Coming from someone who was the youth minister of my hometown church and whose father was pastor of a couple different churches, I couldn't agree more.
Our churches and our communities are much stronger when we raise up and train the next generation to take over in their hometown communities.
Of course it can work the way it's usually done now. There are many successful examples. But that doesn't mean the current way is best.
Agreed 100%, at the beginning of my walk with the Lord, I was grieved by some of the things I witnessed in the mega church I was attending. To my horror, there was a huge emphasis on gifting, titles, and positions, to the point where those promoted had charismatic qualities that could bring dozens of crowds, but were void of the fruits of the spirit, the character of Christ, and basic truths of scripture in their teachings. I pray that the body of Christ reconsiders their elections, and be discerning and prayerful, truly discipling and forming others into the fullness of Christ’s character in us.
As an older Christian woman, I would like to offer this. We (Christian women of the Church) are offered countless opportunities to come together in classes, at ladies' days, retreats, encampments, classes, etc. These events concentrate on us becoming better Christian daughters, wives, mothers, sisters, mentors and most importantly, servants of God. All of these are able to prepare us to come along side of those men who have prepared themselves for leadership roles in the Church. Maybe there should be more emphasis on those same type of opportunities for young Christian boys and men.
During our former pastor's last several years, he hired a couple of associate pastors. Both turned out to be "rescues," only brought in so that they could continue to get a paycheck. He may have thought that it was a noble thing to do, but it certainly didn't benefit the congregation. In fact, both (and the senior pastor, too) exited after wrecking things.
Our current pastor has led us well for the better part of a decade, and we recently added an outstanding and spiritually plugged-in associate...developed from within the body.
Many years ago, I decided to one day be an elder of the Lotd’s only church. The article is spot on! Over the past 35 years, I realize have the biblical qualifications are the easy part! Developing the qualities is tough. In fact it likely would be easier to pull a jaw tooth out of a mountain lion with tweezers than to find lessons on how to develop the qualities of trust within a congregation in order to become an effective Elder
Coming from someone who was the youth minister of my hometown church and whose father was pastor of a couple different churches, I couldn't agree more.
Our churches and our communities are much stronger when we raise up and train the next generation to take over in their hometown communities.
Of course it can work the way it's usually done now. There are many successful examples. But that doesn't mean the current way is best.
Great way of putting it - some good results doesn't mean we can't find a way to do better.
Agreed 100%, at the beginning of my walk with the Lord, I was grieved by some of the things I witnessed in the mega church I was attending. To my horror, there was a huge emphasis on gifting, titles, and positions, to the point where those promoted had charismatic qualities that could bring dozens of crowds, but were void of the fruits of the spirit, the character of Christ, and basic truths of scripture in their teachings. I pray that the body of Christ reconsiders their elections, and be discerning and prayerful, truly discipling and forming others into the fullness of Christ’s character in us.
Here's a place to get seminary level local church training: https://vmcontenders.org/
Looks promising, thanks for sharing
As an older Christian woman, I would like to offer this. We (Christian women of the Church) are offered countless opportunities to come together in classes, at ladies' days, retreats, encampments, classes, etc. These events concentrate on us becoming better Christian daughters, wives, mothers, sisters, mentors and most importantly, servants of God. All of these are able to prepare us to come along side of those men who have prepared themselves for leadership roles in the Church. Maybe there should be more emphasis on those same type of opportunities for young Christian boys and men.
During our former pastor's last several years, he hired a couple of associate pastors. Both turned out to be "rescues," only brought in so that they could continue to get a paycheck. He may have thought that it was a noble thing to do, but it certainly didn't benefit the congregation. In fact, both (and the senior pastor, too) exited after wrecking things.
Our current pastor has led us well for the better part of a decade, and we recently added an outstanding and spiritually plugged-in associate...developed from within the body.
Many years ago, I decided to one day be an elder of the Lotd’s only church. The article is spot on! Over the past 35 years, I realize have the biblical qualifications are the easy part! Developing the qualities is tough. In fact it likely would be easier to pull a jaw tooth out of a mountain lion with tweezers than to find lessons on how to develop the qualities of trust within a congregation in order to become an effective Elder