When Paul instructs Timothy (2 Timothy 2:2) to entrust what he has learned to reliable men, he’s commending Timothy to raise harvest laborers, leaders for mission. Timothy knew what to do because of what he had experienced in disciple making. Like Jesus and his disciples, he spent a lot of time with Paul watching and listening, asking questions and learning, failing and being restored, being discouraged and encouraged, being torn down by the mission and remade into a man of God by the gospel. Seminaries were not an option. No diploma to hang on the wall at the end. He would have to trust the lessons learned and put them into practice. Thankfully, all he had to do was reproduce what he had done with Paul.
Somewhere along the way it seems the church opted toward degreed professionals instead of making disciples to best prepare for leading mission. The competency standard became education from the classroom instead of entrusting through faithful service. Classroom education as first priority led to a presumption that only professionals were qualified. Education has much to offer the church to bless her and move her mission forward. This I do not deny and want to see it grow among us. I greatly value my degrees from my college and seminary education. I encourage young people to invest in education. But it is never a substitute for entrusting the faithful through seasoned experience. Harvest laborers must be raised up in the field.
Brian, a U.S. army captain, is commissioned with the responsibility of training soldiers to prepare them for battle. In addition to educating and training in essential knowledge and skills, there are three areas of focus to prepare soldiers for deployment: mental, spiritual and physical. The purpose is to prepare the soldier to adequately handle any situation that may be encountered. Soldiers are put in real-time, potential scenarios called Lane Training Exercises (LTX) to observe their response. LTXes are created based on real combat experience by the trainers. Soldiers are evaluated based on how they react and communicate. After Action Reviews (AAR) follows each LTX to dialogue about what went right and wrong and how to correct and improve. Preparing soldiers for deployment is a great analogy for raising harvest laborers.
Areas of Focus
Four areas of focus must be developed in order to lead mission: hands, mind, heart, and feet. This means that every aspect of a Christian’s life matters for mission. This is not a simple linear progression, but it demonstrates a growth of depth that leadership requires. Everyone can do something; engaging the hands is the first step to demonstrate skill, talent, and ability. Developing the mind means building a gospel-centered framework through which all serving is filtered to more deeply understand and communicate how the gospel is practically applied to mission. Shaping the heart means growing a God-centered character and motivation for serving that deepens commitment to Christ and strengthens one’s call to mission and expands joy in serving. Finally, training the feet means learning to live in rhythms instead of living to burn out. Marathon is a better analogy than sprint for faithfulness in the Christian life.
Made by Mission
A defining lesson I continue to be reminded of at every stage of leading: The man must be made by the mission. This is true not only of individuals, but it is true for the work of the church as well. There are many hard lessons that must be learned in leading, for there is nowhere else to learn these lessons other than in the church. Still it is impossible to learn every lesson of church leadership. A framework that prepares one to deal with issues that arise is best for leadership. A leader needs must be tested in order to be approved. To remove the testing of a leader subjects the entire mission to failure, which is much greater danger for the leader, his family, and those who follow that leader. The value of serving at progressing levels of responsibility in the church is that small failures in safe environments teach great lessons for future preparation. The leader is not publicly embarrassed, shamed, ridiculed, or stripped of significant leadership credibility. The church is not hurt or significantly hindered by mistakes. This paradigm of missional leadership development is prepared for this to happen so the gospel can be practiced and applied, people can learn and grow, and the church can be strengthened. Grace wins when the gospel is growing the church. As a person serves and grows their hands, head, heart, and feet, past and present success provides the best predictor of future performance.