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Turning Members into Ministers
We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10
… to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.
Ephesians 4:12
Napoleon once pointed to a map of China and said, “There lies a sleeping giant. If it ever wakes up, it will be unstoppable.” I believe the church is a sleeping giant. Each Sunday, church pews are filled with members who are doing nothing with their faith except “keeping” it.
The designation “active” member in most churches means those who attend regularly and financially support the church. Not much more is expected. But God has far greater expectations for every Christian. He expects every Christian to use his or her gifts and talents in ministry. If we can ever awaken and unleash the massive talent, resources, creativity, and energy lying dormant in the typical local church, Christianity will explode with growth at an unprecedented rate.
The greatest need in evangelical churches is the release of members for ministry. A Gallup survey discovered that only 10 percent of American church members are active in any kind of personal ministry and that 50 percent of all church members have no interest in serving in any ministry. Think about that! No matter how much a church promotes involvement in lay ministry, half of its members will remain spectators. These are the people who say, “I just don’t feel led to get involved.” (Actually, it’s another kind of “lead”—in the seat of their pants!)
The encouraging news that Gallup uncovered is this: 40 percent of all members have expressed an interest in having a ministry, but they have never been asked or they don’t know how. This group is an untapped gold mine! If we can mobilize this 40 percent and add them to the current 10 percent already serving, your church could have 50 percent of its members active in a ministry. Wouldn’t you be happy if half of your church were fully functioning lay ministers? Most pastors would think they had died and gone to heaven if that occurred.
While large churches have many advantages over smaller churches, one thing I greatly dislike about them is that it is easy for talent to hide in the crowd. Unless they take the initiative to reveal their giftedness or expertise, talented members could be sitting in the crowd every week and you will have no idea what they are capable of doing. This worries and deeply disturbs me, because talent that sits on the shelf will rot fromdisuse. Like a muscle, if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.
I was talking to some people on the patio after a service once and I mentioned that we really needed someone to create a multimedia videotape for an event. The person I was talking to said, “Why don’t you get her?” and pointed to a woman standing a few feet away. I walked over to the woman, found out her name, and asked what she did. She replied, “I’m the chief video production director for Walt Disney.” She had been attending for about a year.
Another time, I mentioned that we needed a flower designer to decorate our tent for Mother’s Day. Someone pointed out a person in the crowd to me and said, “He designs many of the prize-winning floats for the Rose Parade.” It scares me to realize that talent like that could go unused due to my ignorance.
Your church will never be any stronger than its core of lay ministers who carry out the various ministries of the church. Every church needs an intentional, well-planned system for uncovering, mobilizing, and supporting the giftedness of its members. You must set up a process to lead people to deeper commitment and greater service for Christ—one that will move
your members from the committed circle into your core of lay ministers. On our Life Development Process diagram we call this “getting people to third base.”
Most evangelical churches believe in the concept that every member is a minister. Many even give it a major emphasis in their preaching and teaching. Still, most members do nothing but attend and give. What does it take to turn an audience into an army? How do you transform spectators into participators? In this chapter I want to explain the system we’ve set up to equip, empower, and release our members for ministry.
Teach the Biblical Basis for Every-Member Ministry
I’ve tried to emphasize in this book the importance of laying a biblical foundation for everything you do. People always need to know “why” before you teach them “how.” Invest time in teaching your members the biblical basis for lay ministry. Then teach it in classes, sermons, seminars, home Bible studies, and any other way you can emphasize it. In fact, you s hould never stop teaching on the importance of every Christian having a ministry.
We have summarized what we believe about ministry in a Ministry Mission Statement. Based on Romans 12:1–8, we believe the church is built on four pillars of lay ministry. We teach these four pillar truths over and over again so that they will be deeply ingrained in the hearts of our members.
Pillar #1: Every believer is a minister
Every believer isn’t a pastor, but every believer is called into ministry. God calls all believers to minister to the world and the church. Service in the body isn’t optional for Christians. In God’s army, there are no volunteers—he’s drafted all of us into service.
To be a Christian is to be like Jesus. Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45, italics added). Service and giving are the defining characteristics of the Christlike lifestyle expected of every believer.
