Leadership Training Course for Christian Leaders

By Dr. Robert Muli

You may probably be wondering why another book on leadership training has been published. It is true you may have read or even written hundreds of books on leadership training. But this book is unique. It is not like any other book you may have read or written! Other books write about the need for leadership training and offer the same old courses which have been in use for years. Yesterday’s methods may not always produce the results they used to. The methods of yesterday may not always accommodate all the generations living in the world today.
This book discusses the benefits of leadership training and suggests nine areas of training which can comfortably benefit the premodern, modern, and the postmodern mindsets. Some people in this generation may be premodern, modern, or postmodern due to various reasons. Probably they were born during the time when those generations were in existence, or probably they have been shaped into those generations by the education system or by influence of others from across the world due to the ease of communication made possible by the internet.
This book first discusses the general views held by people concerning whether training of Christian leaders is important or not. Some few people feel that it is not important because the Holy Spirit is their only teacher! Majority of people acknowledge the work of the Holy Spirit but believe that training is important and can make leaders more effective. The Holy Spirit uses people to accomplish his desire to have others trained. Second, the book discusses the benefits of leadership training which affirm the need to have leaders trained for God’s own glory. Finally, the book discusses nine areas of training which have been tested and found to be effective in equipping Christian leaders for more successful work of ministry and leadership in the church and its organizations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Feb 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781716100796

Book preview

author.

Abstract

Leadership training is one of the most critical needs in the church and its organizations. Because of its importance, there are many different views on whether it is necessary. Some leaders believe that leadership training is a must if the church and its organizations are to overcome present-day and future challenges and grow. A few claim that leadership training for Christian leaders is not necessary. This study argues that leadership training is essential for every Christian leader. Well-trained leaders are more effective in their work. The study discusses the benefits of leadership training. It suggests nine training areas that effectively prepare leaders to face the church and its organizations' challenges. Benefits of leadership training are: increase of productivity, improved retention of staff, helps nurture future leaders, increase of staff engagement, helps in the development of personal leadership styles, enhances the ability to make good decisions, increases creativity, among many others. Suggested training areas are: business perspectives, emerging church ministries, critical issues in leadership, personal and spiritual wellness, preaching to 21st-century audiences, world religions and cults, spiritual leadership, counseling perspectives, and contemporary Christianity.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Abstract

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Ministry Need

Theological Basis

Research Methods

Objective

Chapter Two

Views on Leadership Training

Benefits of Leadership Training

Chapter Three

Business Perspectives

Emerging Church Ministries

Critical Issues in Leadership

Personal and Spiritual Wellness

Preaching to 21st Century Audiences

World Religions and Cults

Spiritual Leadership

Counseling Perspectives

Contemporary Christianity

Chapter Four

Bibliography

About the Author

Chapter One

INTRODUCTION

Ministry Need

There are very many factors that can lead to the growth of a church or Christian organization. Factors like availability of funds, good planning, good leadership, commitment to prayer, effective preaching, and evangelism, among many others, can lead to the growth of a church or a Christian organization. One needs to identify the need to be met before planning how to meet it and before taking action. This project was done to meet the demand for leadership training, which can lead to the growth of a church or a Christian organization. Addressing the need for leaders to be trained, World Hope states that without exception, once pastors and church leaders learn sound theology, their spiritual growth becomes evident. This is because training not only suppresses beliefs that are harmful to the work of the Kingdom, it also affirms who God’s people should be and what they should do. All those under the care of a trained pastor and those in community with whom he interacts are immediate beneficiaries of transformed leaders.¹

The growth of a leader will translate to the growth of the organization he or she leads. In the book of Exodus, Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, observed Moses judging Israel and identified a need to be met. That need was training for Moses in an element of leadership called delegation of authority. In Genesis 2:18, God identified a need to be met so the man he had created may rule his creation effectively. The need was a helper, who was to become Adam’s deputy. InfinityConcepts.com observes that there are a lot of methods churches are using today to reach people and bring them into the church – cool lights, haze machines during worship, a coffee shop in the lobby, shorter service times, and creative stage props. All these are fine to do, but they will eventually become ineffective if the church is not continuously expanding its base of leaders. If the leadership base is not growing, not just numerically, but developing their leadership skills, then the church will only grow to its leader base's capacity. To expand the leader base, start having monthly leadership training meetings.² This implies that if leaders are not being trained, they are not growing, and the organizations they lead as well are not growing. A church that is not growing is in danger of dying if not plateauing.

H. H. Drake Williams, III affirms that one of the greatest needs in the world of evangelism today is the training of Christian leaders.³ Training of leaders has been somehow neglected, but it should from now henceforth be given a high priority among other needs to be met to ensure that churches benefit from it and grow. Addressing the same issue, Lausanne Movement notes that pastoral training is a necessary complement to, and the highest priority for, implementing all ministry initiatives globally and locally.⁴ This project gives leadership training the highest priority and proposes a training course for Christian leaders which can be used for any church regardless of its denomination. It is also important to note that many authors have written on the same topic and have created many training manuals for use to train leaders. The writings and manuals of the said scholars have been effective in a great way. However, there has been little attention has been given to the fact that generations are changing every day. Few have suggested training areas that can prepare leaders to meet the needs of the premodern, modern, and postmodern audiences. This project proposes a course which can meet the needs of all generations.

