Category Archives: Ministry Focus & Equipping

Effective ministry training lines up with:

God’s equipping plan
God’s equipping objectives

If you haven’t read the above posts, be sure to click on the links and read them as these tips grow out of those truths.

Tips for an Effective Ministry Training Plan

1) Begin by helping people identify their best fit in ministry and then providing opportunities for them to fan into flame the spiritual gifts God has given them so people are effectively doing the part God has given them.

• About Spiritual Gifts
• Finding your Best Fit in Ministry
• Getting Beyond Definitions & Labels
• Spiritual Gifts Resources

2) Provide training opportunities for everyone regardless of how/where they serve and previous experience, training, or background.

• Thoroughly Equipped for What?
• Why Don’t We Train Everyone for Ministry?
• Who Needs to be Thoroughly Equipped?

3) Develop a comprehensive approach to ministry training which includes pre-service, in-service, and post-service efforts.

• Ministry Training Needed

4) Seek to line up with character and ways of God, using Him as the standard against which you define and measure ministry.

• Effective Ministry Training

5) Use God’s Word as the foundation and filter through which all training content is determined.

• How are we Thoroughly Equipped?

6) Emphasize reliance on God’s provisions and power for ministry, that the training opportunities you provide aren’t sufficient in themselves to make people truly effective.

• Church Leaders, Are You Prepared for Ministry?
• Ministry Tools that Equip Us for Serving
• Ministry Tools that Encourage Us in Serving

Resources to Help: Ministry Training Resources

God’s equipping plan involves spiritually gifted Trainers using the Textbook authored by God Himself, the Bible, depending on His Spirit to work in and through them to train people for ministry.

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service … (Eph. 4:11-12a)

When we follow God’s plan, the outcome yields eternal good as described in what follows the above verses.

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. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Eph. 4:12-16)

What are God’s Equipping Objectives?

People equipped to do ministry God’s way have a role in reaching the following objectives seen in Ephesians 4:12-16:

Objective #1: the building up of the whole Body to become spiritually mature and discerning, becoming more and more Christ-like in all aspects, holding to God’s Truth and loving as He loves

• Environment Conducive to Spiritual Growth
• Motivation to Grow in the Christian Life
• Spiritual Growth: Overview

Objective #2: the Headship of Christ wherein we not only find our connection with one another but reflect Him and let Him control every aspect of what we do

• Connected to One Another

Objective #3: the effective working of individual members of the Body to do their part

• It Takes a Culture Shift
• Culture Shift Based on God’s Commands
• Your Best Fit in Ministry

God’s Equipping Objectives Elevate Ministry Training

When we understand that God’s goals for equipping people go beyond the skill level of individual teachers, leaders, and workers, to the effect they have on building up the whole Body and the supremacy of Christ in our midst, ministry training takes on an added importance.

• We need to make sure the agenda for our ministry training lines up with God’s equipping objectives so we truly help people do ministry God’s way.
• We need to invest sufficient prayer, purpose, and preparation in planning the training, rather than slipping into haphazard or sporadic efforts.
• We need to build in a sense of accountability for ministry workers to participate in training opportunities, helping them grasp the big picture God has in their equipping.

The next post will provide some additional tips for ministry training.

For Help with Training: Ministry Training Resources

Equipping people for ministry is God’s idea.

• Intended to be Thoroughly Equipped

Since equipping is God’s idea, it only makes sense we follow His plan in our ministry training efforts.

God’s Equipping Plan Should Guide Our Ministry Training

God intends for spiritually gifted people to equip God’s people — the Trainers.

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up … (Eph. 4:11-13)

The primary means God provides for training include:

1) His Word — the Textbook

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Tim. 3:16-17)

2) His Spirit — the real Teacher

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (Jn. 14:26) But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. (Jn. 16:13)

The best training for ministry happens when spiritually gifted Trainers use God’s Textbook to help people do their part, depending on the Real Teacher to do the heart work required to thoroughly equip people.

• How are we Thoroughly Equipped?
• How Critical is the Holy Spirit in Ministry?
• Ministry Tools that Equip Us for Serving

That doesn’t mean Trainers can’t use anything other than the Bible, but it does mean they filter everything through the grid of God’s Word. Ministry done God’s way requires lining up with His character and ways as described in His Word and is accomplished through His power, through His Spirit.

God’s Equipping Plan Reflects the Uniqueness of Doing Ministry God’s Way

We might think public school teachers, business administrators, or community workers get a pass on ministry training due to all their educational background and life experience. Not so, when we consider God’s equipping plan.

Knowing how to teach in the public school system doesn’t mean people are equipped for teaching God’s Word. Bible teachers have a unique accountability for how they handle the words of the Almighty, All-Wise, Supreme God. (James 3:1)

Being business administrators in Fortune 500 companies doesn’t mean people are fit for church administration. Those who manage a spiritual house need spiritual objectives and means. (1 Pet. 2:5)

Working for a benevolent community organization doesn’t mean people know how to extend God’s mercy in ways that minister to spiritual, not just physical needs. We comfort others with the comfort we received from God, with divine love and compassion, not with human emotion or sentiment. (2 Cor. 1:3-4)

Just because something seems to work in the world, doesn’t mean it is right or best. God’s thoughts and ways are higher than ours (Isa. 55:9). When we follow God’s equipping plan, we’re helping people to not only do a good job but to make an eternal difference. We reach God’s equipping objectives when we follow His plan — the topic of the next post. For these reasons, all believers need ministry training. None of us have arrived at understanding God’s ways and thoughts. We all continue to grow regardless of educational background or experience.

• Who Needs to be Thoroughly Equipped?
• Why Don’t We Train Everyone for Ministry?

Also See: Ministry Training Resources