11 Guidelines for Those Who
Coach Shepherds
“Dear Lord, help us to instruct new shepherds from
your Word, so that they will lead the flocks that you have given them
to serve, in the power of your Holy Spirit. We ask this in the Name of
our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen”
Guidelines
1.
Train
Shepherds by Three Methods
2.
Choose Studies
that Offer What a Trainee’s Flock Lacks
3.
Give Coaching the Same Emphasis that
Scripture Does
4.
Be Accountable to Someone, and Provide
Accountability to Others
5.
Follow Biblical Guidelines for
Multiplication
6.
Married Leaders Must Care for Their Wives
and Children
7.
Let Trainees Discover ‘Gold’ in God’s Word
8.
Do Five Things in Coaching Sessions
9.
Each Paul-Timothy study for New Leaders
contains three actions
10.
Help Trainees Vary the Ways In which they
Teach
11.
Commission New Shepherds in a Biblical Way
Guideline 1.
Train Shepherds by Three Methods
Maintain a balance between modelling, coaching and
teaching.
Train new shepherds in ways that ensure their flocks keep
multiplying, by keeping a healthy balance between the three training
methods, just as Jesus and the apostles did.
Method 1: Model skills for Shepherds
Demonstrate shepherding skills for new leaders during the
week.
Method 2: Coach Small Groups
A coach meets with a small number, so he has time to hear
everyone’s report.
Meet in small groups, so that you listen to each trainee
report on what his flock is doing. Then apply the Word of God to the
needs of each flock. Help trainees to plan what they and their flocks
will do the next week
Method 3: Teach Big Groups
Teach occasional seminars for larger groups.
Let us explain each of these three methods
Method 1: Model shepherding skills for apprentices who are still
learning them.
Demonstrate pastoral care and any other aspect of the
work that apprentices still do not know how to do, the same way that
Jesus and the apostles modelled shepherding skills for the their
disciples while they taught, healed and counselled.
Demonstrate shepherding skills while working during the
week, and not merely during worship times. Trainees may sometimes
accompany and observe the trainer, when he cares for his own flock.
Sometimes the trainer may visit the trainee and helps him to care for
his new flock.
Method 2: Coach small groups locally.
Have trainees meet in small groups of two to five
persons. Their groups need to be small so that you, the trainer, can
listen to each trainee report what his flock is doing and deal with the
different needs and opportunities that arise in each congregation.
Normally trainees from only one or two, possibly three congregations
meet with coaches.
Method 3: Teach general truths that apply to all congregations at
bigger meetings.
When possible, gather large groups of shepherds from a
large area to teach things that apply to all shepherds.
Write Your Plans
Please, pray for help, then write your plan to balance
the three kinds of teaching, the way Jesus and His apostles did.
Guideline 2.
Choose Studies that Offer What a Trainee’s Flock Lacks
Ask your trainer or coordinator for the Paul-Timothy
User’s Menu, or download it from www.paul-timothy.net.
Trainers and trainees should meet in small groups and use
the Paul-Timothy User’s Menu to select studies that suit the
need of each learner’s church or cell.
·
Practice selecting appropriate studies now, using the
list of Ministries and a few sample studies below, taken from the Paul-Timothy
User’s Menu.
Good trainers name and train shepherding elders in new
groups of believers. Trainers help trainees to lead their flock in
starting to do things that are still lacking in each flock (Titus 1:5).
To learn what is lacking in congregations, first listen to your
trainees tell you what their flock is doing and not yet doing.
·
Paul-Timothy does not follow a ‘linear’ curriculum, in
which all student start with the first item and move in a straight line
to the second item, and so on to the end. Rather, you are to select
options from among different resources, to meet current needs. Jesus
urges teachers to use a variety of resources: “Every teacher ...
instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who
brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.” Matthew
13:52
“We trainers first listen carefully to those whom we train.”
Ministries and Sample Ministry and Related Studies from the User’s Menu:
Each numbered set of studies contains a study for New
Shepherds and another on the same topic for Children.
Write Your Plans
Whom do you plan to coach, to train them to help you
shepherd your flock, or a new flock?
How will you help your apprentices to begin at once to
shepherd their own families and others whom they win to Christ?
