The Jesus school.

“Come and see.”

“Follow me.”

With these invitations, Jesus gathered his team. From the first day he invited Andrew (and maybe John) to spend the day with him [john 1], to the call for followers on the beach [matthew 4], to the ordination of the 12 to serve as apostles [matthew 10].

What training approach would Jesus take? A Jewish rabbi? A Greek master? Yes to both, with variations. Jesus would train his disciples in his own way.

Robert Coleman, in his classic work The Master Plan Of Evangelism, outlines seven training steps:

• association: he spent much time with his disciples [mark 3:14]
• discipline: he demanded a high level of commitment from his disciples [luke 14:27-33]
• impartation: he didn’t just give a lecture - he gave his life to his disciples [1 thessalonians 2:8]
• demonstration: he gave his life as an example of what he desired from his disciples [john 13:15]
• delegation: he assigned meaningful work to teach his disciples [mark 6:7]
• supervision: he gave constant review and feedback on his disciples’ progress [mark 6:30-31]
• production: he expected his disciples to produce important work [john 15:16]

Another way of saying this is in the old training statement:

I do.
I do, you watch.
You do, I watch.
You do.

Great training methods. But it went further. As Coleman notes, Jesus was not merely trying to build a ministry team – he was shaping a family of followers, and he was the curriculum:

The method of Jesus here was more than a continuous sermon; it was an object lesson as well. This was the secret of his influence in teaching. He did not ask anyone to do or be anything which first he had not demonstrated in his own life, thereby not only proving its workability, but also its relevance to his mission in life. And this he was able to do because he was constantly with his disciples. His training classes were never dismissed. Everything which he said and did was a personal lesson in reality, and since the disciples were there to notice it, they were learning practically every moment of their waking day. [pg.76]

This reminds me that leadership is relationship. ‘Incarnational leadership” means that I spend time with my team, that we must be in each other’s lives.

So the question is, how much time are you spending with your team?