If you are a a parent, a Church leader, or someone in a leadership position then you have a responsibility to encourage and equip others.  You may wonder, "How do I go about it?"  It can seem so confusing; new training methods seem to be emerging every day instructing you how to do it better.  It’s especially confusing when the "successful methodologies" conflict in their advice. It’s no wonder that Church leaders and parents may be confused.  It’s been said, "Methods are many, principles are few, methods often change, principles never do."

We need to get beyond specific methodologies and discover the underlying principles involved.  Our training needs to be based upon unchanging principles realizing that although the form may change, the function remains the same.    What are principles from the life of Christ that made Him such an effective trainer?  The specific methods Jesus used may not be appropriate to our cultural context, but the underlying principles can guide us to being more effective in training others.

We see that Jesus started with men — not with programs.  E.M. Bounds, in his classic book Power Through Prayer, says, "Men are God’s method.  The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men."  Let’s examine the principles Jesus used as He trained the twelve disciples.  First, He started by invitation, He called men to follow Him.  I wonder if one of the reasons why Churches are not as effective as they could be is because the leaders are not taking the initiative to train others.  It starts with the leader.

When someone invites us along it makes us feel special.  I think of the apostle Andrew and his friend who were disciples of John the Baptist.  One day they were with John, perhaps looking for some honey and wild locusts to eat.  John sees a man walking by and exclaims, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).  These men don’t know a lot about Jesus, this is before the day of televangelism, cassette tapes, and book tours.  They simply heard Him speak and became intrigued with Him.  They called Jesus Rabbi, which means teacher, and then asked Him where He was staying.  Jesus invited them by saying, "Come, and you will see."  Later He said similar words to Philip, "Follow Me." 

If you want to effectively encourage and equip others, then you must invite them along.  This implies that you are going in the right direction.  Are you following Jesus?  Jesus invites us along as he says, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men" (Mark 1:17).  May we be good examples as we encourage and equip others.