Equipping of the Saints

Ephesians 4:11-12

11 The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ
The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. 1996, c1989 . Thomas Nelson: Nashville

I'm reading The Seven Laws of the Learner by Bruce Wilkenson. I'm on the chapter on Equipping. This book has been revolutionary for me and my ministry. I have been teaching youth Bible Study for a while, and recently was asked to teach the Primary class in Church School. This book has totally changed the way I look at teaching. It made me realize that I am responsible for learning to occur... right now I'm reading the law of Equipping. God created teachers to equip the saints, or believers. It is our job to get them ready to go out and make disciples. How can we make disciples if we have never been discipled? How can we go tell a dying world about the goodness of Jesus if we have never experienced him for ourselves?

I am having so much fun teaching the Primaries... When I first started teaching, I was not given a teaching manual and was not given any direction as to what I was supposed to be doing and how to go about doing it. I am a process person. I'm a nurse. I have been taught the Nursing process and it is a part of me. I go through this process whenever I do anything, whether it is nursing or not.
I assess, diagnose, plan, implement and evaluate on a constant basis. When this is out of order, I don't do very well. ((Often trying to do things by myself, without God's help.))

When I didn't have a teacher training, I kinda freaked... I got through the class, but I don't know what the kids got out of it. Then I started reading this book... boy was I convicted...

Anyway, my pastor always tells me that my job is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. It's not my job to do everything. It's my job to give people what they need so that they can do ministry... I can't keep my knowledge to myself...
Just a little bit to chew on...