Checking our Equip-ment - Values, Part 2

No, the title of this blog doesn't have an accidental hyphen. As we continue with our highlighting of our Mission Wall at the HBA Mission Center, I want to point out the second of the value statements ...

Leadership Development: Facilitating opportunities for multiplying equipped disciples of Jesus Christ.

A characteristic common to almost every congregation is a shortage of leaders. How many times have I heard a pastor say, "God has put this ministry on my heart, but we just don't have anyone to lead it and I can't lead something else." Sure, there are the positional leaders (staff, deacons, teachers, committee chairs, Sunday School directors, etc) that have been chosen by some process of election/selection within the congregation. But what about honest-to-goodness disciples of Jesus Christ who are equipped to disciple others? Listen to the apostle Paul ...

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-13, NIV, emphasis mine)

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2:2, NIV, emphasis mine)

Where are those leaders? My conviction is that those leaders are already in our churches. They just haven't been equipped yet. Our issue is not a shortage of leaders. Our issue is a gap in our equip-ment (our equipping process). So, where does the association come in? As an association, we can focus on programs and events that train people to do certain tasks (some of which they have been doing for decades), or we can focus on identifying resources and facilitating opportunities that assist our churches in equipping equippers. How I long for the day that I hear a pastor say, "We have so many equipped disciples of Jesus Christ that new ministries are popping up everywhere because God is inspiring passionate equipped disciples of Jesus Christ." Don't you think that is a value worth pursuing?