Chapter 1

The Burden of
Leading People

And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me

seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou
knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers
over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of
the congregation, that they may stand there with
thee. And I will come down and talk with thee
there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon
thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall
BEAR THE BURDEN of the people with thee, that
thou bear it not thyself alone.
Numbers 11:16,17
One of the most difficult tasks in life is to lead
people. The Bible teaches us that Moses
delivered the Israelites from bondage.

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 However, he had a difficult time handling
them. The job that Moses did is the job that all
pastors have to do. God graciously gave Moses
spectacular and sensational miracles. These
signs and wonders helped to establish his
authority over God's flock. In spite of this, the
burden of leading the people was very heavy on
Moses. The Bible calls it a burden - and that is
what it is!

People Have Problems

If you have a pastor's heart and love people,
you cannot disassociate yourself from their
problems. Their problems will become your
problems and their burdens will affect you!
When God wants to use you to minister to a
large number of people, He will expect you to
share the burden of His divine call upon your life.
Failure to share this burden will simply mean that
you may collapse or come to a standstill in
ministry. There are many "standstill" churches.

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 They grow to a point but can grow no further,
because they fail to share the burden of ministry.
A balanced church is one that has people of all
sorts within it; the young, the old, educated and
uneducated, rich and poor, male and female.
Every pastor will fall into one of these categories.
It must be your goal to incorporate all sections
of the church to help in the development and
growth of the ministry. In other words, all sorts
must be drafted in, to share the burden. You will
find that the category of people you have written
off, as far as ministry is concerned, would be able
to contribute greatly to the ministry.
I notice that most churches exclude the
educated and rich from involvement in ministry.
Usually, the rich are only expected to contribute
money to the church. Similarly, the educated are
just expected to improve the cosmetic image of
the church. However, I have found both of these
groups of people to be very productive and useful
spiritually. I have many medical doctors,
specialists, lecturers, architects, and engineers,

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who are all serving as lay pastors. These lay
pastors are sharing the burden of ministry
alongside me. The burden of the ministry
cannot be borne by one person. It is simply
impossible. From today, if you want to have a
greater ministry than what you currently have,
learn to share the burden.
Sometimes, people do not share the burden
because they want to take all of the glory for
themselves. They want people to feel that they
are the only ones with a supernatural gift. They
want people to show appreciation to them alone.
Others are afraid of rebellion in the camp.
How common is the story of associate pastors
rebelling. Many senior pastors fear their
assistants will outshine them one day. Fear not,
only believe! You cannot expand without
trusting people. The work is so great that you
will never ever be able to do it all alone. There
is too much space in the sky for two birds to
collide.

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 Chapter 2

Seven Reasons Why

Pastoring People Is
Such a Burden

1. People are by nature ungrateful and

forgetful.
…in the last days…men shall be…unthankful…
2 Timothy 3:1,2
You can notice ungratefulness in people by the
way they complain. Moses led the Israelites out
of bondage and slavery and yet they murmured
and complained bitterly against him. Aaron even
had to make a golden calf to calm them down.

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 When something minute goes wrong, you may
be surprised at the actions of people you have
ministered to. Many easily forget what you have
done for them. This is because the things a pastor
does are often not physically tangible, but
spiritual. Most tend to think that the pastor has
done nothing for them. Others go a step further
and commit evil towards you after you have been
a blessing to them. Don't be shocked! The
prophet Jeremiah experienced the same thing
from his people. He said,

Shall evil be recompensed for good?

Jeremiah 18:20a
Once a pastor told a very disturbing story. He
said he was surprised when one of his church
members came to his house one night to assault
him. He couldn't believe that this young man
whom he had led to Christ, trained up in the
Lord; whose marriage he had blessed and whom
he had helped him through various crises, would
attack him in that manner.

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 Dear friend, do not be surprised! Do not
expect gratitude from man; expect your rewards
from God. Hezekiah was blessed. But he did not
"render again". That means he did not show
gratitude for all the blessings he had received.

But Hezekiah RENDERED NOT AGAIN

according to the benefit done unto him…
2 Chronicles 32:25
This is the nature of man. This is the nature of
the people God wants you to lead.

