Books

Christian Leadership Training Course

By J.C. Choate

Lesson 26

Training Preachers

We invite you now to think with us about the need for training preachers. As we have said before, preachers don’t just happen. Neither does the Lord open their minds and pour in their sermons each week. Good preachers come as a result of years of hard work. As young preachers, they can begin by reading and studying their Bible, and helping in various ways within the framework of the local congregation. If there is a preacher training school to attend, then he may want to go there for two or three years.

But what about training preachers in general? What can be done to help the preachers over the country to get the training they need?

The local congregation is one of the best preacher training schools there is. That kind of training can be on-going for one or for any number. To begin with, the members of the local congregation should encourage their young men to be preachers. Oh yes, a lot of parents want their children to grow up to be doctors, teachers, lawyers, business people, and to be in other professions because they are recognized and accepted as honorable professions, and also they pay well. But there is a lot more to life than for one to make a lot of money. Why not encourage your young men to be preachers and for the young women to be preachers’ wives? Preaching and the Lord’s work is the greatest work in the world. It is also honorable and acceptable to be a preacher. It may not pay as well, and in most cases will require sacrifices, but it is still worth it. If members of the church would encourage their young men and women in this direction, surely it would make a tremendous difference.

Then with one or more young men in the congregation wanting to be a preacher, the whole congregation can encourage this. They can give opportunities for them to participate in the various meetings. There can also be a training class where they can study, have opportunities to give Bible lessons, and for the teacher to offer suggestions. The leadership of the congregation can give them an opportunity to speak from time to time. They can also be benefitted by associating themselves with the local preacher, going with him on visits, participate in Bible Quizzes for the young people, etc. Yes, the congregation can be a perfect training place for those who want to preach. If congregations all over the country would develop training programs like this, there would be enough preachers to take care of all of the local needs with enough left over to go out to new areas to begin new works.

I know of congregations that have turned out any number of preachers over a long period of time. I know of many other congregations that have never produced one preacher. What made the difference with these congregations? Evidently the congregations that produced preachers were those that encouraged their young men to preach and helped them to become preachers. It is obvious that those congregations that have not produced preachers did not do the kind of work that was needed to produce preachers.

There may be some preacher training schools around over the country where the young men can go to get special training for preaching. It would be a place where they would live in a hostel with other young men, attend Bible classes and other classes each day, and that would continue over a period of two years or more. Their teachers would be preachers themselves. While there, they would also have occasion to go out with their teachers and other preachers on preaching and teaching trips. A school like this is no guarantee that one will come out being a capable preacher. A lot will depend on each student. Each one will have to apply himself and work hard to succeed. It will be up to each one to study and put forth every effort possible to do well.

Since the church is still young, and without enough members to support its own preachers as it needs to, the problem with a preacher training school is that those young men who go there to get training to preach –– what do they have to look forward to as far as preaching in their congregations back home when those congregations are not in a position to support them? The only other alternative is for them to try to get on foreign support, but neither is this the proper solution since this kind of an arrangement creates many problems. There are other solutions, for those who love the Lord, want to preach, and at the same time have support. For such young men, they can get secular jobs, work with the local church until it can support them, and then switch over to full time church work with the church fully supporting them.

Then as the church grows, it will some day have enough members for them to band together to establish a Christian college, and in time there will no doubt be several such colleges to offer training and an education both to young men and young women.

In the meantime, let each preacher and each congregation become conscious of the need of training young men to preach the gospel, and let them put forth an effort to do what they can to help provide this training.

Look at Paul and how he worked with young preachers like Timothy and Titus, and no doubt many others. Read 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus.