Eric Keller
Teaching and Leading in the Church
The Equipping Pastor: A Critic
Paul Stevens and Phil Collins have done a marvelous job putting together a resource for pastors who are interested in creating a church body that is a representation of what the Apostle Paul has called us to be: a body of Christ. Their book takes us on a journey through the process of recognizing the traits of a systemic church (and a non-systemic church) and how to work toward building the church to be a body of Christ and not a set of independent families and ministries.
To begin, they start off the book by addressing why they feel the church is stuck in its inability to free the laity to perform its ministry. Beginning with the problems of the church, they have laid the foundation for the rest of the material. This gives the book a direction from which to build and makes the material easy to follow as the reader knows what to expect. What impressed me most about this book was the authors' abilities to keep the material relational to our lives. I was pleased to read about the backgrounds presented by each author. Often times a text is written which presents theories on improving ministry or business processes yet does not provide a background from which the material is rooted. The six examples Stevens and Collins provide in the introduction are problems that all churches face. Yet without these examples and their own testimonies, I don't feel the information that follows would be as effective. This truly was the overall strength of the book. Here are two men who have struggled with their own ministries and have the goodness to admit where they did not meet the needs of the ministry. They have taken their experience and education and have, with a Biblical foundation, developed material to help other people in ministry grow in God's grace. Since I could relate to the testimonies I never felt alone when I read this material as I do with a book on pure theory. As a result, I feel this book has opened itself of to a much wider audience than many of the other books that I have read. For not only does it appeal to the pastor who needs to figure out why their church may be in a rut, but it also applies to those who are being led to build a Christian Formation Development ministry with a strong systemic foundation.
The Equipping Pastor begins and runs with the Biblical foundation that the Church is the Body of Christ. Each member performs a function which brings unity to the Body. Of course, it is the laity which comprises the Church. Therefore, based on this premise, the most important work of a pastor is "equipping the laity for the work of the ministry." (Eph. 4:11-12)1 In other words, it is the primary responsibility for the pastor to see that the people within the church are enabled to perform their functions as parts of the Body of Christ. This being established, the church now is united and not dependent on the pastor or one ministry to maintain the church. Stevens and Collins reiterate this theme throughout their book by referring to Biblical and present day events. For example, when demonstrating that the gift of leadership is directed toward the pleasure of God and not of people the authors use the Biblical model of the shaliach. Not only do they define and demonstrate the purpose of the shaliach in Biblical settings, but they also provide us with a present day example of a shaliach! (pp. 114-115). In so doing, they prevent the Word of God from being stuck in time 2000 years ago and help demonstrate that the needs of the church are the same today and can be met using the examples God has provided with us in Scripture and history.
The beauty of the theory presented in the book is that it is practical application. There is nothing presented in the material that would call for a complete overhaul of the church by bringing in experts. There may be, however, a need to look at your own church through the eyes of another pastor. In the introduction, Collins reminisces about a conversation he had with another pastor who was unable to correctly identity the needs of his church (pp. xviii-xix). Because Collins was able to help him see the needs that were not being met, he and the pastor were able to address them and allow the church to grow unhindered by an unmet want. The value of this is the fact that it resulted from a simple conversation! However, it also happened due to the fact that the minister in need was able to lower his guard and admit that he could not pinpoint a problem area of his congregation. As a result, one of the strengths of this book, its practicality, is dependent on a minister willing to admit his or her needs. Unfortunately, admitting a weakness may be asking too much of people. If that is the case, then this book can't help them. Suffice it to say that a prerequisite to reading this book is having an open mind and focusing on the goals of ministry for the glory of God and not simply a strong program.
Finally, one of the strongest points of this book is that it is not culture bound. Each church, regardless of its denomination or culture, is comprised of ministries to meet the needs of their communities. Therefore, it calls to reason that every church should be systemically structured to maximize it abilities to fulfill the Word. To take it a step further, I feel that if properly approached, the concepts could not only be utilized in different cultures and congregations but in the corporate world as well. Any organization that exists for a common goal will more than likely be comprised of different departments. While each department will have a specific task, they all share in the vision of the entire company. If just one division does poorly, it could effect the entire company. In this scenario, the President or CEO would be the "pastor" who equips their employees and departments to unite the company as one body.
In closing, I feel that every pastor, regardless of their ministry, should have the opportunity to read this book and share its concepts with the laity of their church. To do so would help a congregation build itself as a united Body of Christ focusing in on the needs of its community. Furthermore, it would enable a church to model themselves in the image to which God has called us. After all, the concepts presented here are merely examples and an examination of what Scripture has modeled.
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