This project answers the questions on whether leadership training is essential and can lead to the growth of a church or Christian organization and which areas of leadership training are suggested to meet the needs of leaders and their organizations regardless of which generation they belong to.

Theological Basis

This leadership course is based on sound biblical theology. Ephesians 4:11-16 affirms that God gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of saints and building up the body of Christ until all attain the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God and that all may grow up in all things unto him. These verses continue to address other things related to the work of leaders in growing the church. The apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers were called and placed in the church to train God’s people and grow the church. A leader who cannot grow through training cannot bring growth to a church. After Jesus called the twelve apostles, he took them through three years of coaching and mentoring before commissioning them to continue the ministry he had founded. Leaders need a sound biblical theology to bring the desired growth in a church.

Detlef Kapteina writes about Kato, who was concerned about a Bible-centered and Christ-centered theology with a holistic theological approach.⁵ Any leadership training course which is not Christ-centered is doomed to fail. Christ is the head of the church of God, and the owner of the whole universe. If he is removed from any training program of the church and its organizations, then the training will never have his blessing. Forrest Flanike asks the question of whether the Bible is relevant to servant-leadership and then describes Greenleaf’s servant-leadership principles, which are based on biblical concepts. These principles are: a servant first, leader second; the leader guides, the leader is goal-oriented and qualified; the leader listens and reflects; the leader is fair and flexible; the leader is intuitive and aware; the leader uses persuasion, and the leader takes one step at a time.⁶ This underscores the importance of basing leadership training courses on sound biblical theology.

After apostle Paul was called into ministry, he did not start his fulltime ministry immediately. He first withdrew into Arabia where he went through training for three years based on Galatians 1:15-18. Paul had a lot theological training under Gamaliel before conversion, but he lacked regeneration. His theology was not yet Christ-centered. Theological training was of great help to Paul after conversion because it helped him become a greater leader who brought a lot growth to the body of Christ. Gregory B. Baxter states that Christians in every generation are called to serve and lead every area of life. Imitating Jesus Christ is the goal of each believer. The methods that Jesus used to train and equip his followers two thousand years ago are still the ones that are effective for the twenty first century Christian challenges.⁷ Jesus used the available Scriptures to train his disciples and the same is applicable today. This training course is founded on the Scriptures as this is the only way to take advantage of the Holy Spirit's power to grow the church and its organizations. Zechariah 4:6 states that it is not by might or power but by the Spirit of God.

S. Joseph Kidder notes that any model one adopts to train needs to be biblical. The role of the pastor should be based on a biblical model and have a strong theological foundation.⁸ A strong theological foundation can only be obtained from the Scriptures. Any leadership training course mixing Scriptures with evil human ideas is weak and is doomed to a miserable failure. This training course is based on the Protestant Bible though it accepts truth from the business world. Training leaders can either be done formally or informally. Jesus used the informal format because that was the best method in his days.

H. Richard Niebuhr and Daniel D. Williams state that from early in the eighteenth century, theological training was commonly acquired through study under the supervision of established clergymen, either Parish Ministers or Ministerial Professors.⁹ The implication is that there is a need for training of leaders on sound theology who will also train others either formally or informally. Just as Jesus established his disciples before commissioning them, this leadership training course can be used to establish leaders, making them more effective in their work resulting in the growth of the churches or organizations they are in charge of.

Research Methods

This leadership training course was developed through a literature review where between one hundred and seventy-five and three hundred sources were evaluated and analyzed. The course also incorporates principles drawn from the Scriptures. The Scriptures quoted in this study are paraphrased after studying and comparing different translations of the Protestant Bible. University of Central Florida observes that literature review demonstrates one’s ability to critique and synthesize the previous research in such a way that a new perspective is gained. It should, through critical analysis, articulate a new interpretation of previous work to be shared with the research community.¹⁰ All cited sources have been carefully analyzed, resulting in a completely new contribution to the field of knowledge of leadership training for Christian leaders.

Raison Sam Raju notes that evaluative literature review focuses on providing a discussion of the literature in terms of its coverage and contribution to knowledge in a particular area.¹¹ The sources evaluated in this study address the topic of leadership training. Hannah Snyder states that building one’s research on and relating it to existing knowledge is the building block of all academic research activities regardless of discipline. Literature review as a research method is more relevant than ever. Literature review can broadly be described as a more or less systematic way of collecting and synthesizing previous research.¹² The sources used to create this course have been systematically evaluated based on the main topics and sub-topics.