If someone coaches you, then let him know which needs you ticked above
in the list of Ministries. He will then help you get the corresponding
studies and skill training.
What is the number of the study that corresponds to the
ministry you chose? (Study numbers appear after the study name.)
___________
Guideline 3
Give Coaching the Same Emphasis that Scripture Does
Jesus and Paul are our models of how to train. We follow
the guidelines that Jesus and Paul used to train leaders. New shepherds
should meet once or twice a month with a coach who will listen to them
and find out the needs of the shepherds’ flocks. Coaches should then
equip them to deal with those needs, at once. When a flock is new, a
trainee may meet more often with a coach.
·
Coaching applies mainly to new shepherds. Mature leaders
can keep learning by attending occasional seminars, unless they face a
special issue that requires an expert’s advice.
·
Normally a leader coaches shepherds of new flocks that he
or his flock has raised up, as in 2 Timothy 2:2.
·
A coach does not have to be an elderly,
highly-experienced leader. He might be only one month ahead of the
trainees whom he coaches. This works well because the coach can easily
sympathize with the same needs that the newer workers have. In this
case, the coach should also meet with a more experienced coach, in a
coaching ‘chain’.
Coaching with Paul-Timothy studies is easy. Novice
shepherds can coach newer shepherds, if you will provide them materials
that deal with the needs of new flocks. Use materials like the
Paul-Timothy studies. Translate them into your trainees’ language.
Coaching normally is temporary. New shepherds of new congregations with
new believers are like ‘baby’ leaders of ‘baby flocks.’ They always
need some kind of coaching, just as new-born babes need constant care
of their urgent needs.
·
Coaching new leaders properly takes a good amount of
time. This is why you should also hold occasional seminars for larger
groups. Paul spent much time coaching Timothy and Titus with fatherly
care. When they matured and no longer needed frequent care, Paul left
them to train others.
·
After Paul’s coaching of Timothy and Titus tapered off,
they kept the coaching chain growing by passing on what they learned
from Paul to novice leaders. Just as newborn babies need much personal
attention, so new leaders and new churches need coaching, until they
are doing what the New Testament requires them to do.
Write your Plans
Whom will you begin coaching?
________________________________________
When will you start?
________________________________________
Guideline 4
Be Accountable to Someone, and Provide Accountability to
Others
A leader of the Lord’s work must be accountable to other
leaders. You and other leaders should examine each other’s ministries,
not to control others, but to help each other develop your ministries.
Such accountability is joyful for all its participants, if they love
one another.
You should meet with other leaders occasionally and
report what you have done. To lead people without other leaders
examining your work could become a damaging sin of negligence.
Paul was accountable at first to the other leaders in
Jerusalem (Galatians 2:1-2).
Later, Paul and Barnabas reported what they had been
doing to the congregation in Antioch that had sent them to the nations
(Acts 13:1-3 and 14:26-28).
You and other leaders should correct one another
(Colossians 3:16) and confess your faults one to another (James 5:16).
You should heed the advice of other leaders and listen to their
criticisms. All shepherds need such supervision, by which leaders make
sure that each other’s activities are biblical. It will help you to
grow in your leadership skills and to avoid exercising selfish, abusive
control over people.
Write your Plans
Who will coach you? ____________________________
How often will you meet at first?
______________________________________
If you have no coach, arrange it with someone who uses
Paul-Timothy. If you cannot find such a person, then begin the coaching
‘chain’ yourself, by starting to train others, as Paul told Timothy to
do in 2 Timothy 2:2
Guideline 5
Follow Biblical Guidelines for Multiplication
Wherever the apostles made disciples the way Jesus said,
congregations multiplied. God works the same way today, when shepherds
lay a foundation of obedience to Jesus’ commands. You must teach your
own flock and train new leaders of new flocks, the way Jesus and His
apostles did. For example, Paul coached Timothy, who trained faithful
men, who trained others also (2 Tim. 2:2); this resulted in many
new congregations.
Jesus and His apostles trained new leaders mainly by
coaching them. Coaching allows you to train leaders as fast as new
congregations multiply, because each novice shepherd trains newer
shepherds of the congregations that he or his flock helps to start.
