PASTOR AIMEE OYEN | BEULAH WORSHIP & MEDIA PASTOR
A conversation I had with someone this week greatly impacted my thoughts on ministry and how to be a better leader. I have looked up to this person for awhile now as she is actually a bit a legend in our New Life community as being the first female youth pastor on our staff. She imparted a lot of wisdom to me in our conversation, but one of the last things she said on our call has really been stirring in my spirit. She said, “Students should be in circles more than rows (pews). Spend more of your time teaching students how to be the church and let them activate their faith by getting to know the Word of God, the Spirit of God, and the People of God with each other.”
This got me thinking about what God’s people were like in the Old Testament vs. in the Book of Acts. In the Old Testament, the Israelites seemed to be very dependent on whoever was leading them at the time. In one example in Exodus 32, they were following God until Moses took too long on the mountain with God. When Moses came down from the mountain they had made a golden calf to worship and everything seemed to have fallen apart because Moses wasn’t there with them. They hadn’t been empowered to really know God instead of just knowing of Him through their leader.
This is also just like the traditional style of teaching. Students sit through lectures daily and can memorize materials long enough for a test, but they struggle to apply the information independently in real life situations. Unless we provide “hands on” opportunities in class to practice what they’re learning the information rarely stays with them long term nor are they able to generalize the information to apply it to any situation. In our conversation Twyla said, “Discipleship is like how you teach reading. Teach them how to use scripture to sound out life’s problems just like you teach phonics. So they can generalize what being a healthy church looks like and model that wherever they go when they graduate.”
The early church in the Book of Acts was all about discipleship and models exactly what she was talking about. It’s because people kept having encounters with with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8, 2:1–4, 4:28–31, 8:15–7, 10:44 and 19:6) that they were able to go out and spread the gospel and build The Church. Yes, there were several great leaders named that taught, mentored, and walked with these people, (Paul, Peter, Mark, John, Stephen…) but in the end we don’t even have the names of most of the individuals who were the great leaders that discipled others by sharing what they knew about Jesus. Yet these are the people we are indebted to for carrying the faith to our generation as they spent their time gathering in houses, breaking break, praying, and worshiping God together with people to spread the gospel by simply doing life together and honoring Jesus. These people knew how to truly live as a Christians by teaching others what they knew and blessing them as they were sent out to disciple others. Pastors and church leaders are important, but every Christian has a roll and responsibility for learning how to live knowing the Word of God, the Spirit of God and how to be “the church.”
So the question I’m asking myself is, “Am I leading in a way that empowers people to encounter God and embrace their faith whether or not I’m with them?” The goal as a Christian is to always point people to Jesus, rather than being a know-it-all who solves everyone’s problems. “He must become greater, I must become less.” (John 3:30) So whether I’m leading in a pastoral capacity, as a mom, friend, co-worker… I want my circle of influence to know how to seek God, value scripture and prayer and have a relationship with God because that changes everything.
My questions to you would be these:
Do you know of Jesus, or do you KNOW JESUS?
Sometimes we rely on pastors to just tell us what we need to know to make it to Heaven. When the pastors aren’t around, though, we have no connection to God then and that’s when things fall apart. We’re missing the whole point of why Jesus ascended and the Holy Spirit is alive and active today. He desires a relationship with us NOW and HE should be our primary source for wisdom, guidance …everything really!
Who is in your circle?
There are people in your life that only you can reach. Are you making time to sit with your circle and activate your faith together? Are you being a part of the body of Christ or are you acting more as an island and keeping to yourself? Who is God calling you to “be the church” with?
I’m so grateful for all the pastors at New Life. They’re leading us by example of learning the Word of God, how to hear the Spirit of God, and how to be the church of God. They are also very intentional about creating space for us to activate our faith and use our gifts and talents to serve and build the body of Christ. May we be intentional about growing together and embracing our faith to keep spreading the gospel until Jesus returns.
