Pastor, Do you remember the passion you had when God called you into the ministry? It was a passion to lead a body of believers to be all that God had called them to be, fully equipped for ministry. That goal must continue to be your passion and the School of Ministry is designed to help you realize that objective.

Perfecting the Saints

Critical Need for Christian Education
"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16, NIV). In the next verse Paul continues, giving Timothy the ultimate goal of life: "that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

The goal is clear: as Christians we are to become mature in the faith, thoroughly equipped for every good work. The problem is that the church has not done a very effective job of passing on the faith. "A Search Institute study found that only 11 percent of churchgoing teenagers have a well-developed faith. The figure rises to only 32 percent for churchgoing adults, and to 39 percent for Christian education teachers" (Schultz, 1994:20). Two prominent research organizations, the Princeton Religion Research Center and the Barna Research Group, among others, have conclusively documented the woeful lack of basic knowledge of the fundamentals of Christianity among self-professed, church-going Christians today.

"If our people aren't learning, they're not growing in their faith" (Schultz, 1994:10). If they are not growing in the faith, then the individual Christian and the Church is losing in two ways.

First, the Christian is not enjoying the fruitful life God has provided for His people. It is the design of God that a high priority for church leadership must be "equipping the saints." Scripture teaches that every Christian has a ministry role to fulfill. Being equipped means recognizing, developing, and using the one or more spiritual gifts given by the Holy Spirit to each member of the body of Christ. If the Christian is not spiritually mature and trained in the faith, he will not be fulfilling his divinely assigned ministry role. This results in two problems: (1) the Christian is not fulfilled, and (2) ministry is not accomplished as it should be.

Second, faith may be completely lost or the Christian may deviate into some false religion or cult. The danger is clear from this warning given by the apostle Paul to the church at Ephesus. Mature Christians "...will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming" (Ephesians 4:14)

The apostle Paul exhorted Timothy to "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15, KJV). We are further exhorted to "...leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity..." (Hebrews 6:1, NIV).

It is imperative that our churches take seriously their obligation to teach the faith, to see to it that our members are urged to go on toward maturity. Leadership must point the way.

One tool being made available to the pastor from Church Education Ministries (CEM) is the Equipping the Saints School of Ministry. This school is designed on three levels. First, there are basic level courses that provide foundational knowledge of the faith necessary for all Christians. Secondly, there are courses designed to equip leaders for ministry in the local church. This is followed by a course of study leading to ministerial credentials.

The School of Ministry is not only about courses of study. Students are trained in the context of the local church where they are discipled and placed in ministry. The goal is to provide a training model that focuses on both changed lives and ministry application.

For example, one church states: "We've settled on 'to know, love, and follow Jesus' as our own goal for learning in the church. It covers the cognitive, the affective, and the behavioral. It's results-oriented, harvest-oriented. It reminds us that Christianity is a lifestyle. And, as educators, we're successful only when our students' learning results in real-life action, in changed lives" (Schultz, 1994:21). This could be your goal as well!

Your church can operate an Equipping the Saints School of Ministry. The Church Education Ministries office has the tools to help you get started. A brochure is available upon request explaining the program. For those leaders who are ready to start a school in their local church, we have available a loose-leaf notebook giving full details of the program for a cost of $20.

Contact the CEM office to order the notebook or for more information.

Church Education Ministries
P.O. Box 12609
Oklahoma City, OK 73157
Phone 1-866-263-1623
Fax 405-789-3957

References:
Barna, George, Generation Next, Regal Books, 1995.
Religion in America, Princeton Religion Research Center, Princeton, NJ., 1996.

Schultz, Thom & Joani, Why Nobody Learns Much of Anything At Church: and How To Fix It, Group Publishing, 1994.

Equipping the Saints School of Ministry

"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ" (Ephesians 4:11, 12).

According to this verse, it is the responsibility of the pastor and spiritual leadership of the local church to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.

The Equipping the Saints School of Ministry is a program designed to assist the pastor and spiritual leadership of the local church in fulfilling their biblical mandate to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. It is designed to train men and women in the context of the local church, the same context in which they are saved, discipled, and helped to discover their spiritual gifts. It is this same environment in which the most effective equipping for service can take place.

Pastoral wisdom is also provided when the time comes for placement in ministry. The student may serve in the same local church as a more effective leader or be sent out by that local church or the conference to minister in other places or to plant new churches. This is the New Testament pattern.

In addition to the local Church schools, Conference Level Schools of Ministry, under the direction of the conference superintendent, are designed to offer courses leading to ministerial credentials for both minister's license and ordination. Additional courses may be offered as determined by the leadership.

