Int’l (MNN) – Around the world, thousands of people come to Christ every day. The only problem is, believers are often thrust into leadership positions before they’re ready.
(Photo courtesy of Biblica)
That’s the problem Biblica is addressing through its Equipping Leaders program.
“I think for many people here in America and the West, they don’t understand that for the vast majority of Christian leaders, pastors, ministry leaders, evangelists, they don’t have access to quality theological training,” says Carl Moeller with Biblica, an organization dedicated to increasing access to Scripture around the world. “In particular, many of them aren’t even really equipped adequately to read, interpret, and understand the Bible so they can teach it to others.
“What we do is we provide basic training on how to develop a scriptural lifestyle, basic training on [how] to use the Bible, how to use it while preaching. We teach evangelists and pastors how to disciple people in personal Bible study and Scripture memorization.”
Moeller says Biblica officially began the Equipping Leaders program about eight years ago. Biblica currently has some form of this program in 60 countries throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
“This year, we hope to train 50,000 pastors,” Moeller says. “Knowing that each pastor represents roughly, on our calculation, about 100-200 people– that’s going to equate to about 10 million people impacted by the effect of Equipping Leaders, training pastors all across Africa alone. We’re doing this in China and Latin America as well.”
(Photo courtesy of Biblica)
This program has the potential for widespread, long-term impact. But in order for it to truly be sustainable, Moeller says Biblica needs support from those passionate about the Church.
“Most of these pastors that we train are too poor for seminary,” Moeller says. “So we provide them their Bibles, their study Bibles, and their other materials, and we also provide them with the training. Sometimes it’s a weekend seminar, sometimes it’s a week.
“We really rely on people in America and in Europe and other places where we do have the resources to share to equip these pastors with the Bibles they need and the training they need to lead their churches effectively.”
Interested in how you can help the churches thrive around the world? You can learn more about Biblica’s Equipping Leadership initiative by clicking here. If you would like to support Biblica’s work financially, click here.
