All church leaders want their church to grow. A key to making this happen is to develop more leaders. One successful way to see this happen is to have apprentices in all areas of church ministry.

Apprenticing

Every leader and church worker has the responsibility to recruit someone for his or her job. A solid method for this is through apprentices. We must develop apprentices at every level of church life. We are always learners and always learning, so many of us may not feel qualified to apprentice others. Please realize that your responsibility as a leader is not to fill someone else’s cup but rather to empty your cup. The goal is not to get leaders who feel they are now such experts they feel qualified to apprentice others. Rather it’s to simply bring others on the journey with you so they can discover what you do know. When we teach others what we know even on a limited level, the apprentice can often go from the foundation of what you know and take things even further.

Here are a few highlights I’ve discovered about having apprentices:

1. We must be intentional with apprenticing. The process has 3 basic steps:

a) Watch what I do.
b) I will watch you do what I did.
c) You now do what I just did with you …with someone else watching you.

2. Coach others to a certain level. Set the bar very high to ensure quality. They watch you do things at high level which automatically sets the level high for the apprentice to shoot for. Leaders who are apprenticed come through very well with an excellent leader who sets the standard.

3. Apprenticing allows you to watch them before you hand over ministry. If an apprentice has some issue a personality issue, methodology issue or doctrinal issue it will surface during the apprenticing period of weeks or months. This is much better than getting volunteers to do a job and later finding out they are in the position and have issues we are unhappy with.

Remember that replacing yourself is a “win”. The apostle Paul had this in mind in his final letter to Timothy, “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Tim. 2:2) May we go and do likewise.

When leading in the local church, we must not cast a leadership shadow in which nothing grows underneath it. Replacing ourselves requires deliberate effort or it will never happen. To embrace this enables you to do less and accomplish more.

Raise the Bar

A leader himself does the work of ministry, which sets the standards. However, this must be handed off to the point that we actually do less. The replacement knows what the standard is or how high the standard needs to be, having already been set by the previous leader. However, in the beginning we must live with a lower or different level of ministry effectiveness, but the new replacement knows what the standard should be.

Take the Lid Off

If the same person is always doing the preaching or always leading worship, you have put a cork in the bottle for leadership development. It is expedient to broaden the base of leadership and allow others to grow. If you are a leader that feels you must go to every meeting and participate in every decision, you have a high need for control. This mode never broadens the base of leadership.

A leader may sense a threatening element when releasing others, but we must press through with pushing others into the spotlight. This will do something in your church. For example, we do not have competition in our leadership. When one person does well, we all do well. Mature leadership delights in giving away and seeing others do well and get praise. Success in ministry is not just doing the task but finding others who can do the task better than you can.

Must Multiply Leadership at Every Level in the Church

Make it a value that when anyone is leading anything (small groups, children, youth, worship, etc.), a part of their responsibility is to recruit, train and release others into the same ministry. Write down the names of one or more people you know can help do your ministry and go get them.

Workers in the church must also see themselves as a recruiter. As a leader, part of one’s job description is to replace oneself. When a worker in the church says to a friend, “You must come and watch me as I do this because I am so excited about it,” the friend is far more likely to participate and engage in ministry. Not only will they more likely engage in ministry but will also stay in ministry. It is a relational “ask” rather than task recruitment. Recruiting with a Sunday announcement may get some sign ups but when the pressure is on, people often quit. But if your friend asked you to come and help them, you will stick. It is a relational connection that solidifies their commitment.

Ephesians 4 is God’s reply to the question “Why Church?” In Ephesians 4:7-10 we discover that every person who is a believer is also a gifted minister. The focus is on grace, as God gives every believer grace in a measure suited to His good purposes both for each Christian and for His church. This means as a follower of Christ, you are uniquely graced with Christ’s gift. You are not an “accident” in life or in the body of Christ.

What is grace? Grace means that God, in an act of self-motivated pure love toward you, has generated His favor on your behalf. This is God’s own sovereign act of giving and generosity. What effect did this grace have? This grace released you from the guilt and shame of sin and empowers you to live in a righteous way. This way of life would have been impossible without His gift of grace.

Paul says this amazing grace not only saves us, but also enables us to serve God’s purpose and His Church according to His will. Jesus also gives to each of us spiritual gifts for the effective ministry of the Church. We are not given these grace gifts because we deserve it, but according the measure that Christ decided to give us (verse 7).

