|
|
|
Equip
for
Ministry
March/April
1998
Volume 4, Number
2
The
Goals
of
Equipping
by
T.M.
Moore
I
remember
once
as
a
small
child
being
sent
by
my
aunt
to
get
a
tea
kettle
for
her
in
another
room.
I
had
no
idea
what
I
was
looking
for,
since
we
did
not
have
a
tea
kettle
in
our
home
and
I
had
never
seen
one.
But,
being
too
embarrassed
in
front
of
my
cousins
to
admit
that
I
did
not
know
what
a
tea
kettle
was,
I
went
ahead
and
fetched
the
first
thing
I
saw
in
that
room
that
I
could
not
name.
I
must
have
reasoned,
“If
I
just
come
back
with
something
she’ll
be
satisfied.”
So
I
carried
out
the
search,
bringing
back
the
first
thing
I
reckoned
might
qualify.
It
was
not
a
tea
kettle,
needless
to
say,
and
I
had
to
face
the
embarrassing
fact
that
I
had
carried
on
like
I
knew
what
I
was
doing
when
in
fact
I
did
not.
Sometimes
I
think
we
in
the
church
are
guilty
of
the
same
thing
when
it
comes
to
our
calling
to
make
disciples.
Having
only
a
vague
notion
of
what
discipleship
is—
or
having
such
a
wide
range
of
views
on
the
matter
that
we
have
never
reached
any
real
agreement
as
to
what
discipleship
is—
and
having
met
precious
few
real
disciples
in
our
lifetimes,
we
press
on
in
our
teaching
and
training
activities
in
the
hope
that
somehow
or
other
disciples
will
come
out
of
the
end
of
the
pipeline
so
long
as
we
do
something.
We
have
never
clearly
settled
in
our
minds,
in
specific
terms,
what
the
goals
of
our
equipping
ought
to
be,
so
we
pay
more
attention
to
the
process
of
making
disciples
than
to
the
product
that
should
result
from
our
labors.
Is
it
any
wonder
we
hear
so
many
complaints
from
pastors
about
the
paucity
of
bold,
vibrant,
and
growing
disciples
of
the
Lord
Jesus
Christ
in
the
ranks
of
His
people?
WHAT
IS
DISCIPLESHIP?
Much
of
what
we
do
in
the
church
in
the
name
of
equipping
seems
to
have
the
character
of
guesswork.
We
guess
that
the
programs
and
activities
that
we
sponsored
last
year
were
good
enough,
so
we
will
just
repeat
them
in
the
year
to
come.
We
guess
that
the
curriculum
writers
know
best
about
making
disciples,
and
that
their
materials
are
designed
to
accomplish
that
task,
so
we
will
just
use
their
stuff
for
our
Sunday
school
and
Bible
studies.
That
program
seems
to
have
worked
well
over
at
such-and-such
church,
so
we
guess
it
will
go
OK
here,
too.
And
because
most
of
the
people
keep
coming
back
for
more
of
those
programs
and
more
of
that
material
year
after
year,
we
guess
we
must
be
doing
what
we
are
supposed
to,
so
why
change
anything?
But
when
do
we
ever
get
to
the
place
where
we
ask
the
hard
questions
about
goals?
Equipping
that
is
left
to
guesswork
will
only
leave
us
guessing
about
the
kind
of
results
we
might
be
achieving.
Can
any
of
us
imagine
the
Lord
Jesus
Christ
taking
such
a
tack
in
the
training
of
His
disciples?
Hardly.
He
knew
what
they
were
supposed
to
become.
He
had
a
clear
vision
of
what
the
results
of
their
discipleship
should
be.
He
devoted
Himself
to
the
kinds
of
carefully
prepared,
consciously
devised
equipping
activities
that
would
be
most
likely
to
produce
the
results
He
sought.
And
He
carefully
evaluated
the
progress
of
their
development
at
various
places
along
the
way.
As
Francis
Schaeffer,
David
Wells,
Stephen
L.
Carter,
and
others
have
shown,
our
“guesswork”
approach
to
equipping
the
people
in
our
congregations
has
been
less
than
effective.
Instead,
we
have
a
church
that
is
doctrinally
weak,
spiritually
feeble,
socially
and
culturally
marginalized,
and
susceptible
to
every
wind
of
doctrine,
every
cunning
and
deceitful
scheme
that
postmodern
man
might
be
able
to
devise.
Surely
our
equipping
efforts
deserve
the
same
kind
of
thoughtful,
goal-oriented
planning
and
execution
that
the
Lord
Jesus
demonstrated.
But
what
should
the
goals
of
our
equipping
be?
WHAT
ARE
OUR
GOALS?
