By Jim Putman
In my article last week, I said that God”s team (the church) is losing in the United States. One reason may be that the American church has decided to change the way God”s team works. The goal is supposed to be, “make disciples” (Matthew 28:19, 20), but instead we make only converts.
Church has become a show to be attended, rather than a disciple-making factory that produces world-changing, spiritual warriors. The statistics indicate if every church is a factory that produces something, it certainly isn”t producing what God intended. The job of God”s coaches (pastors) was never to entertain the masses, but to coach the Lord”s team into effectiveness. Somehow, we have lost the understanding of the biblical definition of discipleship.
Let me illustrate this in a different way. When I became coach at a large school in Oregon, I knew it wasn”t my job to wrestle any of the 14 weight categories. My job was to help each young man reach his potential and to teach my wrestlers how to win. I was a coach, not a player. When a coach thinks he is a player, the team will either watch or quit, but it will not win. Ephesians 4:11-16 tells us to equip the saints for works of service. Every believer is a part of the body; each has a position on the team.
Church is a team sport. You cannot win a team sport with a group of individuals. When individuals cooperate and contribute their unique talents to the team, the team wins. God”s team was designed by God to win with the discipleship process.
The discipleship process should work as follows: a disciple maker teaches his disciple how to disciple another; this process is complete when the disciple can reproduce the process. If we would do this, we could make the Lord”s team an army instead of a nursery filled with infant Christians crying, “Feed me, feed me!” The goal of a coach, especially on God”s team, is to develop great players who play great together.
If you are a player in a coaching position, you are likely hurting your team. Oh, you may be able to fill the stands with people who will watch you play, but are they really supposed to be watching? Did Jesus intend for Christianity to be a spectator sport? If you believe you are a coach, my next question is, What kind of coach are you; a high school coach or a college coach?
Two Kinds of Coaches
As I became part of God”s coaching staff, I had to figure out what kind of team I was leading. Is God”s team supposed to be a college program or a high school program? This is important because there are fundamental differences between coaching these two types of teams.
Typically a high school coach is responsible for overseeing a program that extends from young kids through the high school varsity program. He aligns all the coaches throughout the age groups to produce athletes who understand the style of play expected when the athlete hits varsity. A high school coach knows he has no money to offer as incentive to play; he coaches a volunteer organization. To win, he must recruit and develop his own players. Every player must live within the school district boundaries, so it is impossible to recruit from outside, even if you wanted to. The coach is proud that he builds a team from the bottom up rather than stealing one from surrounding school districts.
A college coach also develops players, but he deals with athletes who already have a skill base developed by past coaches and experiences. He travels across the country recruiting star players to his team. A major part of his strategy is to entice athletes by offering scholarships.
I believe most church leaders think they are coaching college teams. They want stars who can be plugged in immediately. They believe if they get the best players they will have a team that can fill the seats. A big show will fill the stands and consequently pay the bills. Unfortunately, money is an issue. This is OK for a sport team, but I doubt God wants this to be a driving force in his church.
Jesus taught his “coaches in training” to work like a good high school coach of today. God”s coaches are to prepare and equip for service those who have been sent to them. Leaders are to develop the gifts and talents of their players and teach them to play as a team. We are to become a system that produces winning players and teams year after year. We are to make disciples!
The Leaders God Has Sent Us
Over the years we have seen this scenario played out time and time again. Our team at Real Life Ministries has had the opportunity to work with churches from around the nation. We sponsor conferences where we illustrate how God wants to use every Christian to further his purposes. The conferences are run by our leaders, most of whom were raised up within our church.
After meeting with the RLM staff team for two and a half days, church leaders spend some time with me. Their comments are often the same. “We are not succeeding because we cannot find leaders like you have at RLM! If we could find leaders like RLM has, we could grow, too.”
I respond by sharing some of our staff”s backgrounds and credentials. For example: Lance was a Mongolian barbecue chef, Brandon worked for an insurance company, Gene was an employee for AT&T, Greg worked at a mill, Jack was a city engineer, Doug was a mechanic, and Ron was a police officer.
Did God give us more leaders because he wants to save the lost in North Idaho more than he wants to save the lost in their area? Neither I nor our visitors think so.
God wants the church to work everywhere. His plan will work if we will work his plan. God puts potential leaders in every church. There are men and women that would and could lead, if given training and the chance to play. Instead they sit in pews every Sunday. Maybe they sit because coaches have forgotten they are there to develop people, or perhaps because they are waiting for an invitation, or maybe they don”t know they are players. Maybe they have never been taught that they aren”t spectators.
Consider the people Jesus chose to train. Most every disciple he chose was considered unprepared and unqualified. In Acts, the Jewish ruling council knew the followers of Jesus were ordinary unschooled men. Jesus loves to use people others would bypass. He loves to develop people to be more than anyone thought they could be. By doing this, he gets the credit and the glory, and people see God at work.
Leaders in Every Congregation
I have found coaches sometimes look for the wrong things. Sometimes they look for the developed mega-leader. That”s why many potential leaders right in front of them are missed. God has capable, godly people in every Bible-believing congregation. If they are discipled, they can be great players and many will eventually become great leaders.
If you are waiting to receive skilled players out of the blue, you will probably be disappointed. Occasionally, a trained player will move in, but you cannot build a team on that hope. We must help people realize God has gifted every Christian for some position on the team. Remember our enemy, Satan, works hard to convince people they are no good, or possibly, too good. A good coach learns how to deal with each player individually, to develop each to his full potential in Christ.
Consider these questions: Am I looking for the right things when I look for leaders? Am I looking for people who have a heart to serve, or am I looking for people who are good in the spotlight? Am I looking for teachable people, or am I only looking for people with certain gifts or credentials? What are the categories in my church; a few great showmen and many spectators or a good coach and a team full of great players?
There are leaders in every church, including yours. God uses good coaches to find them, train them up, and inspire them to be used for God”s glory.
Jim Putman is founding senior pastor of Real Life Ministries in Post Falls, Idaho.
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