Welcome to the fall issue of Equip for Ministry. We believe this issue will be especially important in the life of your church. The motif is leadership and planning. Much has been heard at the last three PCA General Assemblies regarding planning. Over the years, CE&P has worked with churches that have fallen into one of three categories: those with leaders doing what leaders are supposed to do; those with willing leaders who are uncertain of what to do; and those with leaders uninterested in the functional part of leadership. As a result, we have seen churches that are moving on with their ministry with a clear vision and sense of mission. We have also seen stagnant churches wanting to move forward but not certain how. The sad churches are those who do not seem to care about moving forward. They are the exception rather than the rule.

When CE&P began working with local churches on developing their educational, discipleship, and training programs, we realized that we actually raised their level of frustrations. We had attempted to help them develop a plan for a part of the ministry that lacked a holistic foundation. It became apparent to us that we needed to step back and focus on the entire church’s ministry plan.

The lead article deals with those two concepts, leadership and planning. With this in mind, coordinator of resources, Richard Aeschliman has written the “In Case You’re Asked” section. As our staff person focused on training officers, he is a tremendous resource to local churches and helps us orchestrate our leadership/consulting functions. We asked him to deal specifically with the role of the elders in this process. This where we see the peril of extreme thinking, that either elders have to do it all or they neglect doing the priority things.

We have seen some church leaders struggling with who does what. For example, the elders and deacons of one church are in conflict over who does what in the local church. We learn from Acts 6 and other passages that elders and deacons each have certain responsibilities and assignments. Each should respect the other’s role. That conflict can be avoided by clarifying the different roles among the formal and informal leadership. Because leaders are to reflect and represent Jesus’ servant-leader attitude, they should be in good communication and willing to wash one another’s feet.

While the office of elder does represent the kingly aspect of Christ’s roles, they are not to lord over the people, as the Gentiles do, said Jesus. Godly, servant leadership is most needed today among pastors, officers, and other key people. Our video series, Elders, Executives or Servants, offers some basic training for local churches along these lines.

The “Equip Tip” in this issue deals with a constant challenging of teaching the Word with life application. That has become more necessary as we have moved into a biblically illiterate culture. More effort and energy needs to be spent on helping people understand the “so what” of a particular Bible passage, sermon, or lesson.

In that light we have reviewed two books that will address that topic more extensively. Teaching Cross Culturally is a book that addresses the importance of living in a missional environment, even in North America. God the Teacher is full of learning how God, the master teacher, would have us teach, disciple, and train people for ministry and Christian living.

The book on discipleship, Down To Earth Discipling, is a good review of basic concepts, yet does not focus on teaching the whole counsel of God, as any discipleship program should. Breaking the Barriers is an unusual book that will often make the reader uncomfortable on some suggestions, but is full of ideas on establishing community. After all, the church is God’s covenant community and members should be experts at establishing good relationships. Getting Honest with God, as the title indicates, speaks for itself but contains a challenge that we need to remember constantly in our communication with God. We have been pleased with the positive response from our readers in recent months regarding the topics of each issue and the book reviews. We do try to be selective from a wide range of books that we believe Christian leaders would find helpful and challenging.

Other aspects of CE&P’s ministry are highlighted in this issue that you will want to know about and consider for your church. Our prayer aim in EfM is to provide our church leaders with a resource that will help them focus and be more effective in leading their church. I trust this issue will be of help, encouragement, and assistance to you in some way.

- Charles Dunahoo

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