In this post, Mark interviews Danny Rurlander on why he sees ministry trainees as a valuable and important part of church life.
Why does your church take on ministry trainees every year?
Our biggest motivation for running our Ministry Training Scheme at Moorlands is to seek gospel growth by multiplying gospel ministers. Recruiting, training and sending out gospel workers seems to be a natural component of normal gospel ministry, and a basic activity of any healthy church. This is because, through the teaching of his word, God produces servants of that word who further spread the word and, by God’s grace bring others into his Kingdom. An organised Ministry Training scheme provides a degree of intentionality to something that ought to be happening all the time already.
As a church with a particular focus on reaching and nurturing students we are especially privileged to be in a position to help to divert people’s careers into ministry at a cross-roads time of life. Running the Ministry Training scheme provides an opportunity for us to give particular time and attention to a small number of people who are potential candidates for a life of full-time gospel ministry. But as well as enabling them to test their suitability for full-time ministry, the one or two years they spend fully immersed in church work serves to equip them to be more effective members of any church, wherever they end up.
In the years since Moorlands was planted we have also come to believe that running a Ministry Training scheme has all kinds of helpful knock-on effects throughout the church, keeping us mission minded, creating a training ethos, helping the church family to learn gospel generosity as we send people out etc.
What are the advantages to the church?
There are lots!
First, the presence and profile of the trainees in church keeps us remembering the importance of training and our responsibility as a local church to multiply gospel workers. Having a Training Scheme costs the church family - in time, in money and sometimes, in the short term of course, in quality! But these costs are cheerfully borne when we keep in mind the cost of Christ’s sacrifice for us and the privilege of being involved in making Jesus known. As a people-rich but cash-poor church with a large student membership we see operating such a scheme as part of our gospel mission to the wider kingdom.
But also - because the trainees exercise a real ministry to people as well as taking part in formal training - they do grow the work of the gospel from the beginning. They should not be thought of as cheap labour, but they do multiply evangelism, discipleship and the teaching of God’s word in all sorts of contexts throughout their training.
Thirdly, in taking responsibility for the training of the trainees I have benefited myself. Their constant questions challenge me to avoid pragmatism and to think more rigorously about why we do what we do.
Finally, in the ups and downs of gospel work, it is a joy to have a group of like-minded fellow workers who labour and toil alongside us.
What do you need to think about before taking on ministry trainees?
1. Are you clear about the purpose and the costs?
One result of a Ministry Training scheme may be that more work gets done at the coal face of the church, but the purpose should not be to fill a staffing shortage or to provide a cheap solution to a ministry gap. The purpose is always training, and that comes at a cost of time, money, energy and short term costs of quality of output. When pastors say they “need” a trainee I find alarm bells start ringing.
2. Are you passionate about making disciples and passing on the baton to the next generation of gospel workers?
In the end that’s what Ministry Training boils down to. You may not feel you have great skill as a trainer, but if you are someone who labours to disciple Christians, you already are a trainer.
3. Do you have the time?
If Ministry Training is about growing disciples and training people in the skills, convictions and godliness needed for Christian leadership, it takes time. If you think you have the time, start with one trainee and go from there.
4. Are you prepared to take a long term view and identify, nurture and grow trainees from within your own church?
It is sometimes helpful to find ministry trainees from other churches to prime the pump and kick start the system. But it seems preferable to raise up your own trainees, from your own ministry, even if in some churchesthis may take longer, or if they may not fit the typical 20-something profile. It is a normal God-given responsibility of church leaders to multiply ministry, so it seems that any healthy church where the word is taught and disciples are made has the potential to become a fruitful training base and a sender of gospel workers over time.
Danny Rurlander is the Senior Pastor at Moorlands Evangelical Church in Lancaster.