At Saddleback, we teach that every Christian is created for ministry (see Eph. 2:10), saved for ministry (see 2 Tim. 1:9), called into ministry (see 1 Peter 2:9–10), gifted for ministry (see 1 Peter 4:10), authorized for ministry (see Matt. 28:18–20), commanded to minister (see Matt. 20:26–28), to be prepared for ministry (see Eph. 4:11–12), needed for ministry (see 1 Cor. 12:27), accountable for ministry, and will be rewarded according to his or her ministry (see Col. 3:23–24).
Pillar #2: Every ministry is important
There are no “little people” in the body of Christ, and there are no “insignificant” ministries. Every ministry is important.
God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be… . The eye cannot say to the hand, “ I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “ I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.
Some ministries are visible and some are behind the scenes, but all are equally valuable. At SALT, our monthly ministry training rally*,* we emphasize and recognize all of our ministries equally.
Small ministries often make the greatest difference. The most important light in my home is not the large chandelier in our dining room but the little nightlight that keeps me from stubbing my toe when I get up to use the bathroom at night. It’s small, but it’s more useful to me than the show-off light. (My wife says that my favorite light is the one that comes on when I open the refrigerator!)
Pillar #3: We are dependent on each other
Not only is every ministry important, every ministry is also intertwined with all the others. No ministry is independent of the others. Since no single ministry can accomplish all the church is called to do, we must depend on and cooperate with each other. Like a jigsaw puzzle, each piece is required to complete the picture. You always notice the missing piece first.
When one part of your body malfunctions, the other parts don’t work as well. One of the missing components in the contemporary church is this understanding of interdependence. We m u st work together. Our culture’s preoccupation with individualism and independence must be replaced with the biblical concepts of interdependence and
mutuality.
Pillar #4: Ministry is the expression of my SHAPE
This is a distinctive of Saddleback’s teaching on ministry. SHAPE is an acronym I developed years ago to explain the five elements (spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, and experiences) that determine what a person’s ministry should be.
When God created animals, he gave each of them a specific area of expertise. Some animals run, some hop, some swim, some burrow, and some fly. Each animal has a particular role to play based on the way they were shaped by God. The same is true with humans. Each of us was uniquely designed, or shaped, by God to do certain things.
Wise stewardship of your life begins by understanding your shape. You are unique, wonderfully complex, a composite of many different factors. What God made you to be determines what he intends for you to do. Your ministry is determined by your makeup.
If you don’t understand your shape, you end up doing things that God never intended or designed you to do. When your gifts don’t match the role you play in life, you feel like a square peg in a round hole. This is frustrating, both to you and to others. Not only does it produce limited results, it is also an enormous waste of your talents, time, and energy.
God is consistent in his plan for our lives. He would not give each of us inborn abilities, temperaments, talents, spiritual gifts, and life experiences and then not use them! By identifying and understanding the five SHAPE factors, we can discover God’s will for our lives—the unique way he intends for each of us to serve him. When it comes to ministry, your function flows out of the way God formed you.
God has been molding and shaping you for ministry since you were born. In fact, God began shaping you before you were born:
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit them together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous—and how well I know it. You were there while I was being formed in utter seclusion! You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe.
Psalm 139:13–16 LB
Spiritual gifts. The Bible clearly teaches that God gives each believer certain spiritual gifts to be used in ministry (see 1 Cor. 12; Rom. 8; Eph. 4). However, spiritual gifts are only one part of the picture. Spiritual gifts are often overemphasized to the neglect of other equally important factors. Natural abilities that you were born with also came from God. So did your experiences and inborn personality traits. Spiritual gifts reveal a part of God’s will for your ministry, but not all of it.
Most churches say, “Discover your spiritual gift and then you’ll know what ministry you’re supposed to have.” This is
backwards. I believe the exact opposite: Start experimenting with different ministries and then you’ll discover your gifts! Until you actually get involved in serving, you’re not going to know what you’re good at. You can read all the books in print and still be confused about what you are gifted to do.
I do not place much stock in the many “spiritual gift inventories” or tests that are available today. In the first place, inventories and tests require standardization, which denies the unique way God works in every life. Those who have the gift of evangelism in our church may express it much differently than Billy Grahamexpresses his gift of evangelism. Second, there are no definitions of most of the spiritual gifts listed in the New Testament, so today’s definitions are arbitrary, highly speculative, and usually represent a denominational bias.
A third problem is that the more mature a believer becomes, the more he or she is likely to manifest the characteristics of a number of gifts. He may demonstrate a servant’s heart, or she may demonstrate liberal giving, out of maturity rather than giftedness.
