RAISING UP INDIGENOUS LEADERS
STATEMENT
The Bible commands church leaders to entrust sound doctrine to biblically qualified men who can teach others. For a missionary, this task takes on a particular urgency due to the often temporary nature of their stay in one place and the realization that indigenous leaders may be more effective. There are two pitfalls to avoid when raising indigenous leaders. The first is what Paul addresses when he counsels Timothy not to be hasty in laying on of hands. Many missionaries, in a desire for quick results, need to be more cautious in evaluating the ability to teach sound doctrine and the presence of godly character. The second is over-carefulness, which unnecessarily delays giving young leaders ministry opportunities. Entrusting ministry means providing opportunities to men who may fail. There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this tension.
Article Written by Mark CollinsI was a new missionary with little idea of how things should go. After a year of hard evangelistic work, my team was pleased that there were 15 new believers at our location. It wasn’t until later that we realized we were serving in a time of unique openness and gospel fruitfulness. The challenge in front of us was to think about raising up leaders for this group. I was discipling young men, teaching them to study the Scriptures, and paying attention to those who seemed most promising.
There was one brother, James, who was particularly encouraging. He showed up at every event, eager to learn. Others naturally gravitated to him. I decided the time was right to ask him if he would do an internship with us the next year to help me with the work. We discussed what it would look like to receive a living stipend so he could give his whole time to the work.
I would only find out later that this was a massive mistake. With only a year of knowing James, I didn’t realize that bringing up the topic of money would make him as suspicious as he did. When I left for a brief time, James told others that he suspected me of devious intentions. He ultimately led half of the new believers away.
It was a crushing blow to the team, but we knew we had to learn from our mistakes and move forward. We plowed ahead with evangelism and discipleship and saw the group grow to over 40 over the next two years. At this point, we felt an urgent need to hand over leadership to the locals. We felt that way for several reasons. First, our missionary training informed us that local people could do the ministry better because of their language and cultural insight. Second, was the sad realization that none of the missionaries had a clear idea of what church was anyway. In our mind, a gathering of believers for Bible study and prayer is pretty much all you need to be a church. We had started the group with little training, so surely, they could continue it that way. Third, there were needs in every direction. The missionaries were constantly pushing out into new areas and starting new groups. Taking too much in one location seemed impractical. Didn’t Paul sometimes spend just a few weeks in places?
For all those reasons, I repeated James's experiment, this time with Randy. I had known Randy longer; I hoped I had trained him better. And in some ways, things did go better. The church stabilized and grew in a season of fruitfulness. It turned out, however, that I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Randy failed the character test. First, his pride made him resistant to ongoing guidance; then, immorality disqualified him from ministry altogether.
The fallout from Randy’s defection was every bit as devastating as James’. In many ways, it changed how I thought about combining these two essential principles given to us by the apostle Paul.
1. Entrusting leadership to the next generation is central to missionary work.
“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 Timothy 2:2
2. You have to do it slowly.
“Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands” 1 Timothy 5:22
Looking back, it’s difficult to know how to sidestep the “hindsight is 20/20” trap. Thinking about the significant failures with James and Randy overlooks the successes that came by extending credit to young men who did well with the opportunities to teach and lead. It is very encouraging to me that the church survived both disasters; it is still going more than twenty years later as I write this.
There is no question, however, that the excitement of a 2 Timothy 2:2 ministry obscured the challenges of a 1 Timothy 5:22 ministry. In a new, growing church, I didn’t realize how to look beyond giftedness to see character. I didn’t realize there is a difference between a good gospel urgency to reach more people and plant more churches, and an unnecessary hastiness that may make things slower in the long run.
Coming out of these and other experiences, here are some things I now consider essential to raising indigenous leaders.
Develop a personal relationship with potential leaders, which includes knowing their families well. Generally, I would much rather have a whole family over to my house for dinner than meet up with a brother in a coffee shop for individual conversation. Both have benefits, but knowing the family is priceless. Ask them to bring some of their friends over if they are single.
Observe potential leaders in ministry situations, including listening to them handle the scriptures. I am amazed at how many missionaries run preaching training for local leaders but have yet to go and hear them preach. Even listening to a brother lead a small group Bible study is immensely helpful in understanding how he handles the scriptures.
Extend credit but have a credit limit. You can’t always expect people to prove themselves before they get opportunities to lead. You have to extend them enough credit to gain experience and show faithfulness. Give young leaders opportunities to speak and lead publicly. Then, watch them and extend them further credit as they show themselves worthy.
Tell people when they are in the wrong. The apostles regularly urged rebuke, correction, and admonishment. Sadly, we are slow to do this, often until it is too late. I want to see whether a young leader can make corrections when needed and whether their character has the humility to handle it.
Wait. Don’t be in a hurry. I am not persuaded that the realities of the apostolic movement in the Acts have much to tell us about how long it will take indigenous leaders to be ready. There are so many variables that generalizations are almost always unhelpful. I am very confident, however, that faithful men will make themselves plain in good time. There is no reason to be hasty, provided we are eager to see them flourish as God calls.
One of the things that is a great encouragement to me is that the church endured the departures of both James and Randy. There were many hurt in both cases, to be sure. My lack of wisdom was evident and costly. But this church is still there and preaching the gospel 25 years later. What a tribute to the fact that Jesus covers our many weaknesses and failures. He will build his church, and it is a privilege to be a part of it as we raise up indigenous leaders.