Jesus trained his apostles on-the-job by coaching them, laying
plans and hearing their reports.
New shepherds observe a more experienced coach modelling
shepherding skills and applying God’s Word at once to the people whom
he serves, then imitate him (1 Corinthians.
11:1).
Jesus emphasized that growth and multiplication in His
kingdom resembles that of plants. If we sow grain in good ground it
reproduces up to 100 times (Mark 4).
Make sure that each trainee soon begins coaching other
newer shepherds, to keep the flocks reproducing the normal way.
Training goes together with evangelism. With fervent prayer, evangelism
and God’s help, you can multiply workers and their new congregations.
Seek to work with receptive people. Where people reject
the Good News, Jesus commanded us to ‘shake the dust’ from our feet and
to leave there. This usually does not require us to move our residence,
but moves us to seek people whom God has prepared. Normally, poorer
classes are more receptive to the Good News.
Coaching the way Jesus and the apostles did it, is
powerful and helps to keep flocks reproducing. Jesus gave to the
apostles a ‘package’ of truths and practices that was light enough to
pass on easily to others, like the baton in a relay race.
God uses the caring relationship between coach and
trainee to make it easy to pass on the ‘baton’ to develop effective
leaders and to multiply congregations.
A good coach trains new leaders with methods that they
can quickly and easily imitate, with which they can train other, newer
shepherds. Avoid using equipment that your trainees do not have, when
you teach or model skills for them.
Coaching in Scripture resulted in ‘chains’ with several
generations of coaches, whose apprentices coached others, and so on.
Examples include these:
Jethro coached Moses,
Moses coached Joshua and the elders of Israel. God gave the
Ten Commandments originally for the newly named elders to use. The
shepherding of the people took place in small groups of ten (Exodus
chapters 18 – 20).
Joshua coached the other army leaders.
Deborah coached Barak. As a result, Barak won a great military
victory for God.
Eli coached Samuel.
Samuel coached Saul and David who became Israel’s greatest king.
Ahithophel and Nathan the prophet also coached David.
David coached his army commanders and government officials, to
establish the united nation of Israel.
David also coached his son Solomon.
Solomon coached the Queen of Sheba. She returned to her people
with his wisdom in the form of Proverbs that applied God’s law.
Elijah coached Elisha.
Elisha coached king Jehoash and others.
Daniel coached King Nebuchadnezzar. The King later humbled
himself before God
Mordecai coached Esther
Esther coached King Artaxerxes. This led to his liberating of
God’s people.
Jesus coached his twelve apostles. They started the first
Christian congregations.
The twelve apostles coached Paul and hundreds of other leaders.
Paul coached Titus, Timothy and many others
Timothy coached Epaphras and other “faithful men.”
Epaphras and the other faithful men coached “others also”
(2 Timothy 2:2) which led to a chain reaction that resulted in
dozens of new congregations in Asia.
Philip coached the Ethiopian official. The official received
Christ and was baptized in the desert.
Priscilla and Aquila coached Apollos. This resulted in an improved ministry and new flocks.
Jethro coached Moses, enabling him and the elders to
shepherd 1000s of Israelite.
Write your Plans
If you have never taught people in any other way than the
traditional classroom method, then, please, take a moment now to pray
and ask the Lord to help you.
If you do not have the ability or time to add coaching to
your schedule, please, ask the Lord to show you whom you should assign
this responsibility to, so that your flock can sustain the training of
leader in the way that Jesus and the apostles did.
According to 2 Timothy 2:2, the same worker can be a
trainee receiving training and, at the same time, be a trainer training
newer workers. Such training can enable your flock and new flocks to
keep on reproducing rapidly with new leaders, to sustain a widespread
movement towards Christ. Those whom you train should soon begin
training others. Write the names of workers whom they might train, if
you know them. If you do not yet know, then, please, find out.
Write the names of others who could also become trainers
helping you to train shepherds:
Guideline 6
Married Leaders Must Care for Their Wives and Children
Paul warned that a believer who fails to care for his
family has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever
(1 Timothy 5:8). Thus, a true shepherd will begin his shepherding
work by caring for his own family.