When I was a teenager, I took a spiritual gift inventory and discovered the only gift I had was martyrdom! I thought, “Oh, great. That’s the gift you get to use only one time.” I could have taken a hundred gift tests and never discovered I was gifted at preaching and teaching. It would have never occurred to me because I had never done it. It was only after I began accepting opportunities to speak that I saw the results, received confirmation from others, and realized, “God has
gifted me to do this!”
Heart. The Bible uses the termheart to represent the center of your motivation, desires, interests, and inclinations. Your heart determines why you say the things you do (see Matt. 12:34), why you feel the way you do (see Ps. 37:4), and why you act the way you do (see Prov. 4:23).
Physiologically, each of us has a unique heartbeat. Each person’s heart beats in a slightly different pattern. Likewise, God has given each of us a unique emotional “heartbeat” that races when we encounter activities, subjects, or circumstances that interest us. We instinctively feel deeply about some things and not about others.Another word for heart is passion. There are certain subjects that you feel passionate about and others you couldn’t care less about. That is an expression of your heart.
Your God-given motivational bent serves as an internal guidance system for your life. It determines what interests you and what will bring you the most satisfaction and fulfillment. It also motivates you to pursue certain activities, subjects, and environments. Don’t ignore your natural interests. People rarely excel at tasks they don’t enjoy doing. High achievers are most often those who enjoy what they do.
God had a purpose in giving you your inborn interests. Your emotional heartbeat reveals a very important key to understanding his intentions for your life. God gave you your heart, but it is your choice to use it for good or evil, for selfish
reasons or to serve God and others. First Samuel 12:20 says, “… serve the Lord with all your heart.”
Abilities. Abilities are the natural talents that you were born with. Some people have a natural ability with words: They come out of the womb talking! Other people have natural athletic abilities: They excel in physical coordination. (All the basketball coaching in the world will never allow you to match the talent of Michael Jordan on the court.) Some people are naturally good with numbers: They think mathematically and can’t understand why you don’t understand calculus!
Exodus 31:3 gives an example of how God gives people “skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts” in order to accomplish his purposes. In this case, it was artistic ability to be used in building the tabernacle. It’s interesting to me that musical talent is not listed as a “spiritual gift,” but it certainly is a natural ability God uses in worship. It is also interesting that God gives people the ability to make money: “But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth” (Deut. 8:18).
One of the most common excuses people give for not getting involved in ministry is that they just don’t have any abilities to offer. Nothing could be farther from the truth: Many national studies have proven that the average person possesses from five hundred to seven hundred skills! The real problem is twofold. First, people need some process of skill identification. Most people are using abilities that they are unaware that they have. Second, they need a process to help them match their
abilities with the right ministry.
There are people in your church who have all kinds of abilities that are not being put to use: recruiting, researching, writing, landscaping, interviewing, promoting, decorating, planning, entertaining, repairing, drawing, even cooking. These abilities should not be wasted. “There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord” (1 Cor. 12:5).
Personality. It’s obvious that God does not use a cookie cutter to create people. He loves variety. He made introverts and extroverts. He made people who love routine and those who love variety. He made some people “thinkers” and others “feelers.” He made people who work best when given an individual assignment, and some who work better with a team.
The Bible gives us plenty of proof that God uses all types of personalities. Peter had a sanguine personality. Paul had a choleric personality. And Jeremiah’s personality was definitely melancholy. When you look at the personality differences in the twelve disciples Jesus selected, it’s easy to understand why they sometimes had interpersonal conflict!
There is no “right” or “wrong” temperament for ministry. We need all kinds of personalities to balance the church and give it flavor. The world would be a very boring place if we were all plain vanilla. Fortunately, people come in more than thirty-one flavors.
Your personality will affect how and where you use your
spiritual gifts and abilities. For instance, two people may have the same gift of evangelism, but if one is introverted and the other is extroverted, that gift will be expressed in different ways.
Woodworkers know that it’s easier to work with the grain than against it. In the same way, when you are forced to minister in a manner that is out of character for your temperament, it creates tension and discomfort, requires extra effort and energy, and produces less than the best results. This is why mimicking someone else’s ministry never works—you don’t have their personality. God made you to be you! You can learn from the examples of others, but you must filter the lessons you learn through your own shape.
