Raising Up Indigenous Pastors in Southeast Ohio

Southeast Ohio churches need pastors. 

Roughly 1 in 5 SCBO churches in the Southeast Region are currently looking for a pastor. They are often able to help fill the pulpit temporarily but struggle to find long term solutions to these leadership vacancies.

Perhaps the answer to this problem is already in our churches.

Over the last century, international missionary efforts have changed to focus on developing indigenous leadership among the people groups they are reaching. It is no longer enough for an American missionary to come and try to reach people groups of very different cultures. 

Long-term success depends on growing leaders from within that culture to go and reach their neighbors. Indigenous leaders are often more successful for a few reasons:

Context: They better understand their own culture. They know the traditions and customs. They know how to clearly communicate to the people and they know what the people need to hear.

Trust: People naturally trust people who have similar backgrounds and customs to them. Leaders from the same community do not have to work as hard to earn the trust of the people.

Concern: Indigenous leaders will have a built-in concern for the people they know and love like an outsider never could. They understand the problems because they have struggled with many of the same issues.

This missionary strategy comes straight from the New Testament church. The apostles told the Greek-speaking Jews, “pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.” (Acts 6:3 ESV) 

No matter what official role or title those men were given, it is clear that one of the criteria is that they were indigenous to the population being served.

Additional scripture references for indigenous leaders include Acts 14:23 and Titus 1:5. In each case, the leaders of the church were not outsiders, but from the local gathering of believers. Missionaries from the outside play a vital role in the introduction of the Good News, but long-term success is more likely with leaders from the people.

A similar strategy is needed in our setting. As a part of Greater Appalachia, our Southeast Region sometimes feels like a foreign country! It is filled with small towns and rural communities often with a unique culture that outsiders struggle to understand. We have smaller churches that cannot always afford a young seminary-trained full-time pastor and his family. 

Furthermore, Appalachians have a natural distrust of outsiders. The long-term success of many of our small town and rural churches will depend, not on outsiders, but on the development of indigenous leadership. 

There are, of course, exceptions to this concept as we have a handful of great pastors from outside the area who have learned the culture, but the number of pastors we need to spread out and reach all the communities of Southeast Ohio will require our churches to develop leaders from within their congregations.

Here are a few things to consider as your church develops these leaders:

Redefine the expectations. Perhaps your church cannot afford a full-time pastor. Consider part-time or bi-vocational options. Consider making it a team effort of several volunteer pastors. This is probably closer to the model we see in the New Testament anyway.

Stop super-spiritualizing the position. As Baptists, we do not believe in a separate priestly class of individuals. Pastors should be set apart for service, but not made into spiritual superheroes. This often dissuades men from believing they are capable.

Call out the called. Open your eyes and identify men who may be called to be pastors. Don’t look for superheroes. Look for men who fit the qualifications of 1 Timothy 3. Men who love their families and communities, know the Bible, and have a good reputation.

Make opportunities in your church. Find ways to allow men to teach and preach, to lead and shepherd. Invest in young men and be patient as they grow. Consider starting or adopting a church nearby by sending some leaders to help and develop their abilities.

Take advantage of training. The opportunities we offer at SCBO for networking, training, and growth are not only for full-time pastors. They are for anyone called to teach, lead and care for a congregation of God’s people. We can also help with educational opportunities if someone in your church feels called to sharpen his skills.

The means to reach Southeast Ohio exists within Southeast Ohio churches. We are thankful for those from the outside who have moved in and developed a heart for our neck of the woods, but we also acknowledge that the long-term success of our efforts will come from developing leaders within our congregations and reaching our neighbors. 

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38 ESV) Those laborers may be sitting beside you in church this week. Pray for them and do your part to help get them ready to go.