MTS (Ministry Training Strategy) seeks to multiply gospel workers through ministry apprenticeships to win the world for Christ. 

We interviewed James Hoey (Director of Partnerships) and Clare Merkel (Partnership Developer).

Can you tell us how Australia compares to the rest of the world in training gospel workers?

We see dwindling church numbers, empty parishes, diminishing staff resources, increasing migration – we are very focussed on the needs we’re not meeting in our own backyard.

We tend to see ourselves as under-resourced in Australia. But actually, on a global scale, we are exceptionally well-equipped – especially when it comes to training and equipping new workers for gospel mission.

We have some of the best theological colleges and best ministry training schemes in the world.

We need to ‘climb the back fence’ and look out over the expanse of God’s global mission field – fields that are ripe for the harvest, but begging for workers.

We need to ask ourselves the question – if we don’t send out global harvest workers, who will?

Do pastors in Australia want to train people?

A lot of ministry workers don’t actually think that training is part of their job – or if they do, they’re not doing it!

One in two pastors said that training people for ministry and mission shouldn’t be one of their main roles (2021 National Church Life Survey of senior ministry staff in mainstream Protestant churches in Australia).

(Data: https://www.ncls.org.au/articles/gap-between-aspiration-and-actually-developing-new-leaders/)

These are worrying statistics. Training others shouldn’t be an add-on, it should be core to the identity of a gospel worker.

If we go back to the Great Commission, Jesus didn’t just say to make believers, but to make disciples.

The gospel really began to spread when Peter and Paul began to identify and train new leaders, such as Timothy, whom they knew they could entrust with the gospel.

You can’t separate telling people the gospel from training them how to do the same.

What do you think stops pastors from training the next generation of gospel workers?

Pastors might hesitate to approach young people because they know that ministry is such a challenging field to be in.

They hesitate because of funding concerns. They hesitate because they don’t know how to structure training, or how to sort out the administration required to set it up.

We also hear people saying that training others is inefficient – well, that’s how it seems in the short term!

Gospel workers get stuck in the ‘seven-day cycle’ – just needing to get this sermon done, these prayers written, this item ready for Sunday. 

They can struggle to see that whilst training people uses some of their valuable time, the net gain from having more workers for the harvest is so much greater.

Perhaps they feel that when they invest the time to train others, those workers just move on to other churches or other mission fields anyway, so there’s no efficiency gain.

That comes back to shifting the perspective from our own backyard to the global harvest. That capacity isn’t lost, it’s a great gain for God’s global mission.

What we need senior gospel workers to do is not get too focussed on the barriers, but to trust in the sovereignty of God, and identify future workers for the harvest. If they are willing to do that, MTS can help with the practicalities!

Do you have one tip for future trainers?

Pray – ask the Lord of the harvest to raise up men and women from within their church, to send out into his harvest field (Matthew 9:38).

What advice would you give to senior leaders looking to identify apprentices?

When looking at who could be suitable, we always want to come back to our three keywords – character, conviction, and competency. That’s what matters most – not someone’s age or demographic.

There is a real danger that we can be too focussed on recruiting a narrow bracket of 20-28 year olds.

The reality is that God is calling all of us to participate in his mission, and it’s a great blessing to have gospel workers from many different ages and stages of life. 

Someone in our team recently launched a training program called ‘Prime Time’ for people aged 45 and over.

What about Christians who are at the end of their working life? Could they do an apprenticeship at church, and be trained in preaching or pastoral ministry?

If we’re willing to be more flexible in our approach, we’ll realise that there is a whole host of potential gospel workers waiting to be raised up for God’s harvest.

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MTS helps churches set up ministry training programs. They can help churches develop a personal vision for training, identify funding models, develop recruiting and training strategies, and provide support for administrative issues.

MTS have systems and structures they can introduce to support both the trainer and the apprentice, so that everyone – including the church – is blessed by the experience. Reach out to MTS for more info.