No Ministry Oinkers

Have you ever heard a parent say, when asked whether or not they have taught their children to do a job, “Well, it’s just easier to do it myself”? I have, and at times I have even been that parent. However, if we are to be successful in passing on to our sons and daughter a good work ethic and in teaching them how to carry out particular tasks, we must remember that there is something more important than the perfect or the easier outcome: Training the next generation.

Such is the mentality we must have also in the church, if we are to pass on the faith and its practice to the next generation. Brad Brinson, lead pastor at Two Rivers Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, puts it this way:

Don’t be a ministry hog. People with ministry experience may be inclined to keep doing that task wowing those around them with their ability.  But they are unwittingly preventing up-and-comers from fulfilling their ministry calling. Release ministry to others so others can grow.  Don’t be a ministry oinker.[1]

If we are to be a healthy church who is equipping future ministers and leaders, we must resist the temptation to be “ministry oinkers”! At the heart of the three biblical leadership principles we have left to cover is the call to turn around and equip others out of our gifts, talents, and experience. Let’s take a brief look at those three principles.

To Begin, we must:

HAVE A CALL FOR OFFICIAL LEADERSHIP POSITIONS.

All Jesus followers have a call to multiply; to equip younger believers. Consider where we discover this in the Pastoral Epistles:

·         2 Timothy 2:2: “and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

·         Titus 2:2-6: “Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. ³ Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, ⁴ and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, ⁵ to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. ⁶ Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.

This call is also at the heart of the Church’s mission, as seen elsewhere. Matthew 28:19-20: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  So, every Christian is to be a teacher, i.e. one who equips others to be disciples of Jesus. Consider how Jesus begins this kingdom parable in Matthew 13:52: “Everyone who has been made a disciple of the kingdom of heaven, a teacher….” (author’s own translation)

Yet, there are some followers of Jesus who have been given a more specific call. Such a one “aspires to the office of overseer” (1 Tim. 3:1), having been gifted (1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6, appointed to that end (2 Tim. 1:11), and confirmed by others (1 Tim. 3:10). Elsewhere in Scripture we not only discover that overseers in the church should be placed there by the Holy Spirit (Acts 20:28)—a truth that is as the heart of a divine call to leadership, we also find out that other leaders in Scripture operate under a specific divine calling to their office: Moses as the one to lead Israel out of Egypt and through the wilderness (3:1-22); Joshua as the one to lead Israel into the Promised Land (Dt. 31:14; Joshua 1:1-18); David as the king to prefigure the coming King and Messiah (1 Sam. 16:1-13; 2 Sam. 7:12-16; Jer. 33:14-22; Ezek. 33:23-24; 37:24); Paul as an apostle (Rom. 1:1; Titus 1:3), and many others. The advantage of remembering such a call is not only to keep in sight just what it is that God desires the leader to do and to be stubbornly committed to it (see Acts 20:24), but also to take courage from a call when things are hard (Joshua 1:1-9).

At the core of the call to New Testament eldership (i.e. pastoring or shepherding) is taking what one has learned and entrusting it to faithful believers who will be able to teach others (2 Tim. 2:2)—and all this in a manner in which all the saints can be equipped for that kind of multiplying ministry (Eph. 4:10-16; Col. 1:28). This is why elders must be able to teach (1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:9-10) in a manner that has training others to follow Jesus at its very core (see 1 Tim. 4:12, 16).

One of the worst things a church can do is to put into leadership those who have not been called, gifted, equipped, and confirmed as those who should be there. After all, since the health of the Church is so dependent upon such leadership (see Eph. 4:7-16; 1 Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-10), it is important that the right leaders are in place.

Certainly such multiplying, equipping, disciplemaking ministry is not the only call that the New Testament leader has, but it is most definitely at the heart of the calling. This is highlighted in our next-to-last leadership principle. Leaders are to:

INVEST IN OTHERS THROUGH THE GOSPEL WORK OF TEACHING AND DISCIPLING THAT DELEGATES RESPONSIBILITY AND GROWS THEM.

We have already introduced this, but it is important enough that we dare not short-change it. If the mission of the Christian Church is to multiply by making followers of Jesus Christ (Mt. 28:19-20), it stands to reason that Christian leaders are to give their best and most frequent efforts to this end.

