When it comes to Baptist church leadership and ministry, we need a whole landscape of opportunities for learning and development, by Tim Fergusson 

 

I enjoy bicycles. Building them. Riding them. Even cleaning them. (One or two people may have described me as a bit of a bore on the subject – I couldn’t possibly say.) But when it comes to maintenance, YouTube is my friend. Watch a video, grab the allen keys and give it a go. I’m no expert, obviously. I haven’t trained as a professional mechanic. But if I get stuck, there are cycling friends to ask, online manuals to read, short courses to join, advice to be gleaned from the local bike shop. Today, if you are a cyclist – or a gardener, baker, or photographer – there are so many ways to learn.  
 
When it comes to church leadership and ministry, we need many ways to learn. Actually, we need a whole landscape of opportunities for learning and development - a formation ecosystem.  
 
If ministry and church leadership are changing – as they surely are – then our approach to learning must change too. We need more than a single route, a single institution, or a single stage of training. We need a whole landscape of formation with many ways to learn, many people to learn from, and many opportunities for leaders to grow in calling, character and competence. 
 
Elsewhere in this magazine you can read about the vision for 360 more women and men starting or completing formation for accredited and recognised ministry by the end of 2028.  
 
To realise this, we should firstly continue to commend training and formation for accredited ministry – we need our pro mechanics. Churches benefit from ministers who have been deeply shaped through theological study, spiritual formation and the rigour of college-based training – expert practitioners for whom ministry has become second nature. To this end, churches can help by identifying those with a calling and, if means allow, by financial support to ministers-in-training during their immersive formation at a Baptist College.   
 
But we cannot depend on accredited ministers alone. And in any case, many churches cannot at present find or afford an accredited minister. Not only this, but we are Baptists, so leadership ought to be shared. Deacons, elders, worship leaders, children’s workers, evangelism leaders, community chaplains, small group leaders and many others carry real spiritual responsibility. If they are helping to shape the life, mission and discipleship of the church, then they too need opportunities to grow. This is why the idea of an ecosystem is so compelling. An ecosystem is not built around one plant, one stream or one source of nourishment. It is a living environment in which many parts contribute to the health of the whole. In the same way, Baptist formation should be a shared environment in which churches, colleges, associations, national structures and experienced practitioners (not least our ministers) all play their part.  
 
The point is not that every leader takes the same path, but that every leader has a path – one that is identifiable and accessible. Some formation will happen through formal study. Some will happen through mentoring, supervision, spiritual direction, local training, peer learning, short courses, learning communities, reading, conversation and on-the-job reflective practice.  This variety of means of formation is important because formation is not simply the acquisition of information or techniques. Ministry is not a skill learned once and then possessed forever. It is a way of being that must be continually inhabited and grown into. It is why we expect our accredited and recognised ministers to practise Continuing Ministerial Development. Ministers and indeed all leaders need to keep asking: Who is shaping me? From whom am I learning? Where am I being stretched? How am I becoming more faithful, more Christlike? 
 
Likewise, our churches and Baptist organisations need to ask: How are we helping this culture of formation to flourish? Are we collaborating or competing? Are we sharing or reinventing resources? Are we equipping the whole people of God for works of service? 
 
And our existing ministers can ask about others: Who am I noticing has gifts and calling? How can I give emerging leaders opportunities to practise? What is my role in the training, coaching and mentoring of those at an earlier stage of development?  
 
A formation ecosystem may help us move beyond anxiety about what we lack and towards shared responsibility for what we can become. We can bemoan the shortage of ministers, or we can nurture and equip many more people for local leadership. We can assume that development is mainly for those who are formally trained and accredited, or we can affirm that every type of church leader deserves intentional formation. We can treat training as occasional and optional, or we can make lifelong learning part of the culture of discipleship. 
 
Such an ecosystem would not diminish accredited ministry; it would strengthen it by placing it within a broader culture of growth. Nor would it flatten the differences between roles; it would recognise that different callings need different depths of formation. But it would insist that no leader should be left unsupported, unformed or isolated. The health of our churches and the vitality of our mission depend on leaders who are continually learning, continually being shaped, and continually open to the renewing work of God. That is why a formation ecosystem is not merely a useful idea. It is a hopeful, practical and deeply Baptist vision for the future. 
 

---

Tim Fergusson was Ministries Team Co-Leader until August 2026.  During his sabbatical he researched in more detail the decline in the number of accredited Baptist ministers. A Baptist-specific ‘formation ecosystem’ was one of the ideas developed during this study.

---