By Andrew Jones
Developing godly leaders is anything but simple. In fact, it’s challenging and sometimes messy, according to a 2008 audit of leadership training in the Grace Brethren movement.
“Leadership is clearly essential…and complicated,” says Mike Yoder, coordinator of leadership training initiatives for Grace Brethren International Missions. “Few topics arouse as
much interest, discussion, and debate as the task of training leaders.”
Yoder, a Ph.D. candidate in Intercultural Studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) in Chicago, conducted the audit in advance of Charis 2008, the worldwide gathering of Grace Brethren leadership from 17 countries, held in Bad Homburg, Germany. The 58-page document, both an encouraging and sobering report, affirms the complications of leadership training within the worldwide Grace Brethren movement. It also outlines goals and obstacles for leadership training in nearly 20 Grace Brethren groups around the world.
Through research over the course of nine months, Yoder discovered that worldwide Grace Brethren churches or ministries are divided into three stages of preparing leaders. Some, he says, are highly developed, especially where the churches have existed for years. A majority are still in development, while a third group is just beginning to explore leadership training issues.
Overall, Yoder reported that many leaders worldwide are laying themselves on the line to develop godly leaders for their national churches.
“There is a group of trainers who are enormously sacrificial in what they are doing,” he says, commenting that many fledgling leaders are themselves volunteers. “In most countries, leaders are stepping forward and asking to be trainedinstead of other leaders looking into the pool of potentials to find them,” adds Yoder, who served with his wife, Letitia, in Berlin, Germany, for ten years.
Some needs were also recognized through the audit.
“Those doing the training said that they need Christian leaders who will be diverse in eventual leadership roles,” notes Yoder, encouraging the formation of a broader pool of participants by selecting laymen and non-elders for leadership positions.
The audit revealed that time, or rather the lack of it, severely impedes quality training.
“Life is busy and those who are doing the training don’t think they’ll do well unless they are allowed more time to invest in their training efforts,” he notes. He adds that leadership
development involves the commitment of someone who is not only willing but able to sacrifice seemingly urgent issues in order to prioritize the training of leaders.
The audit also revealed that many trainers feel isolated.
“They long for contact with other leaders,” stresses Yoder. “Some felt as though they were championing a cause which no one else took seriously.”
Yoder underlines the importance of understanding that good leadership training grows out of widespread discipleship.
“Where there’s a large pool of growing disciples, the process of training leaders is greatly enhanced. I think that’s a lesson that the church is learning worldwide,” he says.
Yoder emphasizes that community critiques, such as this audit, are vital tools for progress.
“We have much to learn from each other as we understand and apply what our God teaches us about developing and multiplying godly leaders,” he says.
Editor’s Note: Andrew Jones was an editorial intern with the Brethren Missionary Herald Company. He is a junior at Grace College where he is majoring in English and Journalism.