When you minister in a manner that is consistent with the personality God gave you, you will experience fulfillment, satisfaction, and fruitfulness. It feels good when you do exactly what God made you to do.
Experiences. God never wastes an experience. Romans 8:28 reminds us, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
At Saddleback, we help people consider five areas of experience that will influence the kind of ministry they are best shaped for: (1) Educational experiences: What were your favorite subjects in school? (2) Vocational experiences: What jobs have you enjoyed and achieved results while doing? (3)
Spiritual experiences: What have been the meaningful or decisive times with God in your life? (4) Ministry experiences: How have you served God in the past? and (5) Painful experiences: What are the problems, hurts, and trials that you’ve learned from?
Because your shape was sovereignly determined by God for his purpose, you shouldn’t resent it or reject it. “What right have you, a human being, to cross-examine God? The pot has no right to say to the potter: Why did you make me this shape? Surely a potter can do what he likes with the clay?” (Rom. 9:20– 21 JB). Instead of trying to reshape yourself to be like someone else, you should celebrate the shape God has given you.
You will be most effective and fulfilled in ministry when you use your spiritual gifts and abilities in the area of your heart’s desire in a way that best expresses your personality and experiences. Fruitfulness is the result of a good ministry fit. (If you are interested in a more detailed explanation of SHAPE, you may want to hear my tape series “You Are Shaped for Significance.”)
Streamline Your Organizational Structure
The next step in building your lay ministry, after teaching the biblical basis for it, is to streamline your organizational structure. One major reason many church members aren’t active in ministry is because they are so busy attending meetings that they have no time left for real ministry. I’ve often wondered what we’d have left in Christianity if we cut out all the meetings. After all, Jesus did not say, “I have come that you might have meetings.” But if you ask typical unchurched people what they notice most about their Christian neighbors’ lifestyles, they are likely to say, “They go to a lot of meetings.” Is this what we want to be known for?
My guess is that the average church would be healthier if it eliminated half of its meetings to allow more time for ministry and relational evangelism. One of the reasons church members don’t witness to their neighbors is because they don’t know them! They are always at church, attending meetings.
A few years ago, the Roper Organization did a survey of leisure time in America. They discovered that Americans have less discretionary time in the 1990s than they had in the 1970s. The average American had 26.2 hours a week in leisure time in 1973. By 1987, it had dropped to 16.6 hours per week, a loss of 10 hours a week in leisure time. Today it is even lower.
The most valuable asset people can give to your church is their time. Since people have less discretionary time, we’d better make sure we use their time in the best way when they
offer it. If a layperson comes to me and says, “Pastor, I have four hours a week to give to my church in ministry,” the last thing I would do would be to put him on some committee. I want to get himinvolved in ministry, not maintenance*.*
Teach your people the difference between maintenance and ministry*.* Maintenance is “church work”: budgets, buildings, organizational matters, and so forth. Ministry is “the work of the church.” The more people you involve in maintenance decisions, the more you waste their time, keep them from ministry, and create opportunities for conflict. Maintenance work also conditions people to think that their responsibility is fulfilled by simply voting on church business.
A common mistake made by many churches is to take their brightest and best people and turn them into bureaucrats by giving them more meetings to attend. You can drain the life out of people by scheduling a constant string of committee meetings. We have no committees at Saddleback. We do, however, have seventy-nine different lay ministries.
What is the difference between a committee and a lay ministry? Committees discuss it, but ministries do it. Committees argue, ministries act. Committees maintain, ministries minister. Committees talk and consider, ministries serve and care. Committees discuss needs, ministries meet needs.
Committees also make decisions that they expect other people to implement. At Saddleback, the implementers are the
decision makers. The people who do the ministry get to make their own decisions about that ministry. We do not separate authority from responsibility, but trust people with both. This makes committees irrelevant. We don’t give decision-making authority to those who don’t minister.
Who, then, does the maintenance at Saddleback? The paid staff does it. This way we don’t waste any of our members’ valuable time. People really appreciate the fact that the time they volunteer is given to actual ministry.
I’m sure you realize how radical this approach is. Saddleback is structured in the exact opposite way of most churches. In the typical church, the members handle the maintenance (administration) of the church and the pastor is supposed to do all the ministry. No wonder the church can’t grow! The pastor becomes a bottleneck. There is no way one man can minister to all the needs in a church. He will eventually burn out or have to move to another church for relief.