In the Pastoral Epistles we see that leaders are to be able to teach and refute false doctrine (1 Tim. 3:2; 4:1-5; 2 Tim. 2:23-26; Titus 1:9-10), are to be devoted to teaching (1 Tim. 4:13), are to be able to correct those who are in error (2 Tim. 2:23-26), are to be diligent in the Scriptures (2 Tim. 2:15), and to know that the good servant of Christ is one who is a faithful teacher and equipped through the Scriptures for every good work (1 Tim. 4:6; 2 Tim. 3:16-17). Knowledge of truth and preaching are at the heart of the leader’s tasks (Titus 1:1-3) and this in a manner in which he is multiplying himself in others (2 Tim. 2:2; Titus 2:1-10) and teaching others how to live out the entailments of the gospel (Titus 2:1-15; 3:1-8).

Another example of a leader who was a teacher and skilled in the Word of God, in such a way he helped others come to understand and apply it was Ezra (Ezra 7:6; Neh. 8:1-8). He showed himself a faithful servant of God, for one of the primary tasks of both prophets and priests in the Old Testament was to teach God’s Word (see Exodus 3:16; 1 Ki. 22:14; Jer. 23:1-40; Ezek. 34:2; Mal. 2:7f.).

There is nothing that is more a part of the very fabric of leadership than leading others in the way they should go. For the Christian leader, then, this means leading in accordance with God’s Truth.

This teaching, however, must be with a bent toward not only investing in others—giving to them an opportunity to learn and gain experience—but also with a strong mind to delegate responsibility to others. The disciplemaking Christian leader must never conclude ministry is only about getting the tasks done. It is also about raising up other disciplemakers and leaders. As such, no leader should ever be a ministry oinker!

A great example from elsewhere in the Bible that addresses the need to invest in others and to spread out the responsibilities is that of Exodus 18:13-27, where Moses learned from his father-in-law, Jethro, that such delegation is not only best for the leader, but for all those being led (Exodus 18:17-18, 22-23).

Yet, there is one more thing we need to say about this ministry of multiplication. This leads us to our tenth and final leadership principle:

PASTOR YOUR FAMILY, NOT JUST OTHERS.

Among God’s people, passing on to the next generation the faith has always included a strong priority for teaching and equipping one’s own family (Dt. 4:1-8; 6:4-9). This is one of the reasons in the Pastoral Epistles that the elder/pastor is instructed that a qualification he must possess is capable leadership of his own family (1 Tim. 3:4-5; Titus 1:6). After all, he is to be an example to others (1 Tim. 4:12) and so he must disciple his wife and his children (see Eph. 5:25-30; 6:4) well. In fact, Paul writes that if this cannot be done, how will he be able to lead in the church (1 Tim.3:5)?

Few things undercut the Christian leader more than failing in his family life at the same time he is attempting to be successful “on the job.” And this particular failure happens all too often.

We have now set forth the ten principles of leadership we have gleaned from the Pastoral Epistles and which have also been supported from the rest of the Bible. Let’s commit ourselves to memorizing these principles and praying that they will be part of the fabric of our congregation. Let’s also model them and then multiply them into the lives of others who, in turn, will see them multiplied in others.

Here they are in review:

LAY BEFORE SELF AND OTHERS OUR ULTIMATE PURPOSE—GOD’S GLORY BY ENJOYING HIM.

EMBODY LOVE AS A KEY PURPOSE IN THE CHURCH.

ATTEND TO TRUTH AS A VERY IMPORTANT MEANS TO ACCOMPLISHING OUR PURPOSES IN THE CHURCH.

DEPEND UPON GOD WITH A HUMBLE, PRAYING, HOLY-SPIRIT-TRUSTING, GOSPEL-DIRECTED LIFE.

ESCORT OTHERS IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION COURAGEOUSLY, EVEN WHEN IT IS HARD.

RUN HARD AFTER GODLINESS.

SHOW OTHERS HOW TO LIVE THROUGH YOUR EXAMPLE—WHICH ALSO WILL DRAW OTHERS TO CHRIST.

HAVE A CALL FOR OFFICIAL LEADERSHIP POSITIONS.

INVEST IN OTHERS THROUGH THE GOSPEL WORK OF TEACHING AND DISCIPLING THAT DELEGATES RESPONSIBILITY AND GROWS THEM.

PASTOR YOUR FAMILY, NOT JUST OTHERS.

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[1] Taken from Leadership Axioms, an unpublished resource at Two Rivers Church.