The regional superintendents, president and I have been working through a book recommended to us by Justin Nash, our Director of Church Health, “Biblical Church Revitalization” by Brian Croft. We have had great discussions about how all churches need to refocus on becoming biblical models of health by centering on God’s Word for all things in the church. Too many times, we look for a program or personality to revitalize our churches and draw in new members, but strong biblical teaching and leadership is key to making our churches healthy.

A healthy church is not about how many believers we have in the pews, but that the church is focused on being led by the Holy Spirit through God’s Word for its members to have spiritual maturity. To this end, the church must be willing to surrender leadership to those with biblical authority. It is not about who has been a member the longest or who gives the most to the church financially, but those who have spiritual maturity being called to biblical eldership for the church. In our joint experience, we realized that this leadership had less to do with constitutions or by-laws and more to do with the reality of how members accept authority. One of the first steps churches need to take is to identify who is currently in-charge in the church and surrendering that authority to the biblical model of leadership. It is vital that those who hold these positions are qualified with biblical knowledge and have the qualifications set forth in Scripture.

As the superintendents meet weekly to share, pray and encourage one another, we share the needs in the various regions, which includes the number of churches seeking pastors. The fact that we have a shortage of qualified pastors ready to fill these positions emphasizes our commitment to Ministry Training Institute (MTI) and other ways of preparing our leaders. The dangers of putting a leader in a position they are not ready or qualified for can be damaging or even fatal for the local church. Pulpit committees, conference leaders, regional leaders and national leaders must commit to finding only spiritually qualified and gifted candidates to lead our churches. Our churches must strive to disciple emerging leaders to have strong spiritual leaders on a local level and to prayerfully seek God’s guidance in finding their pastors. Please continue to pray for God to raise up leaders who are committed to prepare for their role to lead in the local church.