Pastoral Residencies in the Local Church
My cousin is a physician’s assistant for an orthopedic surgeon. In a recent conversation I was discussing “residencies” with him. He told me how a medical doctor will complete 4 years of college followed by 4 years of medical school and then anywhere from 1 to 5 years in a residency depending on the specialization. Neurosurgeons will be in their early 30s, he said, before they begin their “real job.”
This got me to thinking further about the value of residencies for pastoral ministry. If mentoring under an experienced physician is essential for a brain surgeon, then what about a soul surgeon? Pastors are just that in their shepherding and feeding the flock of God. But is there biblical precedent for this practice? Indeed, the Scriptures are sufficient to tell us how to raise up and equip new shepherds. Institutions do not make pastors. Pastors and local churches make pastors. Institutions come alongside pastors and churches in training leaders, but they cannot adequately replace local church mentoring. We see Timothy and Titus serving under Paul’s oversight and the apostles referring to men as their child or son in the faith (2 Tim 1:2; Titus 1:4; 1 Pet 5:13). Paul instructed Timothy to follow his example in developing more leaders. At the end of his life, he commissioned Timothy with these words: …and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also (2 Tim 2:2). Did you notice the multi-generational pattern of this leadership development? Paul trained Timothy, Timothy was to train others, and those were to train still others. Shouldn’t something like this exist in our churches? It can.
When I came to Grace Baptist West Asheville in 2018, I quickly saw both the need and the opportunity to make leadership development an important emphasis in our church. By God’s grace, that dream is becoming a reality. About a year ago we launched an internal leadership development pipeline we call “LEAD” (Leadership Evaluation Assessment & Development). Currently, LEAD is a 6-month track open to both men and women in our church. While women will not be set apart as elders in our church, we have noticed that complementarian congregations like ours can tend to neglect the gifts of women among us. We want to both recognize and encourage women in our church to pursue leadership in every biblically-compatible way.
GBWA is an elder-led congregational church, so we value plural leadership. We quickly saw the need to create a strategy for continually raising up qualified men to serve as elders in our church and sending out others for planting and revitalizing. I have told my congregation that I intend for the search team that called me to be the last one our church ever needs. Even as lead pastor, I want to be wanted but not needed. In other words, my goal is to build out our leadership base so broadly that we have “a deep bench” of men who can do what I do. Every leader is “interim.” We should aim to build our churches on Christ, first, and multiple shepherds, second, so that the church never suffers in our absence. GBWA wants the problem of having so many leaders that we must give some away for kingdom advancement! But this will not happen without a strategy of intentional investment.
Across six months, LEAD participants are immersed in content under the following themes: Conversion, Calling, Character, Competence, Criticism/Conflict, and Compatibility/Chemistry. These cohorts of men and women meet most Sunday afternoons at 4pm for 2-hours. The time is facilitated by me but, beyond my instruction, participants are assigned required reading consistent with each theme and prepare presentations for one another. Fellow cohort members are required to provide feedback and critique to one another. At the end of LEAD, I meet with each participant to debrief and recommend next steps: pursuing further education, gaining new experience, or focusing on strengthening areas of weakness or concern we identified together. No one is promised a position or title by participating. To do so would defeat the purposes of “evaluation” and “assessment.”
Beyond LEAD, we are working to launch a pastoral residency. Interested candidates inside or outside our church will apply to be mentored by our elders and congregation for 12 to 18 months with the goal of being launched to plant or revitalize in our region. GBWA intends to be a church that serves other churches and strengthens the witness of the gospel throughout Western North Carolina. We are not turfy or territorial. Our dream, as a church, is to see dozens of men and teams sent by our church so that every community in WNC has a healthy, biblical local church!
You may be reading this and thinking, “That all sounds great, but that’s not possible in my church because I’m the only guy who can preach or teach.” Let me ask you to take a second look at your congregation. Many churches have “diamonds in the rough” in front of them every Sunday morning - men who have never been challenged or poured into. Brother pastor, our job is to make disciples of those we’ve been given. Stop doing everything yourself and start giving away opportunities to lead like the welcome, announcements, Scripture readings, and corporate prayers. Develop simple guidelines for putting together a lesson or sermon and ask men in your church to teach on Wednesday or Sunday evenings. Sit, listen, observe, then meet afterward with them for feedback. Bring in men and surround yourself with them when considering change or before launching new ministries. Function with plural leadership even before it is a reality in your church. In a nutshell, give away leadership.
The reality is that leadership development won’t happen in our churches if we don’t initiate and lead it. Is your leadership lonely? Could it be that you’ve isolated yourself and placed the full burden of leadership solely on yourself? Brothers, I will close with the counsel of Moses’ father-in-law Jethro when he advised, You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you!...look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people… (Ex 18:18-21).