Ephesians 4: Every Church Can Train the Next Generation

Introduction

Cornhill Scotland is turning twenty. To mark the occasion, a two-part interview looks back at training for expository Bible ministry. After a first part on core convictions, this second part gets practical, with Willie Philip, pastor of The Tron Church, and Andy Gemmill of Cornhill Scotland.

What does good training look like? How can a local church train those who will serve tomorrow when it has neither a large team nor a big budget? And what if you are asking yourself whether this path is for you?

The common thread is simple: raising up the next generation is not reserved for large, wealthy churches. The Lord gave his church pastors and teachers to equip the saints (Ephesians 4:11-12), and every church can do this.

Message Outline

1. Cornhill: Learning to Read Well and Teach Well

• The Cornhill course runs four days a week, but most students take it two days a week over two years. Andy prefers that: "Those who did it in four days don't look great by Thursday afternoon."
• This rhythm balances school and church. Many are trainees in their congregation for the rest of the week, while others work to fund their studies. What they learn in class, they put into practice right away.
• The heart of the course is "teaching practice": each student prepares a message, gives it in front of classmates, and receives feedback from them and from the trainers. It is "by far the scariest part of Cornhill," and yet, at the end, students rate it as the best part of the course.
• Around this core: an overview of the whole Bible, themes traced from one end of Scripture to the other, the different genres (the Pentateuch, the law, narratives, the Gospels, the epistles), and 44 books of the Bible studied to varying depths.
• Added to this are a little systematic theology, plenty of preaching practice, and a module on pastoral ministry as a whole.

2. The Pastors' Course: Learning for Life

• The Pastor's Training Course (PTC) lasts three years, or four with a diploma. If Cornhill teaches you to read the Bible and communicate it, the PTC teaches you to think theologically.
• Six major doctrinal blocks: God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, salvation, the last things, and ethics. The aim is not to accumulate information, but to think through and pass on these truths so as to preach better and lead the ministry better.
• Participants meet one day every two weeks and are engaged in ministry the rest of the time. It is demanding, but it builds the habit of learning while serving, which matters for long-term pastoral health: some stop learning once they are in ministry and end up bored.
• The speakers sum it up with three Cs: the Core (Cornhill), Consolidation (the PTC), and Continuity of learning, lived out with a group of brothers.
• Leaving Cornhill, you think there is far more in the Bible than you imagined. At the end of the PTC, you think: "Now I know just a little how much I don't know." Andy sees this as an excellent result: "If you keep learning, you will always have something to teach."

3. Training Within the Local Church

• At The Tron Church, Willie Philip set up ministry apprentices, then "ministers in training" for those who go further. The form always depends on the church you are in.
• A large church offers specialized ministries, such as welcoming international students. A small church with a single pastor offers a broader, more general experience. Each situation has its strengths and limits.
• At first, nobody understood what an apprentice was. But as the church saw the first ones progress, it became enthusiastic. The PTC was born from a question asked by former apprentices: "What do we do next?" Andy joined the adventure in 2011.
• The path increases responsibility gradually: experience, mentoring, help, then more responsibility in the second year, and much more in the rest of the training, always under supervision.
• Three profiles benefit: adults with professional experience who want to test a calling, recent graduates who want biblical training even if they expect to become teachers or engineers, and energetic young retirees, affectionately nicknamed "the fathers of the class."

4. Church Size Is Not an Obstacle

• In Scotland, one idea is going around: training servants is a job for large churches with people and money. Andy has heard people say: "We couldn't run a training program, we can't afford to hire a trainer." His answer: "That is simply untrue."
• "What you absolutely need is a pastor who is happy to show someone else what he does, to share his life with him, and to spend a little time with him." No need for a formal framework or a thousand options.
• Many pastors lack confidence and think they have little to offer. But "the Lord uses insecure, incomplete people wonderfully to train others." You can learn a lot from a man devoted to the gospel who does his best where he is, and a sensible person will at least learn, with humor, how not to do things.
• "I can only teach you to do things the way I do them." Take what is useful, and do the opposite of the rest. Nobody needs to have all the answers.
• Most thriving churches have between 50 and 120 people. A young person serving in a large church often thinks: "I could never do that." So Cornhill encourages its students to spend a week in a small church. They come back realizing they could know and serve a group of 30, 40, or 50 people.
• Conversely, training in a team shows that most people find their most fruitful place in a team, because "none of us is competent at everything." Even a pastor who is the only paid staff member has every reason to learn to build teams in order to equip all the saints.