What is an Equipping the Saints School of Ministry?
Equipping the Saints School of Ministry is a curriculum developed for training the laity and leadership of the local church. It includes teaching materials from a variety of sources, which focus on the basic areas of Christian life essential to preparing believers for service in God's kingdom. It is available on three levels:

Basic Level - training for all believers in the local church giving a solid foundation for the Christian life with courses in the area of:

• Basic Christian Beliefs
  
• Spiritual Disciplines
• Getting to Know Your Bible - Bible Survey
  
• Lifestyle Evangelism
  
• Marriage & the Family
  
• You and Your Ministry
  

Leadership Level - training for all leaders in the local church with courses in the areas of:

• Leadership Development
• God's Plan for the Church
  
• Power Ministry
  
• Body Life
  
• Intercession/Spiritual Warfare
  
• Specialty courses introducing professional ministry opportunities in Pastoral Ministry and Church Education Ministries

Conference Level - training for those pursuing ministerial credentials and continuing education for ministers and other leaders. All courses required for Minister's License and Ordination are offered.

Philosophy of Ministry

1) Equipping the saints is a basic requirement of spiritual leadership

2) The end-time harvest is upon us and laborers must be raised up and trained for the task (Matthew 9:36-38).

3) The Church is the only institution that Jesus promised to build (Matthew 16:18). He wants to equip and use the Church as His agent of redemption in the world. We recognize that denominational, para-church and other institutions of ministry are also important in God's plan.

4) The early church, as indicated in the church at Jerusalem, Antioch and Ephesus (Acts 15:22,23; 11:19-21; 13:1; 19:9), was an evangelistic center, a ministry center, and a training school. God is restoring the original model to the church today.

5) The mind and the spirit must both be trained for a balanced ministry. Thus we are committed to strong academic study (head or sense knowledge) and spiritual formation (heart or revelation knowledge). Both head and heart must be trained.

6) The training process is not complete until we are "doing the work of the ministry." This "doing" is not to be separated from the training of the head and the heart, so on-the-job training is a vital dimension of this program.

The training involves three areas, all of which are needed for the training to be complete:

1) Training the Mind. The mind is to be disciplined in the things of God until we have the "mind of Christ." Sound academic study is important if we are to gain understanding.

2) Training the Spirit. Spiritual formation is the key to ministry. Impartation of Spirit-life must be transferred from the teacher to the student as both need to be ministers as a flame of fire, (Hebrews 1:7).

3) Training in Ministry. Jesus and Paul both gave on-the-job training so the disciples could learn by doing. "Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put into practice..." (Philippians 4: 9 NIV).

GETTING STARTED

Schools of Ministry are designed to operate on a flexible schedule to accommodate the largest number of students possible. Each course requires a total of 12 sessions of 45 minutes each. A student must be present for at least nine of the sessions to receive a passing grade.

The following are optional scheduling models for the Equipping the Saints School of Ministry.

Local Church Level

• Model #1 - Basic Level taught during the Sunday School hour and Leadership Level taught on Wednesday evenings.
  
• Model #2 - Weekend Seminars offering (12 sessions of 45 minutes each) training on Friday evening and all day Saturday.
  
• Model #3 - One or two 45-minute sessions per week on Sunday evening.
  
• Model #4 - One or two 45-minute sessions per week on Wednesday evening.
  
• Model #5 - Five nights of training one week every other month, alternating between Basic and Leadership levels.
  
• Model #6 - One week of training each quarter.
  
• Model #7 - Special speaker once per month or quarter, Sunday through Tuesday. This model emphasizes the use of guest teachers and the high visibility of launching each course on Sunday morning with a special message to motivate the people to participate.
  

Conference Level

A wide variety of scheduling options for training are available to the conference including classes during regularly scheduled events such as the annual conference sessions and camp meetings. In addition, the various conference ministries offer many training opportunities that could be utilized. The most popular plan is to provide a Friday evening/all day Saturday classes on a monthly basis. Other options would be a bi-monthly or quarterly weekend schedule.

How to Begin a School of Ministry

I. Pastor or conference superintendent will notify CEM in Oklahoma City of the desire to start a school.

II. A packet of information will be sent giving policies and procedures for starting and operating a local church or conference school:

• A. Appoint a director and establish the administrative structure
  
• B. Establish policies, schedule, course offerings, fees, etc.
  
• C. Decide on your first class and dates
  
• D. Order materials *
  
• E. Promote
  
• F. After all students are enrolled in each class, order course certificates from CEM to be awarded at the end of the course.
  

III. School will be registered by completing all requested information and operating according to established policies.

IV.Contact Southwestern Christian University if college credit is desired.

Last update on 6/4/2009
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