, was to preach the gospel, plant churches, establish and multiply them in Asia and beyond. To this end, he continued to raise the leaders, pouring into churches and individuals sacrificially.
Time to change our reasons for training leaders
It’s time for us as Christian leaders to be clear in our minds and philosophy as to why we want to train leaders in our churches. We should train leaders neither for our selfish purposes nor for anything less biblical, but for the sake of continuing the church planting movement nationally and globally.
Henceforth, as we train our leaders, lets train them with this bigger vision, purpose and the context of church planting movement. Let our intentions be identical with that of apostle Paul and the early church in training leaders.
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