Always a trainer, always a trainee
Sarah Ferguson, apprentice at Moorlands Evangelical Church, Lancaster, gives us her thoughts on her apprenticeship and the recent 9:38 conferences.
At a training event at church recently we were introduced to the phrase, “always a trainer, always a trainee” – I thought that that was an almost perfect way to describe being a ministry apprentice! I have been working as an apprentice since last September and have certainly experienced training from both sides. I am working as an apprentice with Moorlands Evangelical Church in Lancaster which was planted around 3 years ago so is quite a young church. This means that as an apprentice there are many opportunities to be involved in planning and setting up new ministries; which is both exciting and challenging! Starting new things can be a daunting and scary prospect, but it causes us to remember more than ever our total dependence on God to work powerfully through His Word. The growth we have seen here, both numerically and spiritually, has all come about through faithful teaching of the Word and this has been a great encouragement and the best part of the job so far.
So what does it involve? Essentially the role I have an as apprentice is that of a trainee; I am here to be taught and trained in gospel ministry. This training happens through some formal Bible training at the North West Partnership Ministry Training Course, but then more practically through the teaching and training of others in church. I spend my most of my time working alongside students, reading the Bible one to one with them and helping to equip them for their evangelism on the university campuses. As I help to train others from God’s Word, I am learning, growing, being challenged and (hopefully!) becoming better equipped in the ministry of the Word myself – I am being trained through the training of others.
At the recent 9:38 conferences, I was again able to experience the twofold effect of training – both as a leader on the student conference and then as a ‘punter’ on the apprentice conference. The student conference provided a great reminder, to both me and our students, that as Christians we are all gospel ministers. We are all called to live out our lives in service and we were challenged to think about not whether we should do full time ministry but how we should spend our lives as gospel ministers. The conference was also a brilliant opportunity to help students who are thinking that this service might be in the form of full-time Word ministry. The talks were extremely helpful to our students in thinking through practically and biblically whether Word ministry was for them and the seminars were brilliant for thinking through specific issues related to ministry.
Attending the apprentice conference as a ‘punter’ was a different experience but the same in terms of great and challenging Bible teaching. It’s essential for me to keep learning and growing through God’s Word in order to serve others well, and the apprentice conference provided a concentrated time of teaching and training which was really helpful for this. The talks about the sufficiency of scripture for everything (the Bible is like a Swiss army knife!) were a huge reminder that what we do is really all God’s work; we are simply the vessels that God, in his grace, chooses to carry out His work. Remembering that the Bible is all we need for our ministry and that it is totally sufficient to achieve God’s purpose of growing His kingdom, was a huge help as I considered my own ministry. Also being surrounded by older, more mature Christians who could help and advise about future Word ministry was really useful.
So as we all strive to grow and encourage each other more into the likeness of Christ, we can all have a role as both a trainer and a trainee and we can share in the great mission of furthering God’s kingdom through the faithful ministering of His Word – what a privilege!