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MEMORIZE THIS STATEMENT: God has not given us more things to do in a day than He has given us the time to get it done.

I served as Academic Dean at a Bible college in South Africa. I told the students at the beginning of each year if they felt a teacher was giving them more to do than was expected they could come to me to complain. The only provision was that I would ask them to show me proof for how they spent their time during the week. In nine years I heard much grumbling, but not one student ever came to me with their accusation. This either meant that no teacher was giving too much work (which I don’t believe), or the struggling students were not using their time well. Which do you think was the case?

Time is the most precious commodity God has given to us, and it is not renewable! Once it is gone you can never make up for lost time. No one has more, or less, time than you do. You have 1440 minutes per day and 168 hours each week in which to offer faithful service. Even Jesus had the same amount of hours in His day, but think about the ways He invested that time. Peter said to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18). Growth takes place over time. Your personal growth, or lack of it, is dependent upon the best use of your time. Time will not wait for you; it will simply pass you by.

We will be held accountable for the way we use our time. Paul says, Make the best possible use of your time (Col. 4:5, Phillips’ paraphrase), and, Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil (Eph.5:15). Jesus tells us, We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over (John 9:4, The Message). God promised to supply our every need: Is time not one?

Sermons are often preached on the stewardship of wealth and possessions. Far fewer sermons are heard that hold us accountable for the use of our talents. Fewer still, if any, are ever heard concerning the stewardship of our time.

Where do you begin?

Set Goals -Decide what you want to accomplish. Or better, what God wants you to accomplish.

Prioritize – Take your list of goals and order them according to importance.

Plan – Develop strategies for how you will reach each goal.

Schedule -Set a date by which you will check your progress. Also set a date by which you hope to fulfill each goal.

Set a goal to set your goals – The most effective leaders set aside time at least weekly to lay out what they want to accomplish that week. One thing they have in common is the confirmed belief that the more time they spend planning, the less time they have to spend implementing. They argue that it is 90% inspiration and 10% perspiration. It may sound strange, but once you try it you too will become a believer.

Tithe – We often hear about tithing our money, but have you ever realized that we should also tithe our time? There are 168 hours each week. Do you give God at least 10% of your time?

If we agree that all good things are from God, and that He never asks us to do more than He has given the time to get it done, then time management is really managing His time!

God’s sixth commandment could read, “Thou shalt not kill time.”

To answer this question we need to go back and define what parts of the church involve Christian Education. The answer: everything the church does is Christian Education! Unless we clearly understand this principle true discipleship will not happen. With this understanding we can begin to comprehend what Paul meant when he said the job of the pastor (and note he really says pastor/teacher) is NOT to do the work of the ministry, but to EQUIP the members of his church to do it. This is discipleship – getting all the church operating according to the gifts given to them by the Holy Spirit.

To equip the church means that we are taking deliberate steps to train the people to do all, and more, than we were taught in seminary. One man cannot train everyone. Jesus trained only 12 (in reality three). But think about this – if a pastor trains three elders to do certain aspects of ministry, then he has multiplied what he would have done on his own. Each teaching and ruling elder has certain gifts to be used for the benefit of the church, therefore, if each elder was tasked with training three others with those same gifts we begin to see the multiplication of disciples take place as Jesus intended.

Training more teachers: One of the really sad facts about seminary training is that we get a great deal of training in how to preach, but little, if any, in how to teach. Yet how much more time do we spend teaching than preaching? Therefore, if the leadership does not have anyone who is gifted and trained to teach others to teach, then the church needs to bring in help, such as CE&P’s Regional Trainers.

Jesus did not say to go and preach the Gospel, he said to make disciples, of which preaching is only a part. The process of making disciples takes a lot more than simply listening to a sermon – it takes training, and that training means coming along side those saints we are equipping for works of ministry.

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What I have said here is nothing new or earth-shaking, but it is often forgotten by the pastor who is so busy doing the work of the ministry that he forgets that this is not his job! And if the church thinks it is, then they have not been taught properly. If this is the case for you, then start by re-prioritizing your time and job description so that there is time for true equipping. Start by selecting those who may be already doing works of ministry and help them equip others to do the same. This isn’t brain surgery; it is the difference between having one minister and 200 congregants over against having a church with 201 ministers! It’s your choice – do it the way you are, or do it God’s way. Which do you think he will bless?

One last point: If we are going to set our goal to train disciples, we must first ask what a “fully discipled” person looks like. For this, I am indebted to Perimeter Church for their well-thought description:

“A mature and equipped follower of Christ is one who:

In the last two issues of Equip we have looked at the use and benefit of having a good understanding of curriculum. This time I want to look at “hidden curriculum.” Hidden curriculum is what is taught and conveyed nonverbally in the classroom.

We teach a great deal by how we communicate. For example, when a student asks an off-topic question with true sincerity and curiosity, how do you deal with it? Do you dismiss the question? Do you tell the student that the question is not important because it has nothing to do with the lesson? Here, your hidden curriculum is how you decide to handle the situation. While we don’t want to get off the topic, we must make sure the students understand that they are important, and their question is important, but at a more appropriate time.

Another example of our hidden curriculum can be the physical setup of the room. The room should be set up in a way that invites interaction. Typically, the classroom is set up to make the teacher the focal point of the room. A better arrangement is to set the room to enable the students to interact with each other as well as the teacher. Color! Did you know that sterile white walls can be a distraction for some students as well as having too much color? All of this communicates to students without our saying a word.

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When you teach, are you standing or sitting? If you are standing the whole time you can be communicating a sense of superiority over the students. Being at the same level as them communicates an openness and equality with them in Christ.

Budgets are also part of the hidden curriculum but less subtle. Budgets communicate just what value the church places on the students. If students lack for supplies or a written curriculum, then it says to these students that they are not important enough for the church to provide for at any cost. Did you know that 80-90 percent of all church budgets are spent on those over 18? Yet, on average, at least 50 percent of most churches are made up of those under 18!

One of the greatest weaknesses I see in our hidden curriculum is when we don’t help them know how to apply what we are saying. There is this myth that all we need to give is the information and the Holy Spirit will do the applying. If this were the case, half of many of Paul’s letters would never have been written! More than ever people don’t think through things on their own. They need help knowing how to take the truths we are presenting and apply them to their lives. We should never allow our students or congregation to go away asking what they are supposed to do with the information they just received. We need to direct them so that the Holy Spirit will do the applying of what we have said.

The hidden curriculum should not be feared, it should be something you try to think through as you put yourself in the place of your listeners. We cannot control all of it, but we can make adjustments when we make ourselves aware of what our listeners are hearing us not say.