Many congregations and families suffer, because some
shepherds spend too much time with other people, and neglect their own
wives and children.
Write Your Plans
What will you do to make sure that you care properly for
your wife and children?
Guideline 7
Let Trainees Discover ‘Gold’ in God’s Word
Help each shepherd to be an active learner rather than a
passive ‘hearer only’ or a mere reader. Let each one discover truths
that his flock needs, instead of waiting for others to teach him every
detail.
Do not teach what a student can learn for himself.
Ask questions that will help him to think about what God
wants him and his flock to do. Paul-Timothy studies suggest things for
him to find in his Bible.
Guideline 8
Do Five Things in Coaching Sessions
These five important things are to Pray, Listen, Plan,
Review and Assign.
1)
Pray before, during and after a training session.
At the start of a session, ask the Lord to guide everyone
present.
During the session, pray whenever you deal with a
question, decision or problem for which you need special power or
wisdom.
At the end of a session, ask the Lord for power for you
and your flock to do what you have planned.
2)
Listen to each trainee. Let each one tell what he and his
flock have been doing.
Urge the new shepherds to report both successes and
failures.
Compare what he reports with the plans he made at the
prior session.
3)
Plan each one’s field work.
Help each trainee to plan what he and his flock will do
during the next week or month.
Plan to do things that correspond to the needs that the
trainee reported.
Write down each item that the trainee agrees to do with
his flock.
Avoid wasting time over problems that keep occurring.
Always plan new activities.
Do not ‘dance with the devil’ by merely responding to the
problems he causes. Keep initiating activities that the flock is not
yet doing, or strengthening activities that are still weak. Keep
building up the flock by concentrating on positive things.
“Just keep dancing to my tune!”
Both trainer and trainee should keep a copy of these
plans, and refer to them at their next session.
4)
Review Studies assigned at the previous coaching session.
Ask what the trainee learned from his reading. Let him
talk about it.
If he has not learned a study well, then ask him to read
it again. Do not assign him another study, until he has learned the
present one well.
Let the student talk about what he has studied.
5)
Assign studies that fit current needs and opportunities
to serve.
Do not assign the same study to all trainees. Assign to
each trainee a study that fits his flock’s needs and opportunities to
serve.
Assign only one study at a time to very new students,
unless you will not be able to meet with them for a long time.
Use the Paul-Timothy User’s Menu (Guideline 2).
Write Your Plans
Please memorize the above five things that you will do in
a session with your trainees, and write them here by memory:
1. ______________________
2. ______________________
3. ______________________
4. ______________________
5. ______________________
How will you obtain the Paul-Timothy studies for your
trainees?
Guideline 9
Each Paul-Timothy study for New Leaders contains three
actions
1. Prepare yourself through Bible Study.
2. Plan the coming week’s activities.
3. Plan the up-coming worship time.
1)
Prepare yourself through Bible Study.
Use Scripture as your guide to what you do and how you do
it.
Use God’s Word as the guide for how you teach,
evangelize, organize and worship, and not only as a source of content
for your teaching.
Each study contains a list of things to find in God’s
Word. You can teach those things during the next worship time, and ask
questions about the things you were told to find.
2)
Plan the coming week’s activities.
Each study contains a list of optional things that you
and the other believers can do during the week. Select those activities
that meet current needs and fit local customs. Omit the rest.
Announce and explain those plans during worship. Enable
all believers to serve Christ through their various ministries.
Your teaching during the worship time should prepare the
believers to do those activities. If someone teaches a doctrine without
dealing, in a practical way, with its corresponding duty, then he
misuses God’s Word (James 1:22; Ephesians 2:8-10; 2 Timothy
3:16-17).
Plan ahead with co-workers what the believers will do
during the week to bless:
·
one another (Galatians 5:13),
·
each family (Ephesians 5:21-33; 6:1-4),
·
the community around them (Matt. 5:13-14) and
·
other congregations (Acts 15:41).
3)
Plan the upcoming worship time.
