After graduating from theological seminaries, including an overseas seminary, L, a millennial pastor, came back to a rural church in his hometown in East China, carrying out a small group ministry.
Speaking of his burden, he said, "Jesus spent three and a half years training disciples. Not at the level of Jesus, I plan to spend twice the time nurturing the Lord's disciples."
Supporting pastoral care in groups rather than at the altar, he believed that small-group ministry comes from the Bible. He stated, "Not only my church, but all churches should disciple believers in groups."
Having a very little concept of small groups, village Christians thought it was enough for them to gather and that the mission was just the duty of pastors, L added. He thought the church should promote group pastoral care, which could be a system, not merely a get-together. He appealed that it was not enough for churchgoers to attend a gathering.
Having studied many small group courses and different sets of group training courses, L declared that though the Great Commission for the church was the same, the specific circumstances were different for each church.
When learning theology about six or seven years ago, he was moved to conduct the group ministry, starting to make a set of group pastoral care materials himself. Referring to at least 50 books, he grasped every opportunity to seek advice from pastors coming to the seminary from other places, even when walking with them.
Having finished the training materials, he believed that it was very important to train team leaders who could nurture believers well if leaders received pastoral care, otherwise, they had limited ability to train others.
L said he found that many foreign churches had a core team of pastors, district chief pastors, and finally grassroots pastors. But in China, however, apart from the senior pastors, there were often only heads of the groups in the church who were under great pressure to disciple believers.
In this regard, L said that he had been to a Christian organization where many people had the desire to suffer for the Lord. But in his opinion, the biggest problem with that institution was that they lacked the later training for pastors, and in the end, only about two or three out of ten people were left.
Therefore, L believed that it was very important to build a strong pastoral team in the church, but in the domestic church, there were only a pastor and group leaders, or even only a pastor, who should do everything. The best way to do it was that the pastor was only concerned with pastoral work, and the administrative staff was responsible for the administrative work of the church, with the ministry done by the ministry department.
L stated that a good church should have many full-time pastors, though it was not easy to afford them in a Chinese context. But in a church near L’s home, there are only about 70 believers but with three or four full-time pastors.
To transform into a group pastoral ministry in his rural church, the first and most important step was to train the group leaders. L said, "At the beginning, 20 people participated in the group leader training in my church, with 15 left. Now there are three people committed to serving God, one male believer with two female ones.”
With the transformation beginning, his church has to have different groups in the long run, such as groups for seekers, for making disciples, for discipleship, and for teaching basic truth.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
L弟兄是一位95年基层教会传道人，海外等一些神学院毕业后，他回到自己的家乡——在华东某地一所乡村教会全职服事。
说起自己的负担，L弟兄他希望扎根这里七年，用七年的时间帮助这个乡村教会转型成小组牧养的教会，“耶稣当年用了3年半培养门徒，我没有耶稣的水平，所以我想用2倍的时间来在这里做小组培养主的门徒。“
面对传统的讲台牧养，L弟兄说“不行”。L弟兄认为，小组是从圣经中而来的，所以，“不仅是我们教会，而且所有的教会都应该通过小组的方式来做。”其实，许多教会尤其是农村教会很少有小组的概念。
L弟兄说，在农村教会，很多信徒认为教会是传道人的事情，作为平信徒只需要聚聚会就可以了，这样就挺好。但是L弟兄却不这么认为，他认为教会需要要往小组牧养方向转型，小组是一个牧养系统，而不仅仅只是聚会。只是简单地聚聚会这是远远不够的。
L弟兄学习过很多小组方面的课程，接触过至少十多套不同的小组培训的课程。他认为上帝对教会的大使命是一样的，但是具体到每个教会来说，具体情况并不一样，
L弟兄早在6、7年前刚开始读神学的时候，就有带领教会往小组牧养方向转变的感动和念头。因此，从那个时候开始，他就开始着手准备亲自编写一套小组牧养教材。最终，在花费了6、7年的时间，这套小组牧养教材终于做好了。编写教材的时候，L弟兄起码参考了50本书，并抓住一切机会向牧师，传道人请教关于小组牧养方面的问题，没有机会那就努力地创造机会，比如跟对方一起散步。
现在，教材有了，然而如何实施才是最大的难题所在：培训小组组长
