3. A failure to equip.
What often is NOT talked about much in today’s leadership circles is the fact that the equipping of the saints is a primary reason why there are leaders in the church:
“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ,” Ephesians 4:11-13.
Most church leaders in most churches do nothing — zero — to equip church members how to effectively share the Gospel with non-believers. But wait, isn’t making disciples the “main thing,” and leaders say we have to keep the “main thing” the main thing? Then why don’t they equip the saints?
That’s a good question!
Especially knowing that God intends to use His saints as His means of carrying out the ministry of reconciliation:
“And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’” 2 Corinthians 5:18-20.
Most churches today are unequipped for ministry.
Are these really the top three church leadership failures that most impact the church? If not the TOP, they are among the top. Just step back and think through this — what would the church be like if our leaders made the Great Commission the “main thing” in their local church AND their personal ministry? If they taught all that Jesus commanded us? And if they diligently equipped the saints for the work of ministry?
This article on church leadership failures originally appeared here, and is used by permission.
