REFRESH

Training and the Local Church Pastor

Imagine going to the doctor for an unknown illness and after an extensive assessment and examination, the doctor says, “You have a serious problem. It’s not good. If something doesn’t happen soon, you won’t make it.”

In shock, you ask the doctor, “What can I do?”

He replies, “Well, I’m really not sure. I’m not familiar with this condition. It’s been a long time since I studied this stuff, and medical conditions have changed over the years.”

You would never want to hear that from your doctor, but unfortunately, many pastors live in this paradigm. Anecdotally, they have answers such as: pray harder and preach the truth. Although we certainly should pray hard and preach the truth, we need to remember the culture and times have changed, and people aren’t responding to the gospel the same way they did in years past.

In fear of “selling out the message,” some have rejected research results and only depend on experience or logical thoughts. Why does this apply so widely in the spiritual realm? We want our doctor’s experience to be up-to-date and based on the best recent research. We only want to do things the way we’ve always done them, but we want and expect different results?

Over the years, I have come to realize there is no sin in learning best practices. Best practices are defined as, “professional procedures accepted or prescribed as being correct or most effective.” Somehow, many in the church reject best practices if they don’t fit our personal preferences. Some might say, “Just because something is working over there doesn’t mean it will work for me,” and I totally agree! But if it’s working anywhere, we should be willing to consider it and see if it will work for us, too. I’m not suggesting we jump on every bandwagon and do what everyone else is doing, but I am suggesting we be open to what others are doing to reach more people with the gospel.

We expect doctors, airplane pilots, teachers, and even real estate agents to stay up on the best practices of their fields. Shouldn’t pastors? Take advantage of learning opportunities. The denomination is working very hard to provide new, cutting-edge resources such as the Executive Office’s Better Together Podcasts and social media posts, articles and features in ONE Magazine such as ReFresh, NAM’s Fresh Wind Resources, and much more.

Why not embrace the idea of examining new ideas and methods? Don’t worry if you disagree with something. We all disagree from time to time. The bottom line is, we all need to keep learning. It should never stop. Some best practices are working for others; maybe it is time to try some different things. Who knows? Maybe you’ll like it.

About the Columnist: Dr. Brad Ransom is director of church planting and chief training officer for North American Ministries. Contact Brad: brad@nafwb.org.