Training Spirit-Filled Local Church Leaders for the Twenty-First Century

Book excerpt: Who decides what your church (local or denominational) will look like twenty-five or thirty years from now? How can you ensure that your church will continue to fulfill its God-given purpose in the next generation? What can be done now to reverse negative trends in ministry such as pastoral burnout? Much of the answer to these questions about pastors and other local church leaders is tied to the training they receive. Training Spirit-Filled Local Church Leaders for the Twenty-First Century encourages all stakeholders in ministry training--educators, pastors and other local church leaders, church members, and those who sense God is calling them to ministry--to prayerfully consider the foundational issues that determine the effectiveness and relevance of a ministry training program. These foundational issues are: -What is the local church, really? -What is spiritual leadership? -What is ministry training? -What is the role of the Holy Spirit in all this? -What did effective training look like in the past, and what might it look like in the twenty-first century?