People Spots
Online
Produced by James W.
Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants
Provided as a service by New Life Ministries
Equipping for Service
by James W. Moss, Sr.
I hope the term "the equipping pastor” is not an oxymoron. But sometimes I am prone to wonder about that. There is a lot of talk about equipping. But is it happening? When I went to seminary, I was taught to be a deliverer of service. All of the really great role models I knew were champions at delivering service. They spent countless hours laboring in ministry. But they did the ministry alone. That was what they were being paid to do.
They were frequently reminded of that as well.
John Smyth is a hard working pastor. He averaged 62 hours a week last year. He preached 48 Sundays. He led two Bible studies a week. He made 405 house calls and 483 hospital calls last year. He said, “I can’t keep this up. I don’t have time for my wife and kids. I need help. If the church grows any more, there is no way I can keep up. It is all I can do to care for the people we now have. We really aren’t ready to hire a second pastor.” The real question is, “Who has John trained to assist in home visits and hospital work and various other ministry tasks?”
The average size of an American Protestant Church is 75 in worship. Basically, a pastor who worked very hard could do all of the ministry required to sustain a church of that size. A church of that size 25 years ago could comfortably carry a full-time pastor. It was also why there were so many churches of that size. In 2004, it is taking nearly an average attendance of 125 to comfortably support a full-time pastor, appropriate benevolences, and adequate programming. But there is a problem. Very few pastors working alone can sustain a church of that size without outside help.
Ministry efforts must be multiplied. One person working alone can’t get it done. Even hard working pastors working by themselves can’t do enough to achieve the desired ends. Multiplication of efforts can only happen by the meaningful involvement of laity in ministry. This can only happen if laity are trained or equipped to function. We assume because someone has attended church on a regular basis that they know how to function in ministry. That is a bad assumption.
Pastors, if you are making house calls, hand pick someone who you believe would be good at home visitation. Take them with you on selected visits. Initially, the pastor takes the lead and the recruit observes. After time spent discussing the philosophy behind the contacts and the strategies and about 4 home visits, allow the recruit to take the lead with the pastor observing. Critique the effort and send the trained recruit on regular visits. The pastor now selects a new recruit and repeats the process. The pastor will do the same with persons who could make hospital visits.
Please notice I didn’t say “ask for volunteers.” I have intentionally used the term “recruit” because recruitment is an intentional process. Sometimes the pastor will make a mistake in the selection of a recruit. After watching them in training, you will discover they should not be doing this kind of work. They should be doing something else. Guide them in that new direction. You won’t know this without observing them first hand.
Pastors should be training persons to function in every aspect of ministry, including the preaching of sermons. It is frequently out of this context that persons experience a call to ministry because new pastors are the products of ministry in the local church.
Some pastors keep ministry to themselves because of insecurity. They think if they do all the work, they will be indispensable and the church could never get rid of them. Someone said, “The indispensable person ought to be dispensed with immediately.” It does take a self-confident, inspired pastor to embark on this kind of ministry of lay training. But it will pay dividends beyond anything you ever imagined in the multiplication of time and service rendered. The church will benefit in many ways. Those involved in ministry will be blessed beyond description. A few of the volunteers may experience a divine call to ministry as a result of this participation in the effort.
_____________________
Also see:
 |
The Equipping Pastor - People Spots Vol 7, Issue 7 |
_____________________
Read about Jim's seminars and books.
_____________________
November 10, 2004. Volume 7, Issue 20. People Spots Online is prepared by James W. Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants. It is provided as a service by New Life Ministries, www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org. Articles may be duplicated and reproduced in any way with proper credit. A new article is produced about every two weeks. To be added to a list to receive these messages directly by e-mail, send a request to churchconsultants@yahoo.com.