Romans 12:6 states “we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us.” Jesus knows what your local church needs so he has bestowed upon you gifts for the benefit of everyone in your church. Every member is a minister who is ordained by the grace of God given to him or her. Our generous Father wants His gifted people to live in freedom from sin, and to express His love to a wounded world.

I often hear one common problem among church leaders, “Why don’t we have more leaders and volunteers?” At leadership prayer meetings, we always pray for more leaders and laborers for the harvest.

The Problem

What is the problem with seeing leaders and volunteers stepping forward?

A church leader’s insecurity and need for control

Ephesians 4:11-12 states that our primary activity as leaders is to equip others for the work of effective ministry. However, church leaders frequently feel threatened. “What if someone takes my ministry away from me? What if I am no longer needed?” The fact is that others can’t take away someone’s gifting and anointing. Only someone’s position can be removed. Only God or ourselves can take away our gifting for ministry.

A Wrong View

A primary reason we are not growing is because we often have wrong concepts of what a leader is supposed to do. This is not really a lack of understanding the principle of delegation; instead it involves a leader having a willingness to hand off ministry. Leaders need to be able to say to others, “I think you can do what I do. I am willing to step out of this role if you are willing to step in.”

Working IN rather than ON the church

Most leaders spend their time on the demands of working in the church rather than on the church. This activity will keep others out of ministry and now allow leaders to develop. We develop a maintenance mode rather than actually building the church and moving forward in mission.

We have a lot of people in the wings, coming along behind us. This demands we break out of our self-limiting structure in order to allow them to develop. We get caught in the maintenance matrix. The demands of the current structure often take all of the leader’s time.

The Answer: Replacing yourself.

The key to seeing more leaders come forward is to replace yourself. Replacing yourself is about taking a responsibility that you own and handing if off to someone else so that they not only do what you do but also own what you owned. This practice is found throughout the scriptures: Moses to Joshua, Elijah to Elisha and Paul to Timothy.

Moses had to address this issue. In Exodus 18, Jethro told Moses he was going to wear himself out if he didn’t start to replace himself with others. He told Moses to get men who would oversee groups of 10, 50, 100, and 1,000’s. Within his new infrastructure, Moses appointed men who had different levels of leadership capacity. Each would have a different capacity, however all have within themselves an ability to grow and increase their leadership. Because Moses listened to Jethro’s counsel, Moses went from a force of one to a force of 131,000 leaders.

Keys to opening the door

In order to develop leaders and grow disciples, we must have at attitude adjustment. Here are 3 key perspectives to embrace in order to not only replace yourself but have a church that reproduces leaders:

All of us will be replaced
• We will either replace ourselves intentionally or we will be replaced unintentionally.
• We must resist the tendency to feel as though we are losing control or status, since we will all be replaced.

The strategy for volunteers
• The church is comprised of volunteers who carry on the ministry.
• Implementing an intentional replacement strategy increases both the pool of volunteers and the quality of volunteers. Without this strategy, you will always suffer in both quantity and quality of volunteers.

The joy of apprenticing
• All of us will be replaced someday but to participate in the process is a big win!
• Embracing a value of replacement erases the question, “How do we get more volunteers?”

Replacement is personal. Just getting more volunteers is impersonal. While developing a replacement, we are present to watch someone do what we used to do and can enjoy the process!

If you were asked the following questions, what would your answers be?

• What is the purpose of the church?
• What is the job of the church leader?
• Should the church exist to meet your needs?
• What style of music should the church have?
• What kinds of events and programs should the church have?
• What kind of church would make you happy?

We live in an individualistic, consumer-based culture where the customer is always right, and it’s all about you. A tragic issue arises when people view the church through consumerist eyes. People view “church” as a place you attend on Sunday that meets your needs and has good buildings; a place where the programs, music and preaching is centered on you. Basically, the church is there to help you have a happy life.

Keeping the Center the center

In reality, the ministries and priorities of the church aren’t intended to revolve around you or me. The church is called to revolve around God, His mission, and the people who need a Savior.

This means that as a church we believe that we exist to glorify God. Jesus never intended for His church to be a spiritual country club where membership has its privileges. This “country club” brand of Christianity is common in western culture, but this brand of Christianity would never have produced the advancement of God’s cause as seen in the book of Acts. These early believers glorified God by having an impact on their world. Their presence caused some to rejoice and caused others became violent against them.

What's wrong?

Why isn’t the church in the USA having a greater impact? The real question is, why have we made church what we want instead what God needs us to be?

