Translated By Richard Zou
How can the Chinese church cultivate its new generation of successors? Choosing people who are in line with God's will requires prayer and obedience
Following up on the topic shared last time by a pastor in North China, "The mentor-disciple tradition may be more useful to us than Western pastor-based systems," a pastor in South China emphasized the importance of praying and obeying God.
A Chinese online Christian newspaper interviewed Liang Sisheng (pseudonym), a post-70s pastor from southern China with rich pastoral experience.
The Christian Times: What is your opinion of the church's efforts to raise a new generation of spiritual leaders?
Pastor Liang: That's a good question. The church needs to do this over the long term according to the Bible. Timothy was exhorted to not only make disciples but also to care for those who can learn and teach others in Paul's exhortation to Timothy. (when summarizing)
From the Old Testament to the present, and even before Christ's return, the church has had difficulty raising successors. Consequently, the church must do a good job of discipleship and watch out for the next generation of successors the Lord is raising among us.
The Christian Times: How important do you think it is for the Chinese church to raise up a new generation of leaders?
Liang: If the church chooses the right successor for the next generation, it will be a great help to the church's development. However, choosing the wrong person can be very harmful to the church. Therefore, the selection of the next generation of church successors is a matter that should not be taken lightly.
The Christian Times: How can Chinese church pastors become more open-minded about raising up the next generation of successors? In practice, what should be done?
Pastor Liang: I think that the most important is the work of the Lord, that is, whom the Holy Spirit is willing to choose. Just like God chose and anointed David. When God asked Samuel to anoint him, he looked at the wrong person at the beginning, he thought that might be one of David's brothers. But God reminded him that you look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the inner ward heart. So then he could not follow his own will in this matter, but he must seek the will of the Lord.
From this perspective, as a pastor who is leading a church, he is not just looking at a person's talent or whether a person has leadership qualities, or how theologically literate he is. In fact, the most important thing is that the current leader needs to observe, pray, and seek the Lord's will. Let the Lord show me who the successor of my church should be, how I should do it, etc.
The Christian Times: Regarding how to choose a successor who is after God's will, what factors do you think must be taken into consideration? What kind of person do you think is a successor after God’s will?
Pastor Liang: For some Conservative Churches that focus on church constitutions, I think their election system has hidden dangers. For example, how long does it take for the church to be re-election, and so on? Although it can reflect public opinion very well, sometimes it may sometimes have problems in reflecting God's will.
Especially a church, assuming that the church has such regulations. For example, the charter of our church is elective, requiring the congregation to vote. So in this regard, we should actually teach the congregation to pray frequently for this matter, that is, we should pray and seek God’s guidance as a whole, not just our emotional and impressional likes and dislikes that determine the result.
When God first chose Saul to be the king of the people of Israel, Saul was not pleasing to God. At that time, the choice of King Saul was based on public opinion, and the suggestions from public opinion were not necessarily the best results.
Christian Times: What do you think should be a healthy model for cultivating and selecting successors? Which concepts or models of our current Chinese churches need to be updated?
Pastor Liang: I have seen some real cases. For example, some old pastors of traditional churches choose successors but later found that the effect may not be good. There are also presbyterian churches that cherish the election process. If there are strong pastors, everyone will elect them, and generally, there will be no problems. But if there are no strong pastors, the relationship between pastors and preachers will be very tense every time there is an election.
As far as the Chinese are concerned, it is easy for many Christians to learn from the methods of the world. Those who are elected are not beneficial to the church, but instead, bring about divisions in the church. Therefore, when the church chooses the next successor, it needs prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit.
If we take the seven deacons selected in the book of Acts as an example, the apostle Peter proposed the standard of seven deacons. The first is that the entire church needs to have this awareness, and then pray for it and seek the Lord’s guidance. The second is that everyone has an obedient heart.
In addition, a large church may have more pastors and co-workers, and it involves many people on the co-workers' team. The successor must have the ability to promote church evangelism, management ability, and public relations ability. If this person is not good at interpersonal relationships, and the interpersonal relationship is relatively weak, he will not be able to do well in a large church. However, because small churches are relatively tiny, in fact, it is relatively simple for interpersonal relationships.
For small churches, it is easier to bring some people to cultivate. While doing discipleship training, observe at the same time, and then watch the Lord's guidance. Because you still need to seek God's will - who God has chosen. Because for someone as experienced as Samuel, God’s choice of David was completely beyond Samuel’s experience.
The most common mistake we make is actually following our own will beyond the will of God.
没有评论:
发表评论