Education and Leadership

Today’s reading is Section 11 of the Lausanne Covenant - Education and Leadership. Read Section 11 here.

We confess that we have sometimes pursued church growth at the expense of church depth, and divorced evangelism from Christian nurture. We also acknowledge that some of our missions have been too slow to equip and encourage national leaders to assume their rightful responsibilities. Yet we are committed to indigenous principles, and long that every church will have national leaders who manifest a Christian style of leadership in terms not of domination but of service. We recognize that there is a great need to improve theological education, especially for church leaders. In every nation and culture there should be an effective training programme for pastors and laity in doctrine, discipleship, evangelism, nurture and service. Such training programmes should not rely on any stereotyped methodology but should be developed by creative local initiatives according to biblical standards.

This section of the Covenant opens with two confessions—mistakes Paul avoided. His goal was not only to win converts but to present every believer mature in Christ (Colossians 1:28-29), and he appointed local leaders from the start (Acts 14:23).

Principles of Leadership

We need autonomous churches led by national leaders—those raised up from within the local context—chosen for their Christlike humility, integrity, service, and submission to God’s Word (Mark 10:42-45; 2 Corinthians 4:5; 1 Peter 5:3). These leaders, like all of us, must guard against pride, power-seeking, and self-importance.

Training for Leadership

The problems facing the Church are always basically theological. So the Church needs leaders who think theologically, are able to apply Christian principles to every situation, who teach sound doctrine, and refute error (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:9). This requires evangelical seminaries, theological education by extension, research centres, regional and national theological fellowships, and the exchange of theological teachers. Both ordained and lay leaders need equipping (Ephesians 4:11-12) for the whole body of Christ to function as it should.

Effective training should be both

• thorough—covering doctrine (biblical theology) and its practical application in discipleship, evangelism, nurture, and service
• indigenous—developed by local initiative rather than imposed from outside.

Such training should also avoid stereotyped methods, rather it should reflect the creativity of the region while remaining fully submissive to biblical truth. When leadership development is rooted in Scripture and locally-shaped, it will greatly strengthen the Church.

Reflection:

Have you considered advancing your own theological knowledge?

Prayer:

Lord, I pray for opportunities to deepen my own theological knowledge and play my part in the church’s depth.