L弟兄发现在国外的很多教会里面，会有教牧核心团队，然后区长等等，最后才是基层教牧人员。然而在国内，除了主任牧师之外，常常就只有小组长了。这样的畸形情况就导致了很多的小组长们他们的压力非常大，小组长来牧养信徒，但是小组长自身常常却无法得到牧养。L弟兄认为小组长得到牧养是非常重要的，只有小组长得到很好的牧养之后，他们才能够很好的牧养自己小组的信徒。
对此，L弟兄感慨地说，他曾经去过一家主内机构，很多人都有为传福音而受苦的心志。但是在他看来，那家机构最大的问题是传道人后期的牧养没有跟上，最终能够留下来的人只有大概十之二三左右。
因此，L弟兄认为，在教会里面建立一只强大的教牧团队非常重要。牧师就专门考虑牧养就可以了，行政的同工很好的负责好教会的行政工作，事工由专门的事工部来做。”但是遗憾的是国内的教会其实基本都是一个人什么都做“，L弟兄如此说。
L弟兄认为，好的教会都应该建立强大的教牧团队，全职传道人的数量应该有很多。而现实是，国内教会的牧师和小组长，几乎什么事情都需要自己来做。这些在国内想要实施的话是比较难的，比如很多教会也养不起很多的全职传道人。但是事无绝对，我家附近一个教会，只有70个人左右，但是全职传道人却有3,4个。”
在L弟兄的带领下，教会开始往小组牧养模式转型。第一步也是最重要的一步就是培养小组长，L弟兄说，”刚开始的时候有20个人参加小组长培训，最后还有15个人留了下来。现在有3个人开始兴起来了，一个弟兄两个姊妹。”
然而，在L弟兄的想法当中，转型才刚刚开始——长远来说，一个教会，要有不同的小组，慕道友小组、门训小组、门徒小组、基要班小组等等，转型之路依然任重道远。
特稿|从讲台牧养到小组牧养：一95后传道人带领家乡农村教会牧养转型探索之路
After graduating from theological seminaries, including an overseas seminary, L, a millennial pastor, came back to a rural church in his hometown in East China, carrying out a small group ministry.
Speaking of his burden, he said, "Jesus spent three and a half years training disciples. Not at the level of Jesus, I plan to spend twice the time nurturing the Lord's disciples."
Supporting pastoral care in groups rather than at the altar, he believed that small-group ministry comes from the Bible. He stated, "Not only my church, but all churches should disciple believers in groups."
Having a very little concept of small groups, village Christians thought it was enough for them to gather and that the mission was just the duty of pastors, L added. He thought the church should promote group pastoral care, which could be a system, not merely a get-together. He appealed that it was not enough for churchgoers to attend a gathering.
Having studied many small group courses and different sets of group training courses, L declared that though the Great Commission for the church was the same, the specific circumstances were different for each church.
When learning theology about six or seven years ago, he was moved to conduct the group ministry, starting to make a set of group pastoral care materials himself. Referring to at least 50 books, he grasped every opportunity to seek advice from pastors coming to the seminary from other places, even when walking with them.
Having finished the training materials, he believed that it was very important to train team leaders who could nurture believers well if leaders received pastoral care, otherwise, they had limited ability to train others.
L said he found that many foreign churches had a core team of pastors, district chief pastors, and finally grassroots pastors. But in China, however, apart from the senior pastors, there were often only heads of the groups in the church who were under great pressure to disciple believers.
In this regard, L said that he had been to a Christian organization where many people had the desire to suffer for the Lord. But in his opinion, the biggest problem with that institution was that they lacked the later training for pastors, and in the end, only about two or three out of ten people were left.
Therefore, L believed that it was very important to build a strong pastoral team in the church, but in the domestic church, there were only a pastor and group leaders, or even only a pastor, who should do everything. The best way to do it was that the pastor was only concerned with pastoral work, and the administrative staff was responsible for the administrative work of the church, with the ministry done by the ministry department.
L stated that a good church should have many full-time pastors, though it was not easy to afford them in a Chinese context. But in a church near L’s home, there are only about 70 believers but with three or four full-time pastors.
To transform into a group pastoral ministry in his rural church, the first and most important step was to train the group leaders. L said, "At the beginning, 20 people participated in the group leader training in my church, with 15 left. Now there are three people committed to serving God, one male believer with two female ones.”
With the transformation beginning, his church has to have different groups in the long run, such as groups for seekers, for making disciples, for discipleship, and for teaching basic truth.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
Millennial Pastor Leads Hometown Rural Church to Small-Group Ministry