Consider a poem from a 9 year old entitled “If I Were In Charge of the World”

If I were in charge of the world, I’d cancel oatmeal, Monday mornings and allergy shots. If I were in charge of the world, there would be brighter night-lights, healthier hamsters, and basketball goals five feet high. If I were in charge of the world you wouldn’t have lonely, you wouldn’t have to clean, you wouldn’t have bedtime and you wouldn’t have ‘don’t punch your sister.’ In fact, you wouldn’t have sisters at all! If I were in charge of the world, a chocolate sundae with whipped cream and nuts would be a vegetable, a person who sometimes forgot to brush and sometimes forgot to flush would still be allowed to be in charge of the world.

If I were in charge of the world, one of the things I would change would be people’s idea about church.

• I would want people to see the church as God intended rather than as a consumer.
• I would want them to understand God’s design and determination for His people.
• I would want people to understand that every Christian is a minister.

The bottom line for us is that we understand that we join God rather than God joins us.

A study by the American Council of Life Insurance reported that the loneliest group in America is college students. That’s surprising! Next on the list are divorced people, welfare recipients, single mothers, rural students, housewives, and the elderly.

Americans are some of the loneliest people in the world. We are a mobile society where many graduate from high school, move away from home for college, and then move again for a job. Most people will switch jobs 2-3 times. This contributes to our loneliness, and you couple this with our high divorce rate and that makes for some very lonely people.

Concert attendance has been slowly declining over the last 10 years because people no longer want to go and get lost in a crowd. In contrast, another trend over the past 10 years is that coffee houses are up. One person was quoted in The State Journal’s article on coffee houses, “I come here because I like an atmosphere of busyness, I don’t like to feel like I’m alone.”

The popular show Friends takes place in a coffeehouse where friends in New York City just spend time together while trying to make it in life. The popular show in the 90s called Seinfeld was said to be about nothing, but was really about a group of friends hanging out and talking about meaningless stuff.

We live in a society that is extremely lonely and many have experienced this feeling firsthand. Charles Swindoll mentioned a Kansas newspaper ad which read, “I will listen to you talk for 30 minutes without comment for $5.00.” Swindoll said, “Sounds like a hoax, doesn’t it? But the person was serious. Did anybody call? You bet. It wasn’t long before this individual was receiving 10 to 20 calls a day. The pain of loneliness was so sharp that some were willing to try anything for a half hour of companionship.”

Coffeehouses, being with friends and hanging out will satisfy a need in your life, but it’s not the totality of life experience that God wants for you.

God’s Plan for Community

God’s desire is for you to experience “community.” In God’s design of us, He said it’s “not good to be alone.” God created the church as a community of people gathered around Jesus and who are called to be together on a mission. Real community is “hanging out with a spiritual purpose.” We need to learn to come together for a spiritual purpose.

Larry Crabb makes the simple statement, “Community matters.” That’s like saying oxygen matters. Community is essential in a healthy Church. As our lungs require air, so our souls require what only community provides.

You are designed by God (who himself is a group of three persons living in profound relationship with each other) to live in relationship. How can a person tell if he or she is experiencing true community? Answer this question: “How often during the week do I get together with people with a spiritual purpose in mind?”

In a local church, you can experience community any number of ways.

• Sunday morning worship: we gather together and edify one another.
• Become involved in a ministry team.
• Get involved in a small group.
• Pray together with others.
• Encourage spontaneous gatherings with a spiritual purpose.

Feeling a bit lonely or detached? Start hanging out with others and have a spiritual purpose!

Praise must be expressed. The expression of what you are enjoying is the consummation of it. There is a fulfillment and joy found in sharing your expression.

ADMIRATION AND REFLECTION

Praise is admiration and reflection. Just wanting an experience is religious existentialism. Worship must be rooted in reality. God loves us and His Spirit pours out an experience that is a greater reality of what we know. Our worship is a consummation. It is being flooded with reality. We have a greater consciousness of being with the Lord. There is within us an appetite for God. David expresses this when he declared, "As the deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God" (Ps. 42:1-2). An increasing appetite for God will move us on.

WORSHIP ENTAILS ENCOUNTER

We highly value being in God’s presence. When we worship, God touches us and dwells with us right where we are. The Message Bible describes Jesus’ coming to the earth as God “moving into the neighborhood” (Jn1:14). God remains present among us today and worship wants Him manifested. In worship is intensity, God coming upon us with power.

In worship we express that we desire encounter with God. One song expressed this longing with the simple phrase, "I long for you, oh Lord…" We always want to know God and encounter Him in our worship!