It is not within the scope of this book for me to share all my convictions about biblical church structure. (The details are included in a tape called “Simple Structure.”) But let me just ask you to consider this question: What do the words committees, elections, majority rule, boards, board members, parliamentary procedures, voting, and vote have in common? None of these words are found in the New Testament! We have imposed an American form of government on the church and, as a result, most churches are as bogged down in bureaucracy as our government is. It takes forever to get
anything done. Man-made organizational structures have prevented more churches from healthy growth than any of us could imagine.
While the kind of structure a church has does not cause growth, it does control the rate and the size of the growth. And every church must eventually decide whether it is going to be structured for control or structured for growth. This is one of the most crucial decisions your church will ever face. For your church to grow, both the pastor and the people must give up control: The people must give up control of the leadership, and the pastor must give up control of the ministry. Otherwise either party can become a bottleneck for growth.
Once a church grows beyond about 500 people, no single person or board can know everything that’s going on in the church. I haven’t known about everything that happens at Saddleback for years. I don’t need to know about it all! You might ask, “Then how do you control it?” My answer is: “I don’t. It’s not my job to control the church. It’s my job to lead it.” There is a very big difference between leading and controlling. Our pastors and staff are responsible to keep the church doctrinally sound and headed in the right direction, but the day-to-day decisions are made by the people actually doing the ministries of the church.
If you are serious about mobilizing your members for ministry, you must streamline your structure to maximize ministry and minimize maintenance. The more organizational
machinery your church sets up, the more time, energy, and money it takes to maintain it—precious time, energy, and money that could be invested in ministry to people instead.
If you release people for ministry and relieve them of the maintenance, you’ll create a far happier, more harmonious church with a much higher morale. Fulfillment comes from ministry, not maintenance. Having God use you to change lives will change your whole attitude.
In a war, you always find the highest morale and sense of camaraderie among those serving on the front line. You don’t have time to argue and complain when you’re dodging bullets. Ten miles back, however, soldiers in the rear echelon grumble about the food, the showers, and the lack of entertainment. The conditions aren’t nearly as bad as those on the front line, but people are critical because they’re not occupied with the battle. When I meet cantankerous and critical Christians, I usually discover that they’re not involved in a ministry. The biggest complainers in any church are usually committee members with nothing else to do.
In those few times when you really do need a committee of people to study something, create an ad hoc study committee that has a specific assignment with a beginning and ending to it. Set a time limit after which the committee disbands. Most standing committees waste an enormous amount of brain power in scheduled, but unnecessary, meetings.
Don’t vote on ministry positions
There are a number of reasons that Saddleback never votes to approve people for lay ministry positions.
You avoid a personality contest. If you vote to approve anyone who serves in a ministry, you will exclude all of the people who fear rejection. Those who are shy and lack confidence will never volunteer to serve, out of fear that they might be turned down by the congregation or board.
New ministries often need to develop slowly. If you put a public spotlight on a new ministry in the early days, it may die. All it takes is one influential negative voice to uproot a ministry idea before it has a chance to sprout.
New members can get involved more quickly. Voting puts new members at a disadvantage. A new member may be the best qualified to serve, but he or she may be unknown to the committee that controls the appointment process. I’ve seen gifted people shut out of ministry for years because they were not part of the church’s inner circle of old-timers.
You avoid attracting people who are only interested in a position for its power or prestige. By eliminating voting, you attract the people who are genuinely interested in serving instead of those who just want a title. A man once complained to me, “I’m leaving the church because I want to be the chairman of the board, and Saddleback doesn’t have a board!” At least he was honest. He found a small church where he could have an impressive title and be a big fish in a little pond. He wasn’t at all interested in ministry; he was interested in
power.
If people fail, it makes removal easier. If you publicly elect people, then you have to publicly remove them if they become incompetent or have failed morally. In today’s world that kind of public removal can be a political, relational, and legal hot potato. Some carnal people would rather split a church than give up a position. They may line up support for a showdown. If you don’t vote on ministry positions, failure can be dealt with privately.
You can respond more quickly to the Holy Spirit’s leading . When any member comes up with a great ministry idea, the church shouldn’t have to wait until the next business meeting to begin it. At our church, a ministry has sometimes been formed immediately after a service due to something I said in a message. Interested people gather on the patio and the work begins right away.
