First step: Making disciples or leaders?

Richard Frazer Jan. 26, 2018

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If you make better disciples, you will have better church leadership. 

There. It is written.  

It doesn’t work, necessarily, the other way around. If you focus on developing leaders, you don’t necessarily get disciples.  Lest we forget, the Great Commission is, “make disciples.”

Pastors, church boards and nominating committees often find themselves in tight spots trying to identify those they will appoint or nominate to the high honor of discerning the will of God for their congregations and leading them toward a fruitful future. They are tasked with holding to stated and traditional prerequisites of each candidate considered.  This process is guided either by godly and prayerful wisdom, personalities and politics or “she’s just the best we got and we need someone to fill the position” mentality. 

During one board meeting of the first church I pastored, one of the members recommended a certain man to serve on the board that we all knew had not committed his life to Christ. He was (and remains) an avowed agnostic. When this fact was brought out, one board member stated, “Well, maybe if he joined the board, he would become a Christian!” My immediate thought was, Not if he joinedthisboard! 

Here is the dilemma many existing church leaders face when they consider those who will lead the church: Do we establish disciples from our church leadership, or do we select church leadership from among the disciples we are making?  

Forming church leadership from disciples

If your church has a process for making disciples of Jesus Christ in an intentional and systematic way, the answer is obvious—select gifted and mature disciples to serve in leadership capacities. We see this paradigm prescribed in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. Those who aspire to the office of overseer/elder should already be qualified for the position by their temperament, reputation, skillset and example.   

We see this model illustrated in Acts 6. In the midst of a ministry dilemma, who would oversee the feeding of widows in a fair and loving manner—the elders instructed the people to select seven men who were of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom and faith to supervise this ministry. Of all the things we could highlight here, let’s emphasize the fact that they already had mature men of respectable stature qualified to serve. 

Though not every disciple is ready and gifted to become a leader in the church, disciples are predisposed to be teachable and are learning to seek first the kingdom of God, subdue their egos and pursue personal holiness.  

So, what if a church has existing leaders overseeing ministries and/or serving as elders who are not mature disciples of Jesus Christ? What if you are leading a church that has elders or executive board members or a presbytery who don’t match the prescribed qualities and qualifications for serving as ministry leaders? What’s a pastor and discipled leader to do?  

Making disciples of church leadership 

There is a tremendous responsibility to fulfill the Great Commission within that context! My good friend told me once, “You have to dance with the girl who brought you.” Though she may not be pretty and doesn’t know how to dance, you still need to enjoy the dance, teach her a few dance moves and make sure she gets home OK.  

If you have been in situations like this where you sensed your leadership team didn’t have the spiritual maturity to lead the church forward with grace and truth, you are in good company. In fact, you’re right where Jesus was when He started His ministry.  

So, what do you do? You could complain to God, your spouse and fellow-pastors about the immature people you have to work with, or you could get started on discipling them to know and live by the will and ways of God and train them what it takes to be a spiritual leader of Jesus’ Church. Here are a few recommendations: 

1. Pray our Lord will give them a hunger to know God. The Head of the Church is always working behind the scenes in people’s lives to convince them of the superiority of His will over their own. He will help them hunger and thirst for His kingdom to reign in their own lives, as well as in the fulfillment of the Church’s vision and purpose. 

2. Meet with them often.This was Jesus’ strategy with His rag-tag band of followers. Read passages of the Bible together and ask them how to apply it in their own lives as well as in church life. The more you interact with them for the purpose of making them disciples, the better the odds they will learn the ways of our Lord and lead with maturity and discernment. 

3. Include them in the vision planning. You likely have the inside scoop on the vision our Lord has entrusted to the ministry you oversee, but including others in clarifying that vision and strategizing to fulfilling it will give them a greater depth of stewardship of the direction of 

4. Illuminate the past. The people who pioneered the church likely had faith to match their vision. They made sacrifices because they believed God was doing a great work. Challenge them to match the intensity of their forerunners and see the church transform into what God wants it to be in the future. 

5. Let them see the results.  Put them on the front row to celebrate what the Lord is doing in and through the church and the board’s leadership.  Place testimonies of life transformation in front of them. Share thriving or revitalizing ministries that will open their eyes to how the Head of the Church is showering His grace on His people.  

6. Keep the expectations high.  You’re on this journey together, but you are their leader. They need you to stretch them forward. Stay ahead while frequently showing them the vision you are all striving for—a band of disciples carrying on the work of Jesus in your generation.

As you evaluate and strategize in establishing disciples and church leadership, keep this in mind:  stronger disciples will mean a stronger and more united church leadership. 

Photo source: istock 

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Rich Frazer is President of Spiritual Overseers Service (SOS) International, a global training ministry equipping indigenous ministry leaders. He holds a Doctorate of Ministry with an emphasis on training ministry leaders to upcycle declining churches. Learn More »

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