Summary: I hope this podcast is of some use to my friends, both of you! I just shared some thoughts on how we train leaders. How to Train Leaders The greatest failure in leaving indigenous churches on the field, is not the investing of so many funds, it is not the lack of language ability by the missionary, it is the misunderstanding of the goal of our ministry. Missionaries go as soul winners, and they can win many souls to Christ, but winning people to Christ and getting professions of faith does not necessarily mean that they will congregate in the local church. Others would say, “It is my job to plant a Church,” they will get a piece of land, build a building, get a crowd together, and even train them in how to have a church, but they will get caught up in the mechanics and day to day activities and not be able to find a national pastor to take over the work. Many well meaning Christians go to the mission field on short term trips, they boast on great numbers of professions of faith, they even boast with how many churches they have started, but the great lack are men of God capable of leading the church, so the question must be, “What is the missing ingredient in leaving indigenous churches?” It is often stated that the problem is the amount of money from America that causes such great dependence, but the truth is that there is a vacuum of leadership. Most missionaries start with a pastor mentality instead of a missionary mentality, although all missionaries will have to pastor the church, the real missionary will pastor as a means to an end, he only pastors as he prepares leaders The best example of all is that of Jesus Christ the greatest missionary who ever lived. First he prayed a long time before choosing who he would train. Luke 6:12 Ask God for a band of men I Samuel 10:26 Start praying as of right now for the man to train It took Jesus all night in prayer so you can expect it to take a while He chose these men to be with him Mark 3:14. He spent much more of his time with the leaders than regular people Matthew 13:10-17, 36. 80–20% principle. He had them put the theory into practice while He was still here to correct and guide them. Luke 10:1, 17; 8:22, 25, John 6:6 It was obvious that they had been with him. Acts 4:13 Paul realized that as he trained men there were deficiencies that he had to be correcting Titus 1:5 It is more caught than taught. They learn from watching us. I Corinthians 16:10-11, 4:17 It is essential that a missionary learn that his job is to train to do the work and not to do the work. Ephesians 4:11-16. Gifted people were given to the church to train the people or perfect them to do the work of the ministry that the body might be edified The missionary should teach them everything that he can. Acts 20:27, Matthew 28:19-20 Decide now what your goal is as a missionary. Without the right goal you will never accomplish what your heart desires After prayer the next step is to choose the right person to train. II Timothy 2:2 The one you train to lead must be faithful Every new believer should be placed immediately in a discipleship program so that everyone is either discipling or being discipled. Those who grow and mature are the ones you begin to consider for further leadership training. Watch their attitude during the services See how much they want to be a part Be sure he is capable enough to teach and train others also. Be on the lookout for men Ask God for a band of men whose hearts he has touched. I Samuel 10:26 Be on the lookout for men that you can call to yourself and train. I Samuel 14:52 Change your attitude about nationals. Remember you get what you expect They will never rise higher than what you expect of them. Get rid of all negative attitudes No one else can do it as well as I can! It takes longer to train them than it does to just do it! They will never do it as well as we can!