2. People will betray you.

Though Judas walked and ministered with

Jesus for three years, he eventually betrayed him
for a small amount of money. Betrayal is a part
of ministry. It is also a part of life. If you have
yet to experience betrayal, I can assure you that
you will. The disturbing thing about betrayal is
that it is done by people who are supposedly
close to you.

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 You are not greater than your master Jesus!
The fact that someone may one day betray you,
may make it very difficult for you to happily
interact and flow with the people. Look closely
at the ministry of any great man of God. You will
discover that they have all had their fair share of
traitors. All of this contributes to the burden and
difficulty of ministry.

Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted,

which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel
against me.
Psalm 41:9

3. People are wicked.

Alexander, the coppersmith did Paul a lot of

harm in his ministry.

Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the

Lord reward him according to his works:
2 Timothy 4:14

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 I have experienced wickedness from people
who have lifted themselves up to fight and
oppose me. There are times when my ministry
and very existence have become a source of work
for such wicked individuals; their work being
fighting, slandering and opposing. Without my
existence, I think some people may not even have
a job to do!
If you are not resolute in ministry, you could
easily decide to leave these harassments behind
and move on to a more peaceful existence in
some secular job.

4. People can abandon you suddenly.

Paul experienced sudden desertions by some

of his colleagues, like Demas. I remember one
young man whom I trained. He was about to take
up an important position in the ministry that we
had been preparing for, well over a year. On the
day he was to fill the position, he suddenly
informed me that he was leaving the country. I
couldn't believe my ears! All of our months of

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preparation meant nothing to him. He just
abandoned ship without notice. These
experiences are all part of the ministry.
Abandonment also occurred under the ministry
of Apostle Paul.

For Demas hath forsaken me…

2 Timothy 4:10
Because people can abandon you at any time,
it is burdensome to lead them. But God wants us
to help share the burden of His people. God
wants us to be involved in His work. God wants
us to be shepherds!

5. People are equalizers, disrespectful and

impudent.

And Miriam and Aaron spake against

Moses…Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by
Moses? HATH HE NOT SPOKEN ALSO BY US?
Numbers 12:1,2

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 Miriam and Aaron (the closest assistants and
closest relatives) were now speaking against
Moses. They most probably said things like,
"God also speaks by us," and "Are you the only
one?" With time, familiarity creeps in and people
now consider you as an equal. They tend to
think, "We can all do it. What's the big deal?
You are no different from us!"
This is unfortunate, but real. People easily
take you for granted. They murmur and
complain against you, forgetting all that you have
done for them. When they lose their temper, you
will find church members speaking to you as they
would to a little child.

"You Remind Me of My Father"

One church member approached her pastor
after Sunday service. The pastor thought she was
about to compliment him for the powerful
sermon he had just preached.

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 She started, "Pastor, you know something? I
felt I should tell you that you remind me of my
father."
"Oh really?" the pastor responded.
She continued, "He was so full of himself and
so are you!"
The pastor was taken aback but he had to
smile and continue as though he had received a
compliment. The church member was telling the
pastor exactly what she thought of him.

Now Korah...and Dathan…and Abiram…and

On…rose up before Moses...and
said...WHEREFORE THEN LIFT YE UP
YOURSELVES [Moses and Aaron] above the
congregation of the Lord?
Numbers 16:1-3
These rebels apparently thought that Moses
felt he was too "big for his own shoes".

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6. People are disobedient and rebellious.

Samuel confronted Saul and asked him why

he had not obeyed the Lord fully. One of the
difficult things every pastor will have to come to
terms with is that in spite of all the good things
you preach, many people are still disobedient and
continue to live in sin. I used to be amazed at the
extent of spiritual rebellion found in the Body of
Christ. But that is human nature.

Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the

Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in
the sight of the Lord?
1 Samuel 15:19

7. People do not understand and do not

respond.
When any one heareth the word of the kingdom,
and UNDERSTANDETH IT NOT…
Matthew 13:19

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 Sometimes, people do not understand the
Word. Often they do not understand why you
have to do fund-raising. Consequently, many do
not respond by giving. Many times, I have to
explain that they are giving to build a nice church
where they can have their weddings, baby
dedications and other ceremonies.
Leading people who have all the above
characteristics: ungratefulness, disloyalty, etc., is
a major task.
One person cannot do it alone. The burden
must be shared with others. Sharing the burden
is hard work. The people will be angry with you
for trying to help them. People need help but
when you try to give it to them, they attack you.