In
Ephesians
4:11-16,
the
Apostle
Paul
recommends
two
general
goals
for
the
church’s
work
of
equipping
the
saints.
The
first
is
that
the
saints
of
God
might
be
fitted
for
the
work
of
ministry
and
the
second
is
that
the
congregation
as
a
whole
might
grow
in
unity
and
maturity.
Let’s
examine
each
of
these
equipping
goals
in
more
detail.
“For
the
equipping
of
the
saints
for
the
work
of
ministry
.
.
.”
This,
it
would
seem,
could
hardly
be
plainer:
Pastors
and
teachers
and
those
who
serve
with
them
in
leadership
roles
(1
Corinthians
16:15,16)
are
to
provide
the
kind
of
equipping
that
results
in
the
saints
of
God
doing
works
of
ministry.
Whatever
we
do
in
our
preaching,
teaching,
and
training,
the
first
goal
must
be
to
give
the
members
of
our
churches
the
equipment
they
need
in
order
to
serve
the
Lord
in
ministry
to
others.
And
if
we
are
not
thinking
in
fairly
specific
terms
about
what
works
of
ministry
we
are
trying
to
prepare
the
saints
to
perform,
then
our
equipping
efforts
will
be
driven
merely
by
the
process
-
the
actual
work
that
we
do
in
these
activities—
instead
of
by
the
results—
what
we
hope
to
achieve
in
the
lives
of
those
we
teach.
Believers
who
have
been
equipped
for
ministry
express
a
discipleship
that
is
characterized
by
serving
others
in
love,
after
the
example
of
our
Lord
Jesus
Himself
(John
13:1-15).
By
their
works
of
mercy
and
help;
their
words
of
encouragement,
comfort,
counsel,
instruction,
and
witness;
and
their
labors
together
with
other
believers
in
joint
endeavors
of
all
kinds,
those
who
have
been
diligently
and
effectively
equipped
show
that
the
labors
of
their
teachers
have
not
been
in
vain.
Such
a
ministering
way
of
life
-
a
life
of
Christ-like
love
manifested
in
the
normal
contexts
of
everyday
life—
flows
out
of
the
confluence
of
biblical
affections,
biblical
understandings,
and
biblical
patterns
of
behavior
that
have
been
self-consciously
and
faithfully
inculcated,
nurtured,
and
developed
through
the
various
works
of
equipping
to
which
such
disciples
have
been
subjected
(1
Timothy
1:5).
For
this
to
happen
equipping
will
have
to
be
both
designed
to
accomplish
such
results
and
faithfully
evaluated
as
to
its
effectiveness
in
so
doing.
The
need
today
is
for
equippers
at
all
levels
in
the
church
to
think
more
pointedly
and
more
prayerfully,
not
just
about
their
own
work
of
preaching
and
teaching,
but
also
about
the
ministry
opportunities
and
callings
of
the
disciples
they
are
called
to
equip.
In
this
way
they
may
fashion
their
instruction
so
as
best
to
help
those
disciples
in
making
the
most
of
those
opportunities
for
the
cause
of
Christ
and
His
Kingdom
(Ephesians
5:15-17).
“.
.
.
until
we
all
come
in
the
unity
of
the
faith
and
of
the
knowledge
of
the
Son
of
God
unto
a
mature
man,
unto
the
measure
of
the
stature
of
the
fullness
of
Jesus
Christ.”
Here
is
the
second
goal
of
our
equipping,
that
whole
congregations
should
be
nurtured
in
biblical
church
growth
defined
in
terms
of
unity
and
maturity
as
Paul
outlines
these
ideas
here
(Ephesians
4:13-16).
Making
disciples
who
minister
to
others
in
love
is
not
our
only
objective
in
the
work
of
equipping.
We
must
also
work
consciously
and
consistently
to
promote
healthy,
growing
churches
as
the
fruit
of
our
labors.
Here
we
can
only
be
brief.
Paul
says
that
the
end
of
the
equipping
of
the
saints
for
the
work
of
ministry
is
that
we
might
all
together
attain
a
kind
of
unity
and
maturity
that
distinguishes
our
church,
as
a
whole,
more
and
more
as
a
genuine
expression
of
the
Body
of
Christ.
Every
church—
no
matter
how
large
or
small,
whether
young
or
old,
rural,
suburban
or
urban,
or
whatever
its
prospects
for
reaching
the
lost—
can
grow
in
unity
and
maturity
as
Paul
explains
them
here.
By
growth
in
unity
we
seek
to
arrive
together
at
greater
and
greater
levels
of
confessional
agreement,
vision
for
ministry,
commitment
to
one
another,
involvement
in
one
another’s
lives,
and
fruit
of
Christian
assurance.
