I recently heard from various pastors, believers, and their unbelieving family members. The following is some of their criticism:
Believer A said, “Some churches attach too much importance to the high number of believers. They provide only one training course to newcomers who have come to the church for some time already. Yet, they fail to help newcomers to grow up in their inner life.”
Pastor B stated, “Some pastors are too eager about pastoral care as they are always hoping that believers will spiritually grow and change in a short time. This mindset of success often destroys the essence of pastoral care.”
Unbeliever C revealed, “That one in our family (a Chinese way of calling one’s spouse, translator’s note) goes to church to study whenever she has time, but when she comes back, she always complains that I’m wrong in this or that. I don’t think she has changed.”
Does the mindset of “over superficial success” as a driving mode often exit in our ministry, for example, overemphasizing the size of a church and neglecting the inner faith foundation? Or the overstress of what a person does outwardly rather than the essence of his life? Too much emphasis on the short-term believer multiplication, while ignoring the fact that a person’s life growth needs time and reflection? Do we need to reflect on whether the methodology of quick success overshadows the objective law of individual growth of each believer?
Christian leadership expert John Maxwell said, “The long-term value of a leader is determined by his successor.” Therefore, for a pastor, whether he is successful depends not on how gorgeous a church house he has built, nor on how many members gather in his church, nor on how many charitable deeds he has done in the world. It is how many people in the next generation can successfully pass on our faith after he leaves that position.
One of the important ways to ensure that the next generation can pass on is the discipleship training used by the Lord in those days. He didn’t focus on the size of the followers, the doubling number of people, or using one common curriculum to apply to everyone.
During the three-year public ministry of the Lord, 12 disciples were selected and trained in a down-to-earth manner, and one of them was Judas who later betrayed him. The eleven people who stayed behind were often weak, but it was such people who changed history.
First, does pastoral ministry aim at an intensive course for quick believers or high-quality discipleship training?
I have been a front-line pastor for many years, and I have seen different stages of pastoring in some churches. For me, a very intuitive feeling is that in the first three to five years, the church regards a person as extremely valuable, which is reflected in one-on-one pastoral care. Very often the church just prays, cares, and trains disciples in a mentoring mode for this person so that the people who are trained in this way generally have a firm belief foundation and commitment to the church. Judging from the development mode and state of the church in recent years, more emphasis has been placed on the growth of numbers and its methodology at the level of evangelization and pastoral care. Therefore, the hearts of pastors and workers become impetuous, eager for success, and want to get that immediate result as soon as possible. At this level of pastoring, when the input and output of the pastors are not proportional to the fruit produced, even if this person decides to serve full-time, there will be many problems in the future. Therefore, pastors need to be alert not to rush the discipleship training but grasp the essence and high standard of discipleship.
Second, the rushed disciple training will lead to the decline of the influence of the church.
England in the 18th century was the cradle of spiritual revival in the world. However, why does it seem to be a patient in ICU care who is in urgent need of a blood transfusion? No matter how many gorgeous flowers once bloomed, if the next generation fails to inherit, everything will be in vain and will only disappear on the bumpy road of history. This is a lesson from the past.
Discipleship training can not be abandoned because it is the key to the inheritance of faith. The essence of discipleship is to bring people to Jesus, to missions, and to guide this person to accept Jesus and Jesus’ commands to live.
If it goes well, this process will take at least one year for pastors and trainees to practice their faith together. If church workers neglect investing time and energy, and lack the companionship and encouragement of trainees in ministry, they are simply emphasizing course participation rate, completing homework and issuing diplomas. Such discipleship training is watered down. Over time, it can show that the influence of the church is declining. The pastor and his colleagues need time and procedure of self-examination and review in the actual leadership. Through this process, the inner concept of pastoring can be blessed by careful planning and God’s wisdom.
Third, pastors need to be alert to the destruction of the sin of vanity.
The vanity in one’s heart is a great sin, which will lead pastors to attach importance to the outward form and number of people of the church but ignore the inner growth elements of the church.
Pastors need to be alert to the “three illusions”: the "illusive" number (referring to the attendance number), the "illusive" influence (the offerings and response made by members), and the "illusive" hologram (the church develops various ministries).
If your church pastors and workers pay special attention to these “three illusions” criteria, believers in your church will easily suffer from “chronic diseases” with an inconsistency of belief and life. Because of the sudden change of the environment and different experiences in life, your church will lose a large number of people.
If pastors can get rid of the influence of pragmatism and successful thinking driven by vanity, and take the objective law of individual life growth as the main body to do their best to serve and care, then the church will really grow and revive. In the long run, the church wants to be an influential existence in this era, and the most important thing is to be after God’s heart in pastoral ministry.
- Translated by Charlie Li
