A senior pastor serving in a city church in East China shared two insights regarding service: involving the staff during visitation ministry and leading by personal example.
Pastor Gao often visits believers' homes but always takes at least one staff worker along.
He stated that this allowed church workers to practically learn how to care for Christians. In their church, several staff workers are young and inexperienced. To expedite their growth, the senior pastor decided to adopt a mentorship approach of "experienced guiding the inexperienced." This model aligns with the historical Chinese "mentorship" to train newcomers.
The pastor noted the unique nature of training pastoral workers, who frequently engage with people. The purpose of the visit is fulfilled if the pastor goes alone, but young ones can observe and accumulate experience for future visits if they follow him to do visitation ministry.
Furthermore, pastors can demonstrate their significant accomplishments to others instead of working in isolation.
"Some people not only refrain from serving but also enjoy gossiping. Pastors are particularly targeted by such gossip," he said. "Gossipers might say they don't know what pastors do all day and claim pastors take money without working hard enough." These issues clearly distressed him. "To stop those who gossip, it is the best method to encourage them to engage in activities. Sometimes, letting them see our service can shut the mouths of those who criticize," he added.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
作为教会领袖和牧者、华东某地一所城市教会服事的高牧师分享了两个服事智慧。
高牧师说，作为牧者，他常常需要去信徒家里探访。不过他至少会带一个同工一同前往。
他认为这样做的话，同工能够实际地学习怎么探访。原来，在他们的教会里面，好几名同工都非常年轻，没有经验。为了让他们更快地成长起来，高牧师因此决定采用“以老带新”的培养方法。其实，在过去的时代，中国人一直在使用“师徒制”的模式来培养新人。
高牧师发现教牧同工的培养有其特殊性——教牧同工是需要常常跟人打交道的。如果牧者自己去探访信徒的话，那么探访的目的是完全可以达到的，而牧者带着同工一起探访信徒，年轻同工可以在一旁仔细学习和观摩，为自己之后的探访服事积累经验。
另外，这也能够让同工和信徒知道牧者确实做了很多事情，而不是闷着头，天天一个人做事情。
“有的人不但自己不参与服事，而是还喜欢整天说别人的闲话，牧者更是这些人闲话的重灾区。他们可能会说不知道牧者整天在做什么，会说牧者拿着钱却没有好好干活，或者是干得不够……”说起这些问题，很显然让他也很苦恼，“想要堵住这种喜欢说别人闲话的人的嘴巴的话，最好的方法就是鼓励他们去做事情。而且有时候也需要让别人看到和见证自己的服事，这样至少可以堵住那些给别人挑刺的人的嘴巴。”
牧者：探访带同工培养新人，让别人看到自己的服侍/探索|华东一牧者分享服事时的二点智慧 ：走出只是一个人闷头做事的困境
A senior pastor serving in a city church in East China shared two insights regarding service: involving the staff during visitation ministry and leading by personal example.
Pastor Gao often visits believers' homes but always takes at least one staff worker along.
He stated that this allowed church workers to practically learn how to care for Christians. In their church, several staff workers are young and inexperienced. To expedite their growth, the senior pastor decided to adopt a mentorship approach of "experienced guiding the inexperienced." This model aligns with the historical Chinese "mentorship" to train newcomers.
The pastor noted the unique nature of training pastoral workers, who frequently engage with people. The purpose of the visit is fulfilled if the pastor goes alone, but young ones can observe and accumulate experience for future visits if they follow him to do visitation ministry.
Furthermore, pastors can demonstrate their significant accomplishments to others instead of working in isolation.
"Some people not only refrain from serving but also enjoy gossiping. Pastors are particularly targeted by such gossip," he said. "Gossipers might say they don't know what pastors do all day and claim pastors take money without working hard enough." These issues clearly distressed him. "To stop those who gossip, it is the best method to encourage them to engage in activities. Sometimes, letting them see our service can shut the mouths of those who criticize," he added.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
Train Young Workers While Visiting Believers Together