By
growth
in
maturity
we
strive
together
for
greater
discernment,
more
consistent
speaking
of
God’s
truth
in
love—
both
inside
the
church
and
in
the
surrounding
community—
a
higher
involvement
of
more
and
more
members
of
the
local
congregation
in
works
of
ministry
according
to
their
gifts
and
opportunities,
and
both
qualitative
and
quantitative
increase
in
the
life
and
ranks
of
the
church
as
a
whole.
TWO
GENERAL
GOALS
We
must
think
of
these
two
general
goals—
ministering
saints
and
healthy,
growing
churches—
as
the
sights
of
a
gun,
both
of
which
must
be
carefully
lined
up
with
a
clearly
defined
target
before
we
can
expect
that
any
expenditures
of
resources
of
energy
in
equipping
will
be
worthwhile.
This
comes
down
to
how
we
plan
our
equipping
efforts
and
how
we
assess
their
actual
effectiveness
in
accomplishing
the
ends
we
seek.
Every
church
should
have
in
place
resources,
guidelines,
and
procedures
for
helping
her
equippers
know
how
to
define
proper
goals,
and
then
to
work
for
results.
And
every
church
must
also
take
the
time
to
evaluate
its
progress
in
achieving
these
two
goals
of
the
equipping
process.
Scripture
urges
the
shepherds
of
God’s
flock
to
“look
well
to
know
the
state
of
your
flocks”
(Proverbs
27:23).
If
we
devote
our
energies
in
equipping
more
to
our
preparations
and
presentations
than
to
what
should
be
happening
in
the
lives
of
our
students
and
in
our
church,
then
we
cannot
be
said
to
be
fulfilling
this
most
important
responsibility.
We
are
concentrating
on
the
process
of
equipping
more
than
on
the
results,
and
our
labors
will
continue
to
be
disappointing.
In
one
of
the
world
series
games
of
the
late
‘fifties,
Hank
Aaron
came
to
the
plate
at
a
critical
moment.
Yankee
catcher
Yogi
Berra,
always
the
card,
told
him
that
he’d
better
be
careful
because
he
didn’t
have
the
label
of
the
bat
up.
He
might
break
his
bat.
Aaron
said
simply,
“I
didn’t
come
up
here
to
read,”
and
hit
the
next
pitch
out
of
the
park.
Focus
on
results
first
and
process
as
the
means
to
achieving
the
ends
we
seek,
rather
than
as
the
ends
themselves.
When
it
is
time
for
us
to
give
an
accounting
of
our
ministries,
we
upon
whom
greater
condemnation
will
fall
(James
3:1)
must
not
be
satisfied
merely
with
having
done
“the
best
we
could.”
Rather,
we
must
strive
by
all
the
means
at
our
disposal
to
be
able
to
say
with
the
Lord
Jesus
Himself,
“Behold,
I
and
the
children
whom
God
has
given
me”
(Hebrews
2:13),
pointing,
as
Paul
did
(2
Corinthians
3:1,2;
1
Thesseslonians
2:19,20)
to
those
whose
lives
have
been
transformed
and
churches
enriched
as
a
result
of
our
works
of
equipping.
Let’s
take
the
guesswork
out
of
equipping
and
begin
to
pursue
this
important
ministry
with
the
biblical
goals
of
ministering
saints
and
healthy,
growing
churches
as
our
conscious
and
determined
objectives.
T.
M.
Moore
is
pastor,
with
Bob
Eickelberg,
of
Timonium
Presbyterian
Church
and
president
of
Chesapeake
Theological
Seminary
in
Baltimore,
MD.
For
a
free
sample
packet
of
planning
and
assessment
tools,
as
well
as
information
on
training
materials
in
which
the
ideas
in
this
series
are
developed
more
fully,
call
or
write
Chesapeake
Seminary,
410-789-5242,
601
North
Hammonds
Ferry
Road,
Linthicum
Heights,
MD
21090.
Questions
for
probing:
-
Examine
that
part
of
your
church’s
mission
statement
that
deals
with
Christian
education,
equipping,
and
training.
Discuss
that
among
the
group
for
clarity.
-
Does
our
definition
and
mission
description
help
us
to
focus
our
energies
and
resources
on
good
goal
setting
in
education
and
training?
-
What
do
we
need
to
do
in
our
church
to
direct
our
energies
and
efforts
toward
training
our
people
for
ministry?
-
Do
the
leaders,
including
Sunday
school
teachers,
committee
members,
Bible
study
leaders,
etc.
understand
our
goals
in
equipping
and
disicplemaking?
-
Do
you
agree
or
disagree
with
the
article’s
conclusion
about
equipping
for
ministry?
Discuss
your
reasons.
-
Are
you
as
leaders
poised
to
do
significant
evaluation
of
your
church’s
ministry
efforts?
|
|
