Top 10 Ways Pastors Spend Time That Doesn’t Make Disciples

By Will Mancini

Provided by

“What gets in our way when it comes to the church’s mission to make disciples?”

What gets in our way when it comes to the church’s mission to make disciples? Let’s look at the things we do at church and the way we spend our time as pastors:

1. Preparing a sermon or teaching message in a given week without spending time in disciple-making relationships.
2. Spending time meeting with staff and church leaders in a given week in lieu of spending time in personal disciple-making relationships.
3. Designing a worship experience in a given week without a prior design of a clear disciple-making strategy.
4. Managing a weekly money gathering process from people without having a clear disciple-making vision that will be used to steward the money.
5. Recruiting people to volunteer in ministry environments without any knowledge of their involvement in disciple-making relationships.
6. Providing for the care needs of others in the church without a system for care to take place in the context of disciple-making relationships.
7. Creating any content (worship guides, newsletters, social media, curriculum) without a prior definition of disciple-making outcomes.
8. Training any small group or Bible study leaders without a prior training in the church’s disciple-making strategy and outcomes.
9. Developing and launching programs that do not fit into a clear and cohesive disciple-making strategy.
10. Putting out fires with or for people who could care less whether they have or you have any disciple-making relationships in life. 
What would you add? What do you think pastors do that does not make disciples? Help me write the next 10! 

Will Mancini emerged from the trenches of local church leadership to found Auxano, a first-of-kind consulting ministry that focuses on vision clarity. As a “clarity evangelist,” Will has served as vision architect for hundreds of churches across the country, including such notable pastors as Chuck Swindoll and Max Lucado. Will holds a Th.M. in Pastoral Leadership from Dallas Theological Seminary and has authored Church Unique: How Missional Leaders Cast Vision, Capture Culture and Create Movement; he also co-authored Building Leaders with Aubrey Malphurs. More from Will Mancini or visit Will at http://www.willmancini.com/