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Training of Christ-Like Leaders

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:51:28 CDT

Leadership Development is a topic of global interest especially in contexts where the Church is attempting to prepare leaders to meet the leadership demands produced by accelerated Church planting movements. Lateral thinking or adaptive thinking is needed to address the issue of a severe dearth of leaders or the process by which they are groomed or equipped. This is necessitated especially since it has been noticed that the average Bible school graduate seems to be to a large extent helplessly inadequate, poorly oriented for ministry and often ill prepared.

      Dr. Alex and Laly Philip

For Jesus, life was full. He often reminded His disciples that His Life was lived in constant communion with His Father, and He always sought the Father’s glory (Jn 1:1, 14ff). So intricately related was He with the Father, that he declares that He is the Way to the Father, also reiterating that He is the Truth and the Life. Jesus came to planet earth to accomplish three major tasks. Firstly, to redeem mankind. Secondly, to serve mankind through a variety of ministry tasks; and thirdly to train a group of disciples who would carry out His ministry after His earthly time was over. Jesus’ style for leadership development, which resulted in a healthy group of NT leaders, provides insight for those interested in designing stronger models of leader development.

Components of Leader Development: Any program that wishes to engage in training needs to define three non-negotiables. The goal of the program, the processes that need to be built into the program to bring out the said goals and finally a clear blue-print or design map.   All too often, in Christian training of leaders or pastors or shepherds, a design is first made; then designs are incorporated with the hope that a goal is reached! Exactly in the opposite order of what has to be done!!

Last week a few NIEA Bible Training Institute leaders were with Malcolm Webber in New Delhi. He suggests a 5C model to Leader Development or the Connexions Model after about 30 years of Biblical study, reflection and experience.   The five C’s are Christ, Community, Character, Calling and Competency. Christ is at the core of our ministry - our relationships and our very life. All training is done within the context of a community, building character, resulting in affirmation of calling and enhancing competencies. A well rounded development program will address all these components and ensure that they are represented and are in good place. An absence of the C- for Competency, would result in chaos, though Calling and Character building could be there. An absence of C-for Calling would obviously be like a rudder less boat, since from Christ comes our life and ministry – even if Character and Competencies were present!

The Development of Process: In Mark 3:11-14 Jesus reveals his methodology (or process) that marked his strategy for the leader development. His disciples were with Him, that He might teach them and He then sent them out with authority. The dynamic of this process embraces Spirituality (Connecting with God), Experiential (Connecting with Life), Relational (Connecting with People) and Instructional (Connecting with Truth).

At NIEA’s 7 Training Institutes, we are attempting to transform lives by offering them a model of education that impacts them for effective Christian service. Today over 1500 leaders receive training through these institutes. Thank you for your commitment to equip, multiply and launch effective ministers of Jesus!

Your servant in Christ,

Dr. Alexander Philip,

Director

Stop the Thief!

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:31:12 CDT

Stop the Thief!

Do you have a feeling of anger when you see a young person struck down by disease and death? Do you have righteous indignation when you see a young married couple whose marriage deteriorates into divorce? When you see children ill-fed, un-cared for, uneducated or abused by those in their community? Anger is appropriate in these situations because there definitely should be anger against the thief, the enemy of our souls who has done this. Jesus said, ‘The thief is come to steal, kill and destroy; but I have come that you may have life and that you may have it to the full.” John 10:10 Anger motivates us to take action against the enemy, Satan, and against the injustice we see around us.

God is GOOD. There is no evil that comes from God in the New Covenant of grace we live in, and there is no illness that is brought by God to ”teach us a lesson.”   There are common teachings from pulpits that a reason for sickness and tragedy is that we will be brought closer to God when we have pain and suffering. While that may be the result, it is totally against the nature of God to bring the pain, illness and suffering upon us. That is not his plan for us. Have you seen Jeremiah 29:11 where the prophet writes, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” That is God’s plan for us.

God created us with a free will that he will not interfere with. Our free will decisions are at the root of much of the pain and sorrow in our lives. Some sorrow is brought by the ungodly actions of others. However, at the root is the enemy Satan who entices us or our oppressors to turn our back on the law of God and put selfish desires first. And he keeps whole cultures oppressed out of fear and ignorance of the saving power of Jesus Christ.

What should the church, the body of Christ, do with the commission given by Christ? Jesus said to his disciples and by virtue of our succession as disciples, to us also: “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand. ‘Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give’.” Matthew 10:7-8    We are to fulfill our commission to present Christ and to represent Christ in the world by destroying the works of the devil and in bringing healing in Jesus’ name.

Jesus gave us the capacity to change the world around us rather than to be overcome by it. Our job is to release the presence of the Spirit of God that we have been given in order to accomplish the miraculous. We have been given an assignment we cannot do in our own strength. We must give up control of our schedule and even of our own life to make ourselves vulnerable to what God wants to do with us. We are to take the power given us by the Holy Spirit into that situation of disease, despair or death. We are to do the works of Jesus. A faithful servant of Christ trusts that if we are given this commission, and we are, then the Holy Spirit will give us power to accomplish it.