5. Money Follows Conviction

• On the church's side, two things are essential: a pastor ready to share his life with someone, and a congregation ready for its pastor to devote time to it.
• The second can meet resistance at first: letting others preach is not always well received. But when the congregation sees people growing, it changes its mind. In one church, a few years after launch, the budget became very tight, and the one thing the congregation refused to cut was the apprenticeship.
• The real question is not "can we afford to do it?" but "can we afford not to do it?" "Almost always, money follows conviction." Conviction does not come from the bank balance; it comes from the certainty that something is true and must be done.
• The role of leadership is to discern what is right, then persuade people. "Once they are persuaded, they pay."
• Start-up help from other churches can help launch the project. But grants have a downside: they make people think someone else will pay. Hence the principle: "We'll help you get started, but after that, it's up to you to take over."
• Training the next generation "is not optional, it is absolutely essential"; it is "a ministry imperative." Taking Bible teaching seriously also means raising up others to teach it. "It is not someone else's job."

6. An Ecosystem Between Small and Large Churches

• Responsibility rests on all churches, but in different ways. A large urban church that sees many students and young professionals pass through has a particular responsibility: if you have the people, you must do it.
• Other churches do not have these people, but they can pray and sometimes give financially. The question is not only "where will our next pastor come from?" but "where will all the next pastors come from?", for the neighboring church and the one in the next town.
• Many young people grow up in small churches, go off to university, and are strengthened in their faith there, or even come to faith there. Often, the loop does not close back toward the small churches.
• One example: a small church in Cumbria kept in touch with one of its young people who went to study in Newcastle. He probably did an apprenticeship there, then came back to serve in his home church. Today, he is planting the church that this congregation had long had on its heart in the neighboring town. It agreed to lose him in order to perhaps find him again.
• With generosity on the part of large churches and a link maintained on the part of small ones, these comings and goings could multiply.
• Small churches do send students to Cornhill, including a church plant about five years old that sent two trainees this year. "It is possible." The pastor must be convinced, then convince his congregation.

7. What If It Were You?

• First step: get involved in serving in your church. Servants do not appear out of nowhere, and the best place to learn is the church.
• If a leader asks you whether you have thought about going further, listen. Personal conviction is necessary to last over the long term, but "God's call comes through God's church, God's people," who recognize the gifts and abilities you have received.
• Cornhill offers entry points: a "book in a day," "His Word in My Hands" Saturdays a few times a year, and a summer school of a few days. Talk to your leaders: "I'm interested, I don't know if I'm cut out for it. What do you advise?"
• It is not all or nothing. Many finished Cornhill realizing that their path was not full-time paid ministry. They serve as youth leaders or in other ministries, while working or in retirement. "Nobody would call that a failure. It is a real success."
• Scotland needs hundreds of new pastors, and not all of them can be paid. Servants who fund their own part-time ministry are precious. Andy, a former doctor, notes that even medicine is now practiced much more part-time: anesthetists who come to Cornhill say that many of their colleagues already work at 80%.
• For a church that does not yet train, the first step is to build conviction: it is not a "we can," it is a "we must." "If I may be a bit blunt: start believing the Bible."
• The speakers even suggest using the word "training" less, since it makes people think of an activity for specialists. "It is simply making disciples," helping everyone develop the gifts the Lord has given his church. It is not reserved for an elite: every church can do it.
• To close, Andy rejoices to see students arrive nervous and scattered, then two years later teach in a way that is "convincing, gripping, and pastorally wise." Willie Philip gives thanks: that Cornhill is still here, faithful to its original mission, "is a miracle of God." He rejoices to listen today to preachers trained through this path, and to learn from them.

Key Takeaways

• Raising up the next generation is not reserved for large churches: first you need a pastor ready to share his life with someone.
• The Lord uses imperfect, unsure pastors to train other servants.
• Money follows conviction: the question is whether the church can afford not to train.
• Small and large churches share a common responsibility for all the next pastors.
• God's call is discerned within the church, by serving, and training that does not lead to paid ministry is never a failure.

Personal Application

1. In your church, whom could you mentor by simply sharing what you do and a bit of your life?
2. Do you think raising up the next generation is someone else's business? What would change if you saw it as an imperative?
3. If you already serve, has anyone ever asked whether you had thought about going further? Have you taken the time to talk about it with your leaders?
4. Are you still learning, so that you always have something to pass on?
5. How could your church support, through prayer or its resources, the training of servants for churches other than your own?

Verses Cited

• Ephesians 4:11-12

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you need a training program to train servants in your church?

No. For Andy Gemmill and Willie Philip, what a church absolutely needs is a pastor who is happy to show someone what he does and share his life with him, and a congregation that accepts that its pastor devotes time to this. It does not have to be formal or sophisticated to be useful.

How can a small church fund the training of the next generation?

Almost always, money follows conviction. The pastor must first be convinced that the training should happen, then convince the congregation. Start-up help from other churches can launch the project, as long as the local church then takes it over.

How do I know if I should train for ministry?

Start by serving in your church. If a leader asks whether you have thought about going further, listen: God's call comes through God's church, which recognizes the gifts you have received. Talk to your leaders, do what you can where you are, and test things step by step.