A certain pastor aroused lots of curiosity and speculation because of his habit of walking to the railroad tracks each afternoon and standing there alone.
For weeks, the pattern was the same. At exactly 2:35 the freight train would roar by, and the pastor would stand motionless, watching it pass.
“What’s he doing?” people wondered. Some feared he was thinking of doing something drastic.
Finally someone asked him why he kept a daily appointment with the train.
He replied, “I just need to see something move around here that I don’t have to push.”
Okay, it’s just a story. But while putting together this issue of LEADERSHIP, we heard a true variation on that theme.
Don Payne, who directs the suburban and rural training center at Denver Seminary, told us about a man in an established career who felt God’s call to pastoral ministry. So he left his first career, attended seminary, took a church, and before long began to experience tremendous stress in the pastorate.
That in itself is not unusual. What was unusual was the source of the stress. He had gone into ministry believing the Woody Allen rule: “80 percent of success is just showing up.” This new pastor assumed that if you just show up, ministry will come your way, you respond, and all is well. He underestimated how much initiative was necessary in pastoral work.
He found the burden of creating a climate, of initiating ministry opportunities way too stressful. So stressful, in fact, that he left the pastorate to return to his earlier “less stressful” job—as an air traffic controller!
Perhaps no aspect of ministry requires more forethought—more initiative—than the Christian’s prime directive, as Jesus described it: “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them … teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
Not long ago I made the switch from playing serious softball (one summer playing on three different teams) to coaching junior high girls softball. Guess which was harder? Which demanded more preparation, energy, and knowledge of the game? To teach just one skill—delivering fast-pitch strikes consistently—was harder than playing on three teams.
Training anyone well—whether gymnasts or writers or operating room nurses—demands more of you than just doing the task yourself.
Likewise, while faithfully following Jesus is not easy, it’s an even bigger challenge to train others to serve Jesus well. Making disciples means:
- Tending to the health of the community. Notice how Jesus monitored and corrected the rivalry among the Twelve (Mark 9:33). Much of a pastor’s discipling is tending the quality of community life.
- Knowing what individuals need and how much they can be stretched. Notice how Jesus sent them out—not one by one, but two by two—to test their mission skills (Mark 6:7-11).
- Anticipating what they will experience. Notice how Jesus prepared them—from specifying the equipment (sandals but no extra tunic) to how to handle the responses they were likely to encounter (“shake the dust from your feet”).
Making disciples, like coaching, means having a game plan, preparing your players for what’s ahead, and taking initiative to get them ready.
This issue of LEADERSHIP focuses on ways churches are intentionally developing devoted disciples of Jesus Christ. I’ve been impressed by the variety of means—from study groups to individual soul care to “boot camp” experiences to mentoring to identifying God-given dreams to forming ministry teams.
The ways are many. The examples here will spark your creativity further. But the aim is clear: to develop people who serve Jesus willingly and well.
Marshall Shelley is editor of LEADERSHIP.
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