Glasgow Leadership Position Statement on Outside Teaching
NEED FOR THIS DOCUMENT:- The wide variety of religious teaching available via the internet today presents some difficulty for church leaders in nurturing and protecting a healthy culture within the church.
There has always been a wide choice of Bible teaching available to Christians in Glasgow. This has been increased by the internet and the pandemic, many visiting speakers to Glasgow, and also by local churches offering us teaching. For this, we are grateful.
But there is ever more teaching available to the Christian over the internet, and we as a leadership do not wish to discourage Christians within the church from using such material insofar as it helps to build up God’s church. However, we should be aware that Jesus’ plan to grow his church was based upon his principles of discipling. Jesus’s promise (Matthew 28:20) of being with us to the very end of the age, was predicated on the command 2 verses earlier to “go and disciple all the nations”.
Further, a number of prominent conservative commentaries note that in Ephesians 4:11, “pastors and teachers” are not separated by a “definite article” and therefore should be considered as one unified role within the church. It should also be noted that all the major teachers mentioned in scripture (those whose background is known) have strong pastoral ministries. Although the word didaskalos (G1320) is used elsewhere without the ‘pastor’ modifier, the bible calls us to guard our life AND doctrine closely (1 Timothy 4:16). We should therefore be cautious of teaching we find on the internet or elsewhere, where we cannot observe the effectiveness of the teacher’s ministry in day-to-day life. Unfortunately, scripture predicts that teachers will not always act in the best interests of themselves or those they teach (2 Timothy 3:8-9; Acts 20:30; James 3:1, Matthew 7:15-20).
It is interesting that there are no qualifications for teachers stipulated by the NT (as there are for elders & deacons), other than the implication that they should be pastors-and-teachers. But Hebrews 5:12-14 tells us, ”…solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil”. Therefore it is not the one who merely knows the word of God who is mature, but one who uses the word, repetitively, habitually, constantly, who is the approved one. Greater ministry experience allows discerning of the subtleties of the heart. It is the latter group of people who find approval as teachers in the eyes of the Glasgow Church leadership group. It is therefore our hope that our congregation will consider the same life-qualifications as important for those who lead in all of our lives. We note from 1 Timothy 3:1-7 that “overseers” (could be interpreted as church leaders) should meet these qualifications of good-standing, and would wish to hold ourselves to them too.
“Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both
yourself and your hearers”. 1 Timothy 4:16
We expressly do not wish to restrict which teaching events, videos, or books our members use to help build themselves up spiritually; but if you do decide to engage with a teaching event, we ask that you consult with someone in leadership before publicising it further, for instance on the church Whatsapp groups. If you are inspired by something, the best thing to do is to put it into practice in your life and when your ministry flourishes as a result of it, then share how God has used your new knowledge with your family / family group / or in a church lesson.
Of course we cannot and should not prevent you from evaluating teaching material as you wish, but please be respectful of the experience and responsibilities of the leaders of our local church.
