There are number of points very-concisely stated in this article.
For a challenging opening statement. If we claim to be making a disciple, while failing to equip them for their mission, our claim is false a fundamental level! (That really is challenging statement huh!)
There is a cycle that needs breaking
- Church leaders who don’t equip their members for their mission naturally go on to birth church leaders who are the same.
- Each generation then justifies their thinking. It is possible that most have never known different. They’ve never SEEN an intentional model of equipping, and have therefore also never SEEN the everyday conversational outreaching culture it can generate.
- Bible college lecturers who are timid in conversation / missional engagement with non-believers, and who are maybe more academically motivated than mission-motivated, go on to birth students who have a low commitment to the mission Jesus gave us also.
- Youth leader who have never been equipped likewise birth youth who are the same. We end up with youth groups with few non-church family youth coming to faith. The mirror is certainly now being held up to us, given the clear evidence of increasing spiritual interest amongst this generation. (Here is a summary of some UK data as an example.)
Some common eExcuses then justify the situation
I have heard all of these and more from senior church leaders.
- How could we equip when our churches / a church I was at the other day / our youth group isn’t yet discipled? They aren’t fit to represent Christ!
- The problem: Ten years later – it’s still the same.
- Shouldn’t outreach come naturally, as an overflow of the heart? We’re going or that!
- The problem: It rarely does. Conversational skills are called ‘skills’ for a reason. They are learnt!
- How could we equip them for outreach? Do you know how many hurts they have? They need healing first!
- The problem: Ten years later…
- We want to show our community how much we care through our generosity and kindness first.
- The problem: Ten years later…
What is often missed is that, if we just did what we are supposed to, some of these problems would rectify themselves naturally!
Before some points to bring balance – here is what we mean by ‘outreach equipping’
- Conversational skills – to know how to ask and lead conversations through good question.
- Gospel skills – to be able to share God’s story clearly and concisely – ideally within a conversation in a natural way, followed with a natural story, question or invitation.
- Testimonial / storytelling skills – to be able to give evidences to the truth of the message through story, whether our own, someone else’s, the story of amazing things in nature, or of positive societal change enabled by Christianity in history.
- Teamwork skills – because God made us different for a reason.
To be clear – we are NOT talking about accosting strangers on the street to dictate to them our awkward best summary of the Christian message. To affirm it – some are genuinely good at talking with strangers like this and do so with good people skills. Most are not.
Here are some balancing points
1. Equipping youth to share their faith strengthens their OWNERSHIP of it
When a young person shares their faith, their faith moves from being ‘a private religious activity’ to something that they now more personally hold, protect and desire to advance.
2. Equipping youth to share their faith strengthens their BELIEF in it
When they share their story or God’s story, they naturally think through why they believe it to be true, becoming more convinced in the process. Where questions are asked, they are forced to think through or find answers. A deeper sense of conviction in the faith itself results.
3. Equipping youth to share their faith propels them to greater HOLINESS
Not only are they now more convinced of their own claimed beliefs; they are a representative of them to others. They know their most-obvious sins will be perceived as hypocracy. They naturally now seek God’s strength, to represent him better – and in my experience, many then find a whole new level of strength in their faiths, lives and conduct.
4. Equipping youth to share their faith enables them to fulfil their God-given MISSION
It is bewildering to consider what might ever have believed this wasn’t necessary. But we did, and a culture of ‘no intelligent equipping’ has sunk in as the norm for many churches.
- Most Christians remain significantly disabled in their missional endeavours due to a lack of some very-basic conversational and story-telling skills.
- Most people don’t come to these skills naturally because their role-models have the same challenges, timidity or weaknesses – likely due to the very same lack of equipping given them in their earlier church or Bible college training. A culture of politically-correct timidity is therefore both common – and perpetuated through our role-modelling. A culture of not equipping the saints for ministry is then somehow justified, and this is generation to generation if we pause to look.
The most basic of training can help a person go from sincere but stalled through to genuinely engaged in witness, with new joy and exuberance in their life resulting. It’s not a lot of training that is needed sometimes too. It’s just some!
For the church leader:
1. To not equip is to fail in PERSONAL SINCERITY
If we genuinely believe people need to know Jesus, how could a sincere faith not equip those we are entrusted with the discipleship of – who’s very mission it is to take Christ to those they know and meet?
2. To not equip is to fail in a CORE DUTY IN MISSION
Ephesians 4 is clear that key church leadership roles have been given for the purpose of equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. The core point of this passage isn’t a discussion on the various ‘offices’ Paul could perceive at the time (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers) – but instead an affirmation that the core duty of a Christian leader is to equip and mobilise their people! This always has and always will be true.
3. To not equip is to fail in a CORE DUTY IN DISCIPLESHIP
What is discipleship if not teaching the disciple how to live as Christ calls us to? We are to
- love God,
- love one another and
- make Christ known.
To fail to teach ‘evangelism’ is to fail to disciple.
How did we ever get to the point where so much of our discipleship focuses on everything but actual skills, to actually engage in our mission, in our actual neighbourhood, workplace or school? I have no answers except for human nature – while the solutions is in our CHOICE to now change this!
Jesus:
Jesus was a first-class role-model regarding conversational skills – and storytelling – all to covey a message. (He didn’t only show love to people. There is a message to communicate. That is the mission! Good actions support the mission. However, to be clear, good actions are not the mission – even while also necessary.)
The content for equipping is in front of us – in the Gospels!
Toward an application:
What if we learned not only from Jesus teaching points – but also from his method of teaching? He asked questions. He told stories. He also knew how to intrigue people. He intentionally conveyed messages – not just good works.
He also pulled no punches. He was crazy-bold!
He was gracious with sinners – while confrontational to the proud.
He didn’t justify sin – while not coming across as judgemental.
He was never intimidated.
A challenge:
What if New Zealand church leaders and youth leaders were to now decide that we will be the generation that chooses to equip the saints for their mission again.
For many decades now this has been literally neglected – even while intentions have most-often been very good.
(Teaching something once doesn’t teach it! See equipping videos #4 and 5 at https://godtalk.nz/leadership)
Were we to do this, a significant turning point could be catalysed: ‘Regular Christians’ would be confident to unite in prayer and witness with others in connection with their work places, schools and communities. THEY would then begin to initiative and innovate – in multiple places concurrently.
- Our people want greater confidence.
- They want to do better.
- They do care.
- It is literally our job to help them!
- If we did this, we could release a movement (multiplication) – in contrast to the current non-equipping programme based way we do so many things, which brings addition at best.
Resources:
- For suggested FOUNDATIONAL youth leader training regarding outreach – for every new youth leader to study and then to teach to their selected leaders – find 12 x 5min videos at godtalk.nz/leadership
- To RESOURCE youth leaders to equip their youth – find 16 x 5min videos, plus discussion guides, at godtalk.nz/equipping