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 Chapter 3

Distributing the
Burden

The principal strategy for distributing the

burden is to involve lay men and women in
ministry. No church is capable of employing an
endless number of people. Every church has a
limit to its resources.
It is not possible to pay salaries and rent an
unlimited number of houses for the staff of the
ministry. Full-time staff are limited in the
amount of work that they can do.
In my ministry, though I oversee over seven
hundred churches and several thousand people at
the Lighthouse Cathedral, we don’t have a huge
workforce of full-time pastors in our office.

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 We have several hundred pastors and trainee
pastors within the ministry. Over ninety-five per
cent of them are unpaid lay people. The use of
lay people is the secret to unlimited expansion
of the church.
There are those who think that lay people
cannot do much of the ministry work. Do not be
deceived - the opposite is true! Lay workers
often do more ministry work than full-time staff.
The reason is simple. The sheep who you have
to minister to are at work from nine to five in the
day and are only free in the evenings and at
weekends.

Stop Pretending…
Both full-time and part-time pastors have to
wait until this period to have access to the sheep.
What do full-time pastors do during the day?
Many of them pretend to be working in the office
behind a desk, but in reality, they are doing
nothing at all!

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 Pastors instruct their members to have their
"quiet times" at home. However, they come to
the office to read their Bibles and pray behind
their desks! (The pastor should have his devotion
time at home just like his members).
Sitting behind a desk does not mean that you
are working. A pastor is neither a banker nor an
accountant. He is a shepherd. Shepherds must
be in the fields moving amongst the sheep and
ministering to them.
Let the pastors do pastoral work, and let the
secular people do their work. Lay people can
join the pastors to share the burden of the people.
Let your lay people know that they are called to
share the burden of ministry with you. They will
share the burden on earth and they will share the
burden of accounting for the sheep in Heaven.
What is the burden on earth? It is the burden of
praying, visiting, counselling and interacting
with the sheep. What is the burden in Heaven? It
is the burden of answering for each and every
soul that God gave to you.

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 The burden of leading sheep cannot be borne
by one person or just a few people who
supposedly have a "call". The burden of
accounting for hundreds of different people
cannot be borne by one person. When I stand
before the judgement seat and God asks me about
some souls in Canada, I intend to mention the
name of the pastor there and ask the Lord to
inquire from him. When the Lord asks me about
some souls in Navrongo, in the north of Ghana, I
will immediately tell the Lord, "Please ask my
dear pastor who is in charge of that branch." It is
impossible for one person to answer for such a
large burden of souls.

…for they watch for your souls, AS THEY THAT

MUST GIVE ACCOUNT, that they may do it with
joy…
Hebrews 13:17
Every pastor will have a lot to answer for
when he stands before the Lord in Heaven. Your
burden is to lead all your sheep to Heaven. Make
sure you lose none of them. Every true pastor's

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motto should be, "Of all that you have given me,
I have lost none!" (John 6:39, John 17:12; and
John 18:9)
Moses was breaking down under the burden of
leading the entire flock. God saw this and
decided to take of the "spirit" that was on Moses
and put it on the seventy leaders "to bear the
burden" with him.

And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me

SEVENTY MEN of the elders of Israel…THAT
THEY MAY STAND [work] THERE WITH
THEE.
Numbers 11:16
Involving students, workers, and professionals
helps to distribute the burden to all saints in the
church.
The Lord wants us to be fruitful no matter
what we do in this life. In the universities, I have
established Lighthouse churches and have
entrusted the preaching and pastoring
responsibilities to a few students. I am very

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proud of these student ministers because of the
great job that they have done on their respective
campuses. I don't have to rush to any of the
university every Sunday morning to minister the
Word. Ordinary saints should please join in and
work together.
The saints must be perfected (prepared,
trained) to do the work of the ministry. Ordinary
saints can do the work.

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the

ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Ephesians 4:12

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