PACE NEWS ONLINE

Black Church Leaders Are Failing To Make Disciples 

By Gloria Zuurveen, D. Min.

Editor-in-Chief

“When standing on the Mount of observation of our nation and peeping through the spiritual telescope for a panoramic view of the intricacies of (Christendom) one gets more than a bird’s-eye view of dying, cold, empty churches, with tearless eyes and prayerless lips. One is tempted to ponder almost congruently with Ezekiel that there is a valley full of dry bones and the rumors has it that they are dead — dead from the complexity of over institutionalization; dead from excessive political shenaniganism; dead from the neglect of pastoral care; dead from historical attitudinal problems; dead from post-ministerial interferences; dead from mismanagement; dead from the lack of openness; dead from misunderstanding, disappointments, unkept promises, estrangement, broken relationships and dead from sin. Yes! Dead from the lack  of  discipleship training. There are dry bones in the valley and rumor has it that they are dead.”

Bishop E. Lynn Brown

Former Bishop of the 9th Episcopal District of the  Christian Methodist  Episcopal Church (CME)

Some people wonder why the church of God is stagnate and no growth is taking place. Some are saying that it is because many people are flocking to mega churches and that they want more than what small or medium size churches have to offer. These statements maybe true in some cases but not the majority of them.

In many cases the church of God is either stagnate or dead because traditional church leaders have no real interest in making disciples, which is to teach others how to fulfill the Great Commission commanded by Jesus Christ who said in Matthew 28:18-20 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been give to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always to the very end of the age.”

Jesus also said, “Upon this rock I will build my church.” but many our leaders today carry-on as if Jesus never said “My Church” because in reality they have literally taken personal possession of His church. They are more focused on growing their personal agenda such as maintaining their wealth, which includes a healthy compensation package, more so than helping to grow and perfect the saints as Paul so adamantly admonishes in the book of Ephesians. He emphasized the call of the body of Christ and its leaders to perfect the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ.

Bishop Brown put it plainly in his book, The Pastor: As an Enabling and Equipping Disciple he said, “When any Institution reaches the point and time in its history when it serves itself, its spiritual immune system becomes deficient and can no longer resist the deadly germ of stagnation. Therefore, it contracts the terminal disease of ingrowness and dies.”

Jesus’ ultimate mission in calling his disciples was to give them a first hand experience in going out into the highways and byways to save those who were lost and in need of salvation from this world of sin. He took the time and gave them his undivided attention when it came to on-the-job training of his disciples who had been given the responsibility to feed his sheep. He told them parables in order to teach them how he wanted them to have compassion on others just as He did.

We have today, too many leaders in the pulpit who have no vision to do as Jesus did. In Proverb 29:18 it says, “Where there is no vision the people perish; but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” They are failing the saints of God when it comes to equipping them with the law of God to win the lost at any cost. This is what disciples are called to do.

An editorial in the Baptist Messenger of Oklahoma entitled “The Leadership Void” speaks volume to this lack of leadership in the Christian church today. It says, “While people look for places to serve, what churches need are leaders. Many churches have passed the responsibility of producing leaders to educational institutions and seminaries. Leadership at its core requires on-the-job training. One cannot just watch and learn; he/she must put the concepts into practice in real life situations. Educational institutions, therefore, are not enough to provide leadership experience.” Unlike Jesus, who provided on-the-job training for his disciples, too many leaders today are failing to utilize the principles of Jesus, the Master teacher and preacher, in equipping those who are ready, willing and able to move forward.

Like Peter, who made mistakes on the job as well as like Timothy who were youthful and unlearned in many ways and also made mistakes as he sat at the feet of the master theologian Paul, learned that the only way for ministers to launch out into the deep and fish for lost men is to be taught and given the opportunity to learn by their mistakes encountered during on-the-job training.

According to W. B. Moore from wordpress.com “Paul trained the new disciples in public and in private, from house to house (Acts 20:17-21). Paul trained Timothy and sent him to put his training into practice (1 Cor 4;17). It may be that Timothy trained Epaphras (Col 1:1-8; Col 4:12-13; 2 Tim 2:2).

He said, “This same model was used by Elizabeth with Mary, the mother of Jesus. When she knew that she was pregnant with the son of God, she went to stay with her relative, Elizabeth (Luke 1:36-56). It would have been during this time that Elizabeth would have shared what Mary would go through in her pregnancy. Women often do this sort of thing naturally, sharing what is going on with them so that others might benefit. Couples also can together disciple others. In Acts 18, we see Paul stayed with Aquilas and Priscilla and worked with them. It would have been at this time that they would have come to an accurate understanding of the scriptures concerning Christ. They in turn shared this understanding of Christ with Apollos in Ephesus. Sometimes it is over a period of time, and sometimes it might be just an instant in time.” This is profound in that today too many leaders are holding potential leaders back by not accepting that the church is in need of “an instant in time” leadership training program to stop the valley of dry bones from dying in many local churches today.

Because many leaders either fail to acknowledge or willfully deny others to demonstrate their calling from God due to the fact that they’ve developed what I call the “Saul Mentality” which is jealousy. It is so prevalent in the House of God today and because of it the House of God   and the people of God are suffering.

The Baptist Message also says, “In our churches are people who are called to serve who have not been mentored and nurtured into ministry. Some ethnic church traditions recognize this and have a practice of bringing young people into the pastor's 'inner circle.' They are given unpaid 'associate' titles with responsibility and mentoring. The expectation is that God will call some of them to full-time roles. Those who are, have the benefit of experience and mentoring. They become a pool of future leaders that churches use as the Kingdom grows.” “Pastors and staff take young people on visits to the hospital; invite them into prayer times with the staff, ask them to fulfill roles in the church and involve them in ministry. On Sundays, these young leaders read Scripture, pray, bring a greeting and are mentored in the ways of leadership,” said the Baptist Messenger.

In other cases the leadership institutes to the detriment of the Church body sometimes, an “Heir Apparent” which is not biblical but has been established for the continuum of the old leadership to harness power long after they’ve gone from their own throne.

If one doesn’t fit into this category they are up a creek without a paddle because you become a sitting servant whose ready, willing and able to serve but because of failed leadership you have no real function accept to sit, wait and pray for the true and living God to have His way just like he did when he called His servant David who despite all of his trials and tribulations from King Saul, he still trusted in the true and living God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to fulfill His promises in His timing. To sit, wait and pray that the same God which promised Abraham he would bless him with a son in spite of the fact that he was well beyond his age of child bearing is what many future leaders are encouraged to do and watch the manifestation of God’s will be done just like in the days of old when God in His infinite wisdom dealt with a disobedient Eli who failed to discipline his own two sons.

“Regardless of whether it is a man discipling a man, a woman discipling a woman, and a couple discipling someone together, the pattern remains the same. A believer (or believers) identify someone who needs instruction in the word and spiritual growth — people to focus our energy on, to spend time teaching them. We are to teach them scripture and how to practically apply scripture to their lives. We need to talk with them, show them how to apply scripture, and have them do it themselves. Once the disciples are prepared, we need to provide avenues for them to move into ministry and then into leadership. Then the disciples will make other disciples, following the same principles,” said Moore.

Moore’s words are all to clear as to what is failing in leadership today. They are failing to provide an avenues for disciples to move into ministry and then into leadership. Instead of equipping leaders they are providing obstacles not opportunities.  I am a firm believer that God knows the heart of everyone and it is He who will set his House in order no matter how depraved man has become in their neglect to train and make disciples of future leaders that are sent for such a purpose as to build up the body to become more Christlike and ultimately to win souls for the Kingdom and Glory of God.