One time a woman came to me and said, “We need a prayer ministry.” I said, “I agree! You’re it!” She said, “Don’t I have to be elected or go through some approval process?” She had imagined she would have to jump through all kinds of political hoops first. I said, “Of course not! Just announce a formation meeting in the bulletin and start it.” She did.
Another time a person came to me and said, “We need a support group for terminally ill cancer patients.” I said, “Great idea! Just start it yourself.” He did. Still another man once said to me, “I can’t teach and I can’t sing, but I’m good at home
repairs and small carpentry jobs. I’d like to start a ministry called Home Helps and do free home maintenance for widows in our church.” The point is, you shouldn’t have to vote on whether or not a person can use the gifts God has given him or her in the body of Christ. Whenever anyone expresses a desire to minister we immediately start them through our placement process.
Establish a Ministry Placement Process
Moving members into ministry should be an ongoing process, not a special emphasis. There are three essential parts to Saddleback’s Ministry Development Center.
A monthly class. Each month, we offer Class 301: “Discovering My Ministry,” a four-hour class that exposes people to the biblical basis for ministry, the SHAPE concept, and the various ministry opportunities at Saddleback. It is taught on the second Sunday afternoon of each month, from 4 to 8:30 p.m., and includes a thirty-minute meal provided free to those who take the class. It is taught simultaneously with Classes 101 (membership) and 201 (maturity). We give these classes a lot of visibility and promotion.
A placement process. Our placement process involves six steps: (1) attend Class 301, (2) commit to serving in ministry and sign Saddleback’s Ministry Covenant, (3) complete a personal SHAPE profile, (4) have a personal interview with a ministry consultant to identify three or four possible areas of ministry, (5) meet with the staff person or lay leader who oversees the ministry you are interested in, and (6) be publicly commissioned at a SALT meeting.
Your placement process should focus on empowering people, not on filling positions. You’ll have a much higher success rate with those you place in ministry if you focus on the shape of the individual, not the needs of the institution. Remember, ministry is about people, not programs.
Staf to administer the process. People need individual attention and guidance as they attempt to discover the ministry they are shaped for. Simply taking them through a class won’t accomplish this. Each member deserves personal consultation.
Having committed myself to membership and the habits essential for spiritual mort rity and agreeing with Saddleback’s Ministry Statement, I commit to … Discover my Cooperate with Prepare for Demonstrate a unique Shape for ceround’s heart other ministries ministry by ministry and participation in by serving in and place the serve in the area SALT and secondary greater good of that best expresses CLASS. ministries as the the whole Body what God made Body needs me. over the needs me to be of my ministry.
Signed Dar
This certifies that
is a commissioned minister of Jesus Christ through Saddleback Valley Community Church and is entrusted with the related responsibilities and privileges.
Rick Warren, Pastor
Saddleback’s Ministry Development Center is led by our Pastor of Ministries and by volunteers who serve on his team. They interview members who’ve completed a SHAPE profile, helping them find the best place to serve. They also assist members who want to begin new ministries. If I was starting a new church today, one of the first things I’d do would be to find a volunteer shaped for interviewing people and train him or her to help with this vital task. It doesn’t have to be a paid position, but you do need to find someone with the right personality and skills for the task.
Provide On-the-JobTraining
Once people begin serving in a ministry, they need on-thejob training. On-the-job training is far more important and effective than preservice training. At Saddleback we require only minimal preservice training because we feel that people don’t even know the right questions to ask until they are actually involved in ministry.
Another reason we don’t use preservice training is that we want to involve people as quickly as possible in actual ministry. A long, drawn-out preservice training course causes most people to lose their initial enthusiasm: It wears them out before they get started! I’ve found that the kind of people who are willing to train for fifty-two weeks before beginning to serve are usually not very effective when they finally start serving. They tend to be professional students who enjoy learning about ministry more than doing it. We want people to dive right in and get wet, because only then will they be highly motivated to learn how to swim. The best way to begin is to begin.
The centerpiece of our lay ministry training program is SALT. This is a two-hour training rally held on the first Sunday evening of each month for the core of our church. The agenda for SALT includes an extended time of focused worship, recognition of all ministries, testimonies from the field, commissioning of new lay ministers, prayer in groups, “insider” church news, ministry training, and a “vision” message by me on our values, our vision, and the character qualities and skills needed for ministry. These monthly messages to our lay leaders are called “Leadership Lifters” and are taped so anyone who misses SALT can hear them later. We also make these messages available to other churches through The Encouraging Word tape ministry. At SALT, we also present a monthly “Giant-Killer” award to the lay ministry that has tackled the biggest problemin the previous month.
In addition to SALT, we also offer a variety of training classes for specific ministries through our Life Development Institute. The 300-level classes teach different ministry skills and equip people to serve in the various ministries of our church. For instance, Class 302 is called “So You Want to Be a Small-Group Leader.” There are other training courses for youth ministry, children’s ministry, music ministry, counseling ministry, and lay pastoring, to name just a few.
Never Start a Ministry Without a Minister
We never create a ministry position and then try to fill it. It doesn’t work. The most critical factor in a new ministry isn’t the idea, but the leadership. Each ministry rises or falls on the
leadership. Without the right leader, a ministry will just stumble along, possibly doing more harmthan good.
Trust God’s timing. The staff at Saddleback never starts new ministries. We may suggest an idea, but we let the idea percolate until God provides the right person to lead it. I shared earlier that we didn’t have an organized youth ministry until the church was running nearly 500 in attendance, and we didn’t have an organized singles ministry until we had nearly 1,000 in attendance. Why? God had not provided the leadership until then.
It is important never to push people into a ministry. If you do, you’ll be stuck with a motivation problem for the life of the ministry. Most small churches get in a hurry and try to do too much. Instead, pray and wait for God to bring you the person best shaped to lead a particular ministry. Then, let them start it. Don’t worry if there’s no interest in a particular ministry. It’s important for church leaders to have a long-term perspective concerning their church’s development. Solid growth takes time.
Study the book of Acts and you’ll discover that any organizing always followed what the Holy Spirit was doing. Not once in Acts do you find people organizing a ministry and then praying, “Now, God, please bless our idea.” Instead, God would begin moving in people’s hearts, a ministry would spontaneously spring up in a small way, and, as it grew larger, they would add some structure to it.
This is how every one of our ministries at Saddleback has developed. Our women’s ministry, for example, started as a Bible study that Kay taught in our home. It just kept growing and expanding until some structure, and eventually staff, was added. This pattern has been repeated over and over.
Establish Minimum Standards andGuidelines
It’s important to decide on certain minimum standards for ministry because best intentions are not enough when working with human beings. At Saddleback, we have a job description for every position in each ministry that clarifies issues like time commitment required, what resources are provided, any restrictions, lines of authority and communication, and what kinds of results are expected.
Keep the standards clear and brief; don’t bury people with procedures and committees. Allow as much freedom as possible. In our church, any member that has completed Class 301 and a SHAPE interview can begin a new ministry as long as they agree to follow three basic guidelines.
Guideline #1: Don’t expect the staf to run your ministry. People often say things like, “I’ve got a great idea for our church” or “We should do something about …” I always ask them to clarify what they mean by “we.” When people say, “The church should …” they usually mean “The pastor or staff should …”
Someone once told me, “I’ve been feeling so burdened for the people in prison that I’ve been going out there to lead a Bible study. I think the church should do something for those people!” I said to him, “It sounds to me like the church did do something. You are the church!” The next week I told the whole congregation, “I release all of you to visit those in prison, feed the hungry, clothe the poor, and shelter the
homeless—and you don’t even have to tell me. Just do it! Represent the church in Jesus’ name.” This ministry didn’t require any staff supervision. Help people realize that they are the church.
Guideline #2: The ministry must be compatible with our church’s beliefs, values, and philosophy of ministry. If you allow ministries to start that are not headed in the same direction your church is headed, you’re asking for conflict. Rather than helping the church, such ministries will actually hinder what you are trying to do and may even harm your church’s testimony.
At Saddleback, we are especially cautious with ministries that are cosponsored by organizations outside our local church. These organizations often have agendas very different than our church’s agenda, which tends to produce divided loyalties.
Guideline #3: No fundraising is allowed. If you allow every ministry to do their own fundraising, your church patio will turn into a bazaar. There will be car washes and cookie sales all over the place. Competition for dollars will become intense, and your members will resent all of the appeal letters and sales gimmicks. A unified budget is essential to having a unified church. Leaders of each ministry should submit their financial needs for consideration in the total church budget.
AllowPeople to Quit or Change Ministries Gracefully
To resign from a ministry in some churches, you’ve either