Cross Training

 

By Dr. Bill Lewis

 

Written for the November 2005 Georgia State Promotional Bulletin

 

 

 

Cross training is the practice of developing someone’s skills in several different areas rather than in a specific area.  It has been used in the training of athletes and also in the equipping of employees within companies.  Cross training is used as a way to provide a hedge in companies against labor shortages and as a method to motivate employees in the work place.  There is much debate as to the merits of cross training with some praising the approach while others play it down.

 

            My introduction to cross training came while I worked with the technical college system in Georgia.  Team building was a never ending process and understanding the jobs of others was seen as one way to bring about a better understanding of each team member’s contribution to the team as a whole.  We spent hours upon hours in training.

 

            God’s Church has a need for people to fill many varied positions in order that the tasks of the Church might be accomplished.  Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “…He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (4:11-12, NKJV).  To the Corinthians Paul wrote, “…God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.  And if they were all one member, where would the body be? (I Corinthians12:18-19, NKJV).

 

            When a new convert comes into the Church, he or she has a job to do.  In Ephesians 2, it is clear that salvation comes “by grace” and “through faith” (Ephesians 2:8, NKJV), but it is also clear that the sinner is saved for a purpose, you are “created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Ephesians 2:10, NKJV).

 

            The Church must train (and even cross train in a small congregation) the members so that the work of God can be completed.  There is no place in God’s Church for idle members.  Everyone must pull their load.  Everyone must train continually.

 

It is the churches responsibility to help its members find the areas where God would have each of them serve and then help equip them to serve.  Too often God’s people are tossed back into the world without first being equipped.  Someone once said, “God doesn’t call the gifted, but rather He gifts the called.”  God expects His Church to help equip His people.

 

Open Door Fellowship takes this responsibility seriously.  We seek to be a church that actively recruits for the Lord’s army, that helps people repair their broken lives, and that seeks to teach people to refocus their lives on that which is truly important, and we also want to take seriously the responsibility to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.  Pray that God will provide us a way to achieve this most important task.

 

 

 

            Cross training is the practice of developing someone’s skills in several different areas rather than in a specific area.  It has been used in the training of athletes and also in the equipping of employees within companies.  Cross training is used as a way to provide a hedge in companies against labor shortages and as a method to motivate employees in the work place.  There is much debate as to the merits of cross training with some praising the approach while others play it down.

 

            My introduction to cross training came while I worked with the technical college system in Georgia.  Team building was a never ending process and understanding the jobs of others was seen as one way to bring about a better understanding of each team member’s contribution to the team as a whole.  We spent hours upon hours in training.

 

            God’s Church has a need for people to fill many varied positions in order that the tasks of the Church might be accomplished.  Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “…He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (4:11-12, NKJV).  To the Corinthians Paul wrote, “…God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.  And if they were all one member, where would the body be? (I Corinthians12:18-19, NKJV).

 

            When a new convert comes into the Church, he or she has a job to do.  In Ephesians 2, it is clear that salvation comes “by grace” and “through faith” (Ephesians 2:8, NKJV), but it is also clear that the sinner is saved for a purpose, you are “created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Ephesians 2:10, NKJV).

 

            The Church must train (and even cross train in a small congregation) the members so that the work of God can be completed.  There is no place in God’s Church for idle members.  Everyone must pull their load.  Everyone must train continually.

 

It is the churches responsibility to help its members find the areas where God would have each of them serve and then help equip them to serve.  Too often God’s people are tossed back into the world without first being equipped.  Someone once said, “God doesn’t call the gifted, but rather He gifts the called.”  God expects His Church to help equip His people.

 

Open Door Fellowship takes this responsibility seriously.  We seek to be a church that actively recruits for the Lord’s army, that helps people repair their broken lives, and that seeks to teach people to refocus their lives on that which is truly important, and we also want to take seriously the responsibility to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.  Pray that God will provide us a way to achieve this most important task.