Equipping the Saints

There are many Christian leaders today who are overcome with burn-out.

Ephesians 4.11f (NIV) says

11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,
12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
13 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.

To me, this passage says that the role of leadership is to equip the saints so that they carry out the "work of the ministry." It is not the primary role of the leadership to do the work of the ministry themselves.

Yet many Christian leaders complain of fatigue and burn out. Could it be that they take too much upon themselves and instead of seeing themselves primarily as coaches, they have joined the ranks of the players?

Over the years, have we developed congregations that have been regressed into a couple of roles, that of financial donors and audiences? And if this is so, have our congregations grown to accept this over many generations, if not centuries, so that these roles are now entrenched? Do our congregations now expect our leaders and other full time workers to do the "work of the ministry?" Isn't that what we pay them for?

If this is so, could it be that we have established a modus that not only creates a steady stream of burnt out leaders but it is a system by which our congregations will never achieve maturity (v13)?

Isn't it conceivable that the congregation no longer wants to do the work of the ministry and is content to leave it to the employed leadership of the church? How can this pattern be stopped?

It is the role of leadership to break the vicious circle. I think courage will be required to break the cycle as many leaders now derive their meaning from the work of the Ministry that they do. To train others to do it, to trust others to do it, could be quite unnerving. This is why faith is required. To trust that God can step in and give sufficient grace to overcome the consequences of mistakes that new learning inevitably brings. In the long run, the risk and investment is worth it. It is the key to fulfilling the promise that "greater things" will be done (John 14.12).

So if you are the leader of a church or member of a leadership team, do you do most of the preaching, teaching, worship leading, praying, giving, studying and talking? For example, in a church that is focused on equipping the saints, the "leaders" only preach to show how it is done, the rest of the church should be doing it most of the time.