We need to long to encounter God and find our highest joy in Him. As John Piper explains,

"The enemy of worship is not that our desire for pleasure is too strong but too weak! We have settled for a home, a family, a few friends, a job, a television, a microwave oven, an occasional night out, a yearly vacation, and perhaps a new personal computer. We have accustomed ourselves to such meager, short-lived pleasures that our capacity for joy has shriveled. And so our worship has shriveled."

We must re-awaken ourselves to knowing and encountering the reality of the living God. He is our greatest delight.

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
(Psalm 63:1-3 ESV)

Worship flows from an appreciation that comes out of knowledge. We consistently praise the things we appreciate. This begs the question: Do we really know God? Do we run out of things to praise God about? We can appreciate what we know but it is difficult to praise what we don't know.

Worship is not caught

For example, you can't understand and appreciate football unless you grasp how the game is played and the skill involved. Worship is not caught. That is, you can be in the stands of the football stadium but while others are excited, it doesn't help you. Worship occurs in the midst of a relationship. A person who spends time getting to know God and his ways will praise Him for who He is and all He’s done.

The more we study, meditate and learn of God, the more we want to worship Him. We become fascinated with God. Study and read real material about God and not just the latest spiritual fads found in paperbacks. It is good to delve into biographies of great men and women of faith. It is good to read healthy theology written by godly men such as Wayne Grudem and Gordon Fee. We learn of God and get thrilled. Let’s pursue the goal to learn something of God on a continual basis.

Encounter God in Worship

In addition to reading, biblical worship also strengthens us with the truth about our God. Excellent worship songs speak of the wonders of God. When we sing great worship songs, do we really know what's behind these words? As we sing in worship, let’s reflect on the truth revealed about God and grow in our wonder and awe of Him and His great love for us.

We must know God and true worship flows out of this relationship. Otherwise our worship is weak, shallow and soulless. Our praise is enriched by our identification with Christ. For example, you can appreciate a good football team but there’s much more excitement when it is your team. When my team scores…it's my team! I get excited! As believers, Jesus is our Savior and this truth comes out of relationship and out of a personal knowledge of Him. The less we understand, the less we praise. The more we understand, the more we praise.

Let me ask, are you impressed with God? If so, let’s praise Him.

It’s appropriate to be a thankful people. In his book A Passion for Holiness, J.I. Packer says, “No religion anywhere has ever laid such stress on the need for thanksgiving, nor called on its adherents so incessantly and insistently to give God thanks as does the religion of the Bible.”

In Psalm 100:4, the psalmist instructs us to "enter His gates with thanksgiving". This is the first order of worship. God's reign has created a natural order. Romans 1 speaks of the downward spiral of being unthankful and ungrateful. This downward spiral starts because people do not giving thanks. Therefore, one thing that should characterize us as God’s people is that we are thankful. One of the first things we teach our children is to say “thank you.” This should be our initial attitude as we worship God, as well. Thankfulness is to be a chief characteristic in our daily life and worship. Gratefulness in every circumstance is the obvious evidence of one’s faith in a sovereign God.

Worship is vital for a healthy Christian life. Our Newfrontiers vision and values declare we want churches “where God’s presence is prized and where God is enthusiastically worshipped with genuine freedom for men and women to worship publicly in the Holy Spirit, to use spiritual gifts and to participate in ‘body ministry’.”

What is worship?

Worship is grounded in truth. In John 4:1-24, Jesus gives great teaching on worship and brings solid truth on the back of it. Speaking to an unsaved woman, Jesus teaches an amazing truth when he tells her, "God is looking for worshipers." God is the only one worthy of worship. The question that comes to mind is "Why does God want us to worship Him?" Does God have a problem?

We, in fact, know that God doesn't need anything. However, we need to worship Him. When we worship the Lord, we gaze upon Him, come out of unreality into reality and in that process, we are changed.

Not just lip service

True worship differs from religious form and practice. At times, we can go through the motions. Isaiah spoke of this with Israel, "They worship me with their lips but their heart is from me" (Is 29:13). Religious activity is external and merely a form. But God is seeking heart-felt worship that Jesus described as being “in spirit and truth”. Prayer and faith comes out of our worship life. Motivation to pray and to share the gospel comes out of real worship.

In the Psalms, David calls out to God, “Let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you” (Ps. 5:11). David instructs us to “Delight yourself in the Lord” (Ps. 37:4). This inner delight is at the heart of true worship.