According to an NCLS study, there are nearly 1 out of every 4 church leaders in Australia experiencing burnout symptoms. What implications does this have for the church today if many of our leaders are at the point of exhaustion? Jesus said: “the harvest is great, but the workers are few (Matt 9:37).” What happens if the workers burnout? Can we help ease the burden for our leaders and raise up more gospel workers? Where will new workers come from?
Director of Ministry Training Strategy (MTS), Ben Pfahlert shared a vision for discipleship to increase the number of gospel workers. That vision is to recruit and properly train 10,000 ministry apprentices by 2020, with the aim to see 10% of Australians won for Christ by 2020.
Mammoth vision? Yes, but Ben encouraged us that anything can happen between now and 2020. Ben’s inspiration is from the biblical account of God calling Jonah to preach and warn the entire city of Nineveh – where in just three days, the whole city believed God and turned from their evil ways (Jonah 3:1-10).
Ben shared the story of Gordon Cheng who trained Ben as an apprentice. By 2007 Gordon Cheng had trained 27 apprentices, and those apprentices later trained 36 gospel workers. From one person alone there were 63 gospel workers trained.
In 2013, MTS had 250 apprentices actively serving Australia wide.
The MTS solution is to multiply the number of gospel workers by providing solid practical ministry apprenticeships (e.g. in the context of a church setting or at a university campus). An apprenticeship is completed over two years to give the apprentices an opportunity to settle in the ministry environment and sink their teeth into projects. Each apprentice will have a designated trainer who will mentor and supervise them.
The apprentices take part in a six-monthly review process to identify any potential areas of difficulty in ministry. For example one apprentice found that they were physically and mentally exhausted from talking with people for 30 hours during the week, which in turn negatively impacted their home life. As a result of the review process, the MTS trainer was able to help the apprentice identify a practical solution for future gospel work. They encouraged the apprentice to return to their work four days a week and still be able to contribute to gospel ministry work on a part-time basis.
MTS believe that practical ministry exposure and solid Biblical training are vital for helping people to last the long haul in ministry. Once the two year apprenticeship is completed, MTS encourage all apprentices to complete studies at a Bible college.
If you’ve completed a ministry apprenticeship or you have already served in ministry but would like more biblical training, BST offers a variety of courses like the Diploma of Ministry (1 year full-time or up to 4 years part-time) or Bachelor of Ministry (3 years full-time or up to 9 years part-time). The courses are accredited by the Australian College of Theology and are FEE-Help approved for eligible students.
For more information on MTS apprenticeships visit mts.com.au
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