What is the pastor’s primary job? There are many things pastors are expected to do, but I believe their primary job is equipping the saints. Without equipping the saints, the pastor eventually has to do everything himself. Someone once said that there are as many as 46 jobs for pastors to do—from opening the church door to closing it.
But a pastor can personally do only a few things, such as preaching, administering the sacraments, administration, and leadership. Many other areas of ministry can and should be done by laypeople.
Which is more effective and productive: one pastor doing everything, or one pastor working together with ninety-nine laypeople?
I once preached at a church in Nagaland, India, on the topic “1 + 99.” Of course, I meant one pastor working with ninety-nine laypeople. Which is more effective? One person doing the work alone, or ninety-nine people serving together with the pastor? Of course, the latter is far more effective.
We all understand this simple calculation, but we often do not practice it because we think it is merely mathematics. Is it only mathematics? No. It is a ministry principle, and it is true.
Equipping and Re-Equipping
In PACE Ministry, lay pastors need to be equipped to carry out their ministry. Without proper equipping, the ministry cannot happen effectively. But there is another important issue that many pastors overlook: re-equipping.
Most pastors understand the importance of equipping at the beginning. When they start a new ministry, they prepare people, train them, and try to equip them well. But they often do not understand how important re-equipping is.
Yes, the initial training may have been excellent. But that is only the beginning. Once the ministry starts, the pastor needs to change from a start-up system to a maintenance and development system.
It is like the difference between a wedding and a marriage. A wedding ceremony may take only a few hours, but marriage is for a lifetime. Starting something is one thing; maintaining and developing it is another.
For example, we prepared for many months to start PACE International Seminary in Nagaland, India. We had an opening ceremony, people gathered for worship, and the event was completed within a few hours. Then everyone went home. But the real work of the school began after the opening ceremony. From that point on, we had to shift our attention from starting the school to maintaining and developing it.
The same principle applies to every ministry. After starting a ministry, we must continue to re-equip the people who are serving in it.
Why Do We Need Re-Equipping?
Once people have learned something in the beginning, they are usually not satisfied with the same knowledge forever. They naturally want to learn more, grow, and upgrade their understanding.
Think about our education. We study many new things in school, and when we first learn them, they can be exciting and even surprising. But after we graduate, we do not simply continue studying the same material forever. We want new knowledge, new ideas, and deeper understanding.
Lay pastors are the same. Basic equipping gives them a foundation, but they soon need something more. They need new ideas, fresh insights, encouragement, reflection, and deeper skills.
This is where many pastors fail. They think, “I have trained them. Now they know what to do. The rest is their responsibility.” So they leave the lay pastors alone and neglect the ministry of re-equipping.
As a result, the ministry may start very well, but it can “die in the water” soon afterward.
Dr. Melvin’s Example
This is why Dr. Melvin J. Steinbron developed various resources for re-equipping. Among them were his 13 monographs, Dynamite Meetings, and 22 Essays. He also continued to write new ideas and insights in the LPMI USA Network News for many years.
Why did he continue doing this?
Because he understood an important principle:
One-time equipping is not enough.
People need continuous development. A ministry that is equipped only at the beginning may start strongly, but without continuing re-equipping, it will eventually become weak or lose its meaning.
Therefore, the pastor’s responsibility is not finished when the training is finished. In many ways, that is when another important responsibility begins.
Equipping starts the ministry; re-equipping sustains and develops the ministry.
The pastor’s primary role is not to do everything. It is to equip the saints so that they can do the work of ministry—and then continue to re-equip them so that they can grow, serve, and remain effective.