If we feel powerless in the natural when faced with an impossible need, it is our responsibility to pursue an encounter with God that changes our natural ability to minister to others. Every believer has authority in the spirit realm for the healing of bodies, minds and relationships. We will have to actively go after the manifestation of the Holy Spirit who lives in us as believers for faith, healing and miracles. Some will receive a special gift of healing; which is different from the authority for healing in every believer.   The Holy Spirit gifts come from encounters with the face of God where we receive the anointing to do the works of Jesus. We take time to be with God. We worship him alone or with the body of believers. We sit in quietness before him, without a list of requests. It is in these times that we encounter God and receive from his Spirit.   Help and encouragement also come from others in the body of Christ who will pray and encourage us in this ministry.

We must be risk-takers. To be effective disciples we must step out in faith, looking for opportunities to be Christ in the world. If we believe God’s word, we will take every opportunity to stand against the works of the enemy in the lives of persons we interact with.

Let it not be said that the Christian church is irrelevant to the world. The pain and suffering we see in the people around us does not show that God brings pain, or as some would say that there is no God. It shows that the body of Christ, the church, is not doing its job. We are not stopping the thief. Wickedness is spreading, but grace is growing much more. We know that all over the world churches are receiving by the Holy Spirit the power to bring Christ into seemingly impossible situations. Wickedness and pain are increasing, but it only presents the church with its greatest challenge and also its greatest opportunity.

Rev. Gail Parr-Forgacs, President, NIEA-USA

The author is indebted to the concepts expressed in the book, Face to Face with God by Bill Johnson. See also the www.ibethel.org.

Training for Long Term Impact

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 17:56:11 CDT

Yesterday I had a call from the NIEA Bible Training site here in Bihar telling me that 52 students had enrolled for the current academic session. I was amazed. It wasn’t because in ten years of ministry, we were able to attract these many students. Neither was it because a beautiful building had been built which persuaded Bihari students to enroll.

Dr. Alex and Laly Philip

No, it wasn't that they now joined the ranks of about a thousand new Christ-followers who are currently receiving systematic discipleship training every month in pioneer villages in the immediate area alone.

I was amazed as students who were interviewed narrated how their village pastor had shared with them about Christ (for the very first time they heard His name!), and how they gave away evil practices and a life of sin to follow Christ who had forgiven them. Some talked about how Jesus healed their sick bodies, leading to entire families coming to faith in Christ. One even said how when witches in their villages could not stop a spate of fires and unfortunate events, the man of God came and prayed and the village turned to believe in Jesus Christ for the first time!

Here they were G2 (Generation 2) disciples of Jesus Christ. That amazed me. Their pastors were those who came to Christ through evangelistic outreaches post-Bihar’s flood of 2008 and rescue efforts of 2009. Now trained, these had discipled a new generation of converts, and several dozen were now ready to give up jobs, steady income, security of home – and move to Bible school to study for a year in a disciplined and structured manner. Amazing isn’t it – when sixty four village churches are formed in about six months and eager students now make a beeline to study, commit and serve – Jesus Christ – their Master, Savior and Lord.

Later this year in December about 60 young Indian leaders will gather in New Delhi for the first India Emerging Leaders’ Summit (IELS-2010) – the first of a four-year program to see a generation of younger Indian leaders intentionally mentored by seasoned and senior leaders from the Indian Church. It is envisioned to be a meeting point- where the wisdom of the elders will interface with the passion of the young – and hopefully synergy is produced towards serving India’s leadership needs this 21st century. Understandably, leaders are the currency for change and having intentionality in their development are wise steps towards a healthy Church of tomorrow.

Dr. Jaison Thomas, my colleague and Principal, New India Bible Seminary meets a group of about 25 Principals and Educators from South Asian countries next week in Colombo to share with them how important it is to position each training institute to serve the needs of the Church. The rhetoric for effective theological training has spanned centuries. Paul’s directive in 2 Timothy 2:15 is a good yardstick to encourage any Timothy in ministry training. An effective Paul produces Timothy’s. Timothy’s fully trained produce generation 3 and 4 as per 2Tim 2:2. Now what would happen when we enroll students who are G3 and G4 – soon? Our nets will be full to the bursting and we will be calling for help! That’s coming – and isn’t that amazing when exponential growth overtakes addition or multiplication!

Evaluation is our friend. That’s why here at NIEA we are constantly evaluating for impact. With over hundreds of students at different levels of training in 7 institutes our prayer is simple – “Lord – a New India!” Thank you for your partnership in this mission!

Serving Jesus with you! Your servant in Christ,

Dr. Alexander Philip, Director