The Goal of Working Yourself Out of a Job

During our most recent phone call, Russell jokingly threw out a phrase I’ve heard (and used) many times. He said, “When you get right down to it, our goal as missionaries is to work ourselves out of a job.” Oh, okay, I hadn’t heard the sentiment applied to missionaries before, but I’ve heard it used for parenting, homeschooling, and the corporate world. Hearing Russell say that started me pondering what the phrase really means. In this case, Russell was applying it to some exciting developments concerning Pastors’ Training School. It didn’t take long to decide pondering is too much work. So, I tossed aside the pondering and tried Googling instead. In a nutshell, it seems “working yourself out of a job” is about investing in others, sharing your knowledge and unlocking potential. (Thanks, Google!)

As you probably already know, there are four separate ministries working together to make Pastors’ Training School happen. What you probably don’t know is that a sort of Pastors’ Training School plant has taken root in the mountains of Western Honduras. (Think of it as a church plant only in Pastors’ Training School form.)

Each year at Pastors’ Training School, the top 5 students who return to complete the next year of classes also become mentors to the class level below them. These students help with the teaching. They also go out into the villages to meet with the students on their home turf, and help them with their studies.

Sowers4Pastors has worked with Mercedes Church for over ten years. For the past eight or nine years, the church has also been the site of a Sowers4Pastors feeding center. Allen has spent a full decade investing in others at that church. The senior pastor at Mercedes is an older gentleman who attended Pastors’ Training School in about 2008. He is also a supervisor for the denomination and has oversight of nineteen different churches. Not surprisingly, that pastor’s son and son-in-law are current “star students” serving as mentors for Pastors’ Training School. But they’ve taken the mentoring thing a step further!

These guys decided to start their own Pastors’ Training School on a separate campus! They opened it up to others, utilizing the same materials, methods, and quality lesson plans used at the original training school. How is it going? Well, they just graduated their first class of nineteen students! The two missionaries who serve as teachers for the original school even signed the diplomas for the Pastors’ Training School plant. Clay Powell (Seeds of Salvation) paid some visits to the school to offer support, but the two indigenous mentors did all of the work. When you get down to it, it’s an almost 100% Honduran endeavor!

The school can thank First Baptist Church of Kingsland, Georgia, and their pastor, Brian Parker, for purchasing a study Bible and a Bible dictionary for each student. The students utilized the books during classes. At the end of the year, they were able to take home the books, which cost about $40 for the Bible and $35 for the dictionary. Because this school operates in their own village, they do not have to worry about supplying food and shelter for the students.

While the original Pastors’ Training School is still needed in Honduras, it’s wonderful to see how the missionaries’ investment in others is unlocking potential!

 - posted by Christi