Elizabeth Smythe and Deborah Spence affirm that the purpose of exploring literature in hermeneutic research is to provide context and provoke thinking. Literature, which can include anything that provokes thinking on the phenomenon of interest, becomes essential dialogical partner from scholarly thinking and new insights emerge.¹³ The literature reviewed and analyzed leading to the creation of this course has been carefully selected to ensure that it will provoke thinking in the readers' minds, which will cause the required growth of the leader and those he or she leads.

Bloomsburg University affirms that a literature review is a comprehensive summary of previous research on a topic. It surveys scholarly articles, books, and other sources relevant to a particular area of study.¹⁴ Every source used in creating this leadership training course is relevant to the topic and has been comprehensively studied. Mark Newman and David Gough conclude this section by writing that a literature review is a scholarly paper which provides an overview of current knowledge about a topic.¹⁵ This course is of great value because it was created from available scholarly knowledge addressing the topic of leadership training.

Objective

This course aims to improve the effectiveness of leaders, which can, in turn, lead to the growth of the church and its organizations through leadership training.

Chapter Two

IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP TRAINING

Views on Leadership Training

Different people have different views concerning leadership training. S. Joseph Kidder states that spiritual mentoring is built into the fabric of the Bible. Jesus focused a major portion of his ministry on mentoring the disciples spiritually and in ministry. Paul repeatedly talks about the importance of sharing lives, knowledge, and experience with others. Paul wanted to create a culture of mentoring in the church so the young could learn from the example, experience, wisdom, and fortitude of the old. This should be done through intentional training and teaching.¹⁶ This implies that training by mentoring is a method in use by some churches and Christian organizations.

Prince Ng’andu holds the view that in most cases, pastors are appointed to leadership positions based upon the position of trust that they hold or the number of years served. Leadership skills are often not meaningfully assessed, and pastors commonly hold leadership positions without adequate preparation. In addition, no intentional plan exists regarding leadership development and succession when the need arises.¹⁷ If leadership skills are not meaningfully assessed, then it means that many churches and Christian organizations do not highly value leadership training. One only needs to have worked with the church for many years regardless of whether they have the required skills or not.

Prentis V. Johnson, Sr. quotes Lampman, who observes that the replication and continuity of the Pentecostal churches’ pastorate and leadership positions rest in the effective succession plan and training of church leaders, that is necessary to create a smooth transition of church mission and vision to future generations.¹⁸ This is a view that leadership training prepares future leaders to take over when others leave office. Leadership training can either be formally or informally done.

Irving A. Whitt quotes Dearborn, who has pointed out that there is no other professional organization in the world which allows its primary professional training institutions to produce graduates who are generally as functionally incompetent as the church permits her seminaries.¹⁹ For this reason, many churches have generally rejected formal theological training before one gets into ministry. They believe that one will not be better prepared for ministry after attending training in a seminary.

Kelebogile T. Resane affirms that the Neo-Charismatic leaders undermine formal theological training since they claim to be taught by the Holy Spirit.²⁰ Those holding this view try to substantiate their claims by stating that Jesus and his apostles had no formal training. They negatively view those who join Bible Colleges because, to them, doing so is sinful as the Holy Spirit is the teacher. John Mark Ruthven quotes Dearbon, Director of Seattle Association for Theological Education, who notes that most students emerge from seminaries less prepared than they entered, biblically uncertain, spiritually cold, theologically confused, relationally calloused, and professionally unequipped.²¹ Though many benefit from seminary training, a few don’t, and the few who don’t are cited as examples by those who hold the view which is opposed to formal theological training. Such people claim that attending a Bible College brings about backsliding or spiritual death.

On the other hand, Steve Jenkins states that training for mission in early British Pentecostalism was a ‘norm.’ The principles and practice of Faith Missions were inculcated into the early Pentecostal Missionaries. Within the first years of establishing the Pentecostal Missionary Union, there were two schools, one for men and one for women.²² Contrary to the view against formal training, there are those who have intentionally established schools to train Christian leaders for mission for decades.

Marius Nel points out that the beginnings and first half-century of South African Pentecostalism are characterized by a tradition of anti-intellectualism consisting of a rejection of theological training, a critical and negative attitude towards theologians, and criticism of the academic world in general.²³ Some Pentecostals and their ministries have vehemently fought against anyone who has theological training, and those among them who opt to pursue formal ministry training are opposed, often to the point of resigning and starting their own ministries. Any academic approach to training is viewed with a lot of suspicions.

R. David Muir writes that early Pentecostals were not very interested in ‘theological education.’ Seized with an ‘eschatological urgency’ to preach the ‘word of God’ they were more concerned to proclaim their message of baptism in the Holy Spirit, divine healing and the imminent return of Christ. Contemporary Pentecostal leaders are not less concerned about these things, but they are equally preoccupied with the need for proper theological education and ministerial training to equip leaders for effective missions for postmodern society.²⁴ Although there are elements of those still not interested in formal theological training in Pentecostalism, many have seen the need for pursuing training while still embracing the manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit according to the beliefs of the Pentecostals.

Robert Brodie "proposes a solution to the dilemma that was characteristic of the Pentecostal movement from its inception, one