Make sure that everyone in your trainees’ flock,
including children, participate during group worship time, and edify
one another by using their spiritual gifts. Paul-Timothy studies for
children prepare them to dramatize Bible stories, to recite poems and
verses from Psalms, and to ask questions
The devil whispers in new shepherd’s ears, “Your group is
small, so you do not have to plan well!” Shepherds sin when they fail
to prepare well to lead their flock into the presence of Almighty God.
“Your group is small, so you do not have to plan well! Ha
ha ha!”
When a PTLT study suggests many worship activities,
choose only those that you and your flock need; omit the rest.
Write Your Plans
Which studies have you chosen to use first with your
trainees?
What plans have you made for your next worship time?
What plans have your trainees made for their next worship
times?
Guideline 10
Help Trainees Vary the Ways In which they Teach
Jesus and His apostles used many forms of teaching. Paul
urged all to take part in some way. 1 Corinthians
14:26 reads, “When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a
word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation…” The
Holy Spirit works more powerfully through this kind of active
participation. Paul-Timothy studies describe a variety of learning
activities for the worship time.
Arrange chairs in a circle or half circle, so that all can see
each other.
People learn more when you ask questions and let them
freely discuss the answers.
Do not let one or two persons do all the talking. Respond
like this: “Now, let us listen to someone who has not yet spoken. We
want to everybody who would like to say something to express their
thoughts, give examples or ask questions.”
Do not embarrass people who are shy. If they want to
remain silent, then let them.
In small groups, avoid teaching only by lecturing.
Lecturing requires experience and fits big groups. When new shepherds
lecture, especially if they are young, they often fall into pride; they
scold, become dogmatic and make silly rules.
An effective way to learn Scripture is to read the Bible
dramatically. Most New Shepherd’s studies, and all Children’s studies,
include at least one Bible story that can be read dramatically or acted
out. Let others read and act out, if they are able, the conversations
in the Bible story. For example, a narrator may read the story of the
Wasteful Son (Luke 15:11-32), except for the words that are spoken. Let
others read the words of the father, younger son, older son and
servant.
Let folk present brief dramas. People learn better when
they watch biblical truths being acted out. They learn even more when
they act in the drama themselves.
Bible dramas require no costumes and can take only a few minutes.
Do not present elaborate productions that require
costumes and much rehearsal. So doing would draw attention to the
acting instead of the biblical truth.
When the actors are adults or older children, it is often
better that they do not memorize the dialogue that they will say, but
simply keep in mind the general idea of what to say and do. For
example, when dramatizing the story of the Wasteful Son, the Narrator
may read or summarize the story, then say, “Hear what the wasteful son
says.” Then the wasteful son will read or say his part in his own
words. Two children might play the part of the fattened calf. (Put a
blanket over them, and let them walk around and make soft cattle
noises).
Consider the most influential and often quoted sermon of
all time. After teaching the crowd on the seashore, Jesus climbed a
mountain with His twelve disciples, where there was no pulpit or
chairs. He sat down and held an intimate conversation that came to be
known as the famous Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7).
Write Your Plans
What do you plan to teach when your flock meets next time?
In what ways will you teach in your next worship time, so
that the believers, including children, will participate actively in
presenting God’s Word?
Guideline 11
Commission New Shepherds in a Biblical Way
The biblical way to commission new shepherds is to lay on
hands on them and pray for God’s lasting power.
They should be elder-types who meet the qualifications
listed in 1 Timothy 3:1-7, which include not being a new convert.
They should be proven before commissioning them as permanent
shepherding elders.
Leaders lay hands on new shepherds in a ceremony before a
large gathering.
Some churches have named as shepherds youths who have
learned theology in a Bible college but are not proven and lack the
respect of the community, as Scripture requires.
Bad things result when men add man-made requirements for
new leaders, or fail to follow biblical requirements. Both of these
errors bring misery to God’s people.
Train new leaders, even though they do not yet meet the
biblical requirements for the laying on of hands as formal
commissioning, because they may never meet the requirements without
some kind of training. Under the supervision of a more experienced
leader, such leaders-in-training can shepherd their own families and
small groups of seekers or new believers who join their new
congregations. While still unqualified, such men should not be
recognized formally as official elders, but merely serve as temporary,
provisional shepherds.
Write Your Plans
Who among the new shepherds that you are training might
be ready for formal commissioning?
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