Mere Missions

T he H oly S pirit : E mpower • 93

Another practical insight, and a word of encouragement, for church planters and those identifying (accessing) those who are called into missions, is the ability to teach sound, clear doctrine. There is a difference between preaching and teaching. My observation and experience have been that the Church’s emphasis is on preaching. The more eloquent, creative, dynamic one is in preaching a sermon, the conclusion in many cases is, they are called to church planting. A dynamic preacher is good but what is better and needed is one who can teach and defend sound doctrine. Here’s why: 1. When assessing an elder, one of the requirements is the ability to teach (2 Tim. 2.24; 1 Tim. 3.2). There is nothing wrong with wanting to be creative and eloquent in teaching, but teaching is about the communication of facts, i.e. sound doctrine. Titus 1.9 makes it very clear, “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.” 2. The Apostle Paul himself was not eloquent in speech – “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom” (1 Cor. 2.1). In fact he was fearful and trembling when he came to speak in Corinth – “And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling” (v. 3). Would the Apostle to the Gentiles, the planter of many churches, pass some of our church planting assessment centers due to his fear, trembling, and lack of lofty speech? Would he fit the unfortunate mold of what many are looking for in their planters and pastors? We must change our assessment from the pressure of preaching a 5-7 dynamic sermon at our church planting assessment centers to the assessing of our church planters’ ability to teach in sound doctrine.