Before we consider, Church Leadership Development. It is worth to see what this leadership development means is in Indian Context?. Raising native church leadership in India is the real needs.
Although the phenomenon of Church leadership is observed in every culture. We shouldn’t think that we can recognize a leader when we see one. There seems to be no universally accepted definition of Leadership. But various definitions are essential to understanding church leadership development.
A)That Church Leadership is a process of influence.
B)That Church Leadership Development involves moving people toward a goal.
Therefore, when we talk about Pastoral Leaders of Indian Church, we must keep in mind the wide diversity. The unique role of Pastor or church leader is to build up the people (II Cor 10:8; 13:10) and to equip them for their various ministers (Eph. 4:11-13).
Such leaders are needed at all levels. Since leadership is a process of Influence, it is useful to employ a classification of leadership based not on formal job titles, or on levels of education, but on the breadth of the sphere of influence. Therefore I would like to propose the following classification for leaders, adapted from a chapter by Dr.Edgar Elliston in Missiological Education for the 21st Century (Orbis, 1996).
Church Leadership – Type 1 (Small Group Leaders): these are leaders of small groups, which include house churches and cell group’s leaders, heads of families, Sunday school teachers and others who have direct, face to face, influence in guiding and encouraging a limited number of people. They would normally be unpaid; volunteer lay workers.
Church Leadership – Type 2 (Self-supporting local supervisors): These are volunteer workers who supervise other volunteer workers in their local area. This category could include self-supporting or tentmaking pastor and missionary, as well as volunteer supervisors of some house churches.
Church Leadership – Type 3 (Full-time Local Leaders): leaders who are devoting most of their time to work on Pastoral leadership. These would include local church pastors, church planters, and missionaries, whether they devote all their time to one congregation, or to a circuit of several congregations in the same locality. Their focus is still considered too limited to a particular region.
Church Leadership – Type 4 (Regional Leaders): Leaders whose influence is felt within a region. The pastoral leader of several missions’ teams, or the district supervisor of some full-time church workers, or the principal of a small Bible institute that serves a particular state. These leaders generally work with local leaders who have the primary face-to-face contact with the people. Sometimes they may also have influence through their writing, but it is limited to their region or local language.
Church Leadership-Type 5 (National Leaders): Leaders who have influence over the entire country, or internationally. They may be pastoral leaders of denomination, or national missions or Christian Organization, or training institutions that draw their students from the whole country. They may influence through policy-making, or writing, or mass media, or speaking at national conferences, in addition to their personal influence on coworkers who have broad responsibilities themselves.
These categories, of course, are mere conveniences. Many ministries and pastors do not fall neatly into a single category. But we can clearly see this typology as a continuum from very small and focused influence to very large authority. Hence the Chruch leadership development needs are quite different for the different levels since all the five types of Pastoral Leaders are very curial for the growth and development of Church in India.
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