How We Train New Pastors

Advanced Pastoral Training

The medical community figured this out long ago.

Why hasn’t the church?

THE MEDICAL COMMUNITY

Imagine placing your body in the hands of a doctor who KNOWS a ton about it, but hasn’t developed the SKILL to rightly diagnose and prescribe what’s happening to it. Could be trouble.

This is precisely why newly graduated M.D.’s spend three to seven years in residency before moving into the field on their own.

The people who entered residency were raw, not skilled.

None of the M.D.’s who entered residency could diagnosis complex cases. Surgical residents couldn’t properly suture, cut, or clamp. They developed their skill to perform at the highest levels because they submitted themselves to a proven training process under the supervision of trained physicians.

THE GLARING WEAKNESS WITHIN THE CHURCH COMMUNITY

Many congregations believe that an MDiv graduate who KNOWS a ton about theology, the languages, and the Bible has developed the SKILL to rightly pastor a church.

Could be trouble, couldn’t it?

This is precisely why newly graduated MDiv’s should spend up to three years with experienced trainers who will develop their pastoral, organizational, and leadership skills.

THE OBJECTIVE IS FOR A NEW PASTOR TO LEAD A HEALTHY CHURCH

One where:

  • People grow closer to God
  • They seek and save the lost
  • They add to their numbers
  • The coffers are full so they can multiply their impact

THE CHALLENGE FOR A FIRST TIME SOLO/LEAD PASTOR 

Where will you develop the pastoral skill to lead a healthy church?

The absence of developing these skills leads to:

–  Many new pastors not making more than five years.
–  Many churches never getting out of first gear.
–  Many pastors experiencing preventable trouble.

Did you know that 50% of pastors felt that their theological education DID NOT adequately prepared them for ministry? 

A POSSIBLE SOLUTION: THE GREAT COMMISSION FELLOWSHIP

The Fellowship is a three year transformational process that turns your seminary knowledge into effective pastoral skill.

You will work alongside one of our trainers as you pastor your church.

Seminary trains your mind. We develop your skill.

We will work alongside and deeply support you as you develop your pastoral and leadership skill.

Some of the topics are:

– Understanding your community and interpret it through a gospel lens.
– Working with the four types of people during change.
– Setting objectives and establish accountability.
– Connecting  the sermon or lesson to the mind, heart, and will.
– Helping your people share the gospel.
– Helping  families establish habits that honor Christ.

LET’S NOT MISTAKEN DEVELOPING SKILL FOR ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE EITHER.

Remember suicide Greek?

That’s acquiring knowledge, but it takes a while of working with Greek under guided supervision to become highly-skilled at applying the Greek to your preaching and teaching.

The same is true when becoming a pastor to lead a congregation. You need time to develop your skill. You need a process and a methodology you can trust to develop that skill.

So, do you?

SEMINARY TRAINS YOUR MIND

WE DEVELOP YOUR PASTORAL SKILL

How?

1. ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE A SHEPHERD

If you are solo pastor will be a generalist. You need be proficient in many skills, even if they are outside your gift mix. The more skills that you develop, the greater chance your church will become a healthy and sustainable.

If you are a lead pastor with staff you will specialize. In this case, the Lead Pastor often focuses on leading staff, elders, and preaching.

In either case, we believe you are a shepherd. You will need skills to tend to your church, nourish them, and lead them.

THE SHEPHERD

Every skill that you will develop flows through leading, caring for, or feeding your church. There are about 80 skills to develop or reinforce.

2. ALIGN YOURSELF TO OUR PROVEN PROCESS

We have been providing advanced pastoral training for 25 years. Our proven processes are backed by DMin and PhD research along with corporate training, change and innovation management training.

Hundreds of pastors across 15 denominations in six countries have participated in our trainings. Pieces of it have been taught at eight bible colleges and seminaries.

Our focus is to prepare you to become an effective pastor who shepherds a healthy church.

To make that happen, skill development demands that we:

  • Spend a lot of time with you. We listen, instruct, encourage, troubleshoot, advise, coach, and counsel you until you become proficient.
  • Create an environment to provide you ample support and appropriate challenges to grow and mature as a new pastor.
  • Integrate honing your character and deepening your knowledge to become godly and effective.
  • Follow proven processes and tools that create and sustain a healthy church.
HERE’S A SAMPLE OF OUR TRAINING MANUAL

You will develop 20-25 skills each year.

Because of the nature and time it takes to develop and reinforce a skill, we require a 12 month commitment.

We have a “it takes what it takes mentality.” Some months we might meet three to four times, other times we might meet once every six weeks.

We will bring new pastors together from time-to-time to support and sharpen one another.

Short answer: Minimal.

Our emphasis is creating a new mindset and habits while you are ministering to your congregation.

For instance, you will develop your time management skills. We will introduce several tools to you so that you can better plan your time, then deeply support you to become a master of your time.

Same as true with sermon prep. You will use some of our tools to think through the passage and how you are going to present it. We will be a sounding board and give you timely feedback as you work through the process of putting it together. You will think about the material in a different way, but not you may not necessarily spend more time preparing it.

Though we refer to two books and a lot tools during the Fellowship, the amount of time you spend reading will be minimal.

We took the following five factors into consideration:

  1. Your energy: The cost of having the church drain you because you are not quite sure how to handle certain situations.
  2. Your time: The cost of not knowing how to fix the problem, but trying multiple times. That could be trouble.
  3. Your church’s identity: The cost of not being known in your community as you would like it to be.
  4. Your health: The physical toll of trying to figure it out on your own will impact your health and your relationships.
  5. Your church’s finances: The cost of you trying to develop the skill on your own can stunt the numerical and financial growth of the church.

The investment is $400 a month for 12 months. It is renewable each year.

We have a rolling monthly enrollment.

New solo and lead pastors need to level up their skill set.

Being a good preacher and loving people won’t cut it.

Seminary trains the mind. It does provide minimal pastoral training, but it is not designed to provide basic or advanced pastoral training. This type of training can only completed in the field.

We focus on developing those skills.

People perform better with a trainer by their side.

Consider personal trainers. Just going to the gym and randomly working out will get random results. But a personal trainer will help you get your desired outcome by putting together a plan and holding you accountable to it.

The same is true for pastors. The stats below represent church planters. We believe that the stats for pastors would be about the same.

Did you know church planters who have coaches:

  • Increase their effectiveness by 300%
  • Increase the number of baptisms by 150%
  • Increase attendance by 100%

77% of church planters that struggle receive less than one-week of training.

Look at your return on investment.

Over a three-year period, your church could spend upwards to $300,000 on salary and benefits, initiatives, conferences, etc. for your new pastor.

What is it getting in return?

Contact us to learn more about how we can partner to set your new pastor up for success.