Living Faith is committed to training leaders. We will do this through the structure of our ministry teams. All our teams have been charged with training leaders. Everyone should work to be a mentor, and everybody should have a mentor as well. This is modeled in the Bible by Paul and Timothy’s relationship. We say we should all have a “Paul” as well as a “Timothy”.
Training leaders is not just one more activity to add to a list of ministry activities, rather we train as the team serves. As the training takes place, the work of the ministry is getting done; as the work of the ministry is getting done, training is taking place. This is a wonderful process of replacing yourself in leadership. All of our leaders should constantly be working to replace themselves. This can be intimidating for those who are insecure or “power hungry”. That mindset is not the mindset of Christ (Phil. 2:1-5, John 16:7).
One main motivation for training leaders is that we believe God has called us to plant churches and send out missionaries. Considering that some of us will be sent out, who will train them up to lead when they go? And who will take their place here when they leave? The answer is that we will train up “Timothys” and be trained by our “Pauls” so that whether we are sent, or take the place of one who goes, we are ready with sufficient leadership in place. We hope one of those leaders will be you.