The Biggest Mistake Teaching Pastors Tend to Make – And How To Fix It

If you are a teaching pastor, I have a gift for you. I’m going to share one of the most important lessons I’ve learned in 35+ years of pastoral ministry. It happened when I recognized that I was commiting what is probably the biggest mistake most teaching pastors make. Teaching the saints is not the same as equipping the saints. The biggest mistake we tend to make is to think we’re equipping when all we’re doing is teaching. Certainly teaching is a vital part of equipping. But it’s just one aspect. It’s not the whole thing. If all we do is teach people more about God and the Bible, we won’t have better equipped church members, just better informed ones. Information is not enough. It never has been.

May 22, 2018

by Karl Vaters

Teaching the saints is not the same as equipping the saints.

The biggest mistake we tend to make is to think we’re equipping when all we’re doing is teaching.

Certainly teaching is a vital part of equipping. But it’s just one aspect. It’s not the whole thing.

If all we do is teach people more about God and the Bible, we won’t have better equipped church members, just better informed ones.

Information is not enough. It never has been.

Author

Karl Vaters

Karl produces resources for Helping Small Churches Thrive at KarlVaters.com.
He's the author of five books on church leadership, including his newest, De-Sizing the Church: How Church Growth Became a Science, Then an Obsession, and What's Next. His other books include The Grasshopper Myth and Small Church Essentials.
Karl also hosts a bi-weekly podcast,The Church Lobby: Conversations on Faith & Ministry, featuring in-depth interviews about topics that concern pastors, especially those who minister in a small church context.
Karl has served in small-church ministry for over 40 years, so he speaks and writes from decades of hands-on pastoral experience. He and his wife, Shelley have three children and two grandkids.

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