The role of a senior pastor is an important one in the church that comes with many responsibilities. Senior pastors are often asked to preach weekly, manage staff, shepherd the flock, meet with members, spend time in prayer and study, cast vision, attend events, and much more.
With all of these responsibilities, should senior pastors also be asked to lead discipleship groups in the church?
Here at Life on Life Ministries, we would strongly argue that pastors, whether a senior pastor or an assistant pastor, should lead a discipleship group. In fact, our founder and the former senior pastor of Perimeter Church, Randy Pope, had this to say in his book Insourcing (page 177):
If the leadership of our church said to me today, “Randy, you have to choose between continuing in the pastorate as a preacher or discipling men life-on-life. You cannot do both,” I wouldn’t think twice about it. I’d give up the pastorate. That’s not because I don’t love pastoring. I do. But I am keenly aware that discipleship has a greater kingdom impact.
In this article, we will explore five important reasons that pastors should lead discipleship groups in their church. While senior pastors have many demands on their time, by prioritizing discipleship they can equip their people for ministry and see God’s kingdom grow.
True Discipleship Has a Multiplication Effect
One of the primary reasons that Randy would choose discipleship over the pastorate is spiritual multiplication. In Insourcing, he shares this story:
A man once approached me at a conference in Orlando. “You lead so-and-so to Christ and discipled him, right?” he asked.
“That’s right.”
What you probably don’t know is that that man led me to Christ and discipled me. And I discipled a guy named …”
I won’t mention the man’s name, but I will say that most of you reading this would know his name and be aware of his national and global impact. Thousands have been influenced by his preaching, teaching, and leadership. Our discipleship lineage has a far wider reach than anything else we can do for the kingdom.
When discipleship is truly about multiplication, it is not hard to see how quickly it can reach thousands of people. If you simply start by discipling two people who go on to disciple two people each, who go on to disciple two more, you get an exponential effect that can quickly grow beyond our ability to see or understand.
On top of that, not only do you influence the people you disciple, but you also can make a positive impact on the people who are close to them (their families, their co-workers, their neighbors, and so on).
When Randy says he would rather disciple a few men instead of pastor a church with a few thousand people in it, he means it. When you can enable people to do ministry, you help grow God’s kingdom in new places and for future generations.
The Role of the Pastor is to Equip People for Ministry
Scripture uses the title “pastor-teacher” to refer to those gifted to shepherd God’s people with a primary emphasis on teaching. This person is admonished in Scripture to “equip the saints for the work of ministry” (Ephesians 4:12 ESV).
While there are many demands on a pastor’s time, this Scripture places a high priority on equipping the saints for the work of ministry. One of the best ways to equip people for ministry? Leading them in a life-on-life missional discipleship group.
The Greek word translated “to equip” is katartizo and carries the idea of coming alongside as one seeks to arrive at his destiny—not to pull people off the bench and ask them to do jobs. Preaching is obviously an important way that pastors can teach their people, but to truly equip them they need to come alongside them.
In most churches, it is impossible for the senior pastor to have a life-on-life relationship with every member, but if they can invest in a few people in their church and equip them appropriately for ministry, then those few people can in turn invest in others and equip them for ministry.
The Role of the Laity is to Do Ministry
Unfortunately, when it comes to the role of the laity in the church, it has become all too common for people to think that full-time ministers are responsible for the vast majority of ministry. This is not biblical, nor is it practical.
If we expand upon the verse we mentioned earlier, Ephesians 4:11-13 (ESV) says, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ …”
This verse clearly shows that all the saints, all the people of God, are called to do the work of the ministry. When church members are properly equipped, they can then help build up the body of Christ, helping others to reach maturity in Christ.
When a pastor leads a discipleship group, it provides an incredible opportunity to equip people for ministry. When the laity is equipped, they themselves are able to do ministry and can reach far more people in the church (and outside the church) than the pastor could on his own.
When pastors equip their people for ministry, it can even help reduce pastoral burnout. Watch the testimony video from SooSang Park and Yung Kim, two pastors at Revive Church, as they share about the joy they have experienced as pastors because they are seeing positive outcomes and the Great Commission be fulfilled.
Discipleship Provides Opportunity for Strong Relationships
People sometimes ask the question, can pastors be friends with church members?
Pastors often have great pastoral relationships with their members, but meaningful friendships can be harder to cultivate. Some pastors have been taught they should not make friends with church members, and others wonder if it is even possible.
The reality is, everyone needs strong friendships, especially pastors. As churches grow, however, it becomes impossible and unwise for the pastor to have close friendships with everyone.
One solution? Discipleship. Through life-on-life missional discipleship, pastors can build strong relationships with a few of their people. Life-on-life relationships are meant to go deeper, to build each other up and encourage each other. The pastor is called to minister to many people, but going deeper with a few can help him build key relationships and equip others to do ministry.
In John 15:15 (ESV), Jesus says this to His disciples: “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” Jesus lived in a life-on-life relationship with His disciples. They learned from Him, but they also befriended Him and ultimately carried on His ministry after He ascended into heaven.
Jesus Modeled Discipleship
Perhaps the most important reason for senior pastors to lead their own disciple groups is this: Jesus modeled discipleship as the primary path to transform lives.
Have you ever wondered why we have such a small number of recorded sermons from Jesus in the gospels? Preaching is an effective and necessary way for pastors to teach, but it alone is not sufficient for bringing people to maturity in Christ.
Jesus ministered to the masses, but invested deeply in a few. He called us to follow His example. In Matthew 28:18-20 He commissioned His Church to “make disciples,” but unfortunately the methodology of the post-Reformation Church seems to understand this simply as “preach sermons.”
Remember, if we want to be like Jesus then that means more than just imitating His character, it also means we should seek to follow Jesus in our methods of ministry.
Consider the power of transformation if biblical, gospel-driven, Christ-centered preaching was also coupled with intentional life-on-life missional discipleship in our model of ministry. This model led to the explosive growth of the early Church–if it is the preferred model of Jesus, then it should be the preferred method for us today.
Conclusion
We understand why people would question the need or wisdom of a pastor leading their own discipleship group. Modern pastors are asked to do so many different things and reach so many people, it would be easy to consider a small group less important than the entire church.
But when we look to the model of Jesus, we see that discipleship is among the most important work a pastor can do. While it may seem like you limit your reach by investing in only a few, spiritual multiplication shows some very different math. Through leading a discipleship group, pastors can equip their people for ministry, see their people invest in the lives of others, build stronger relationships, and imitate the methods of Jesus.
If you are a pastor or church leader looking to launch a discipleship movement in your church, please check out our discipleship training program. We have worked with pastors and churches all over the world and can help you build a discipleship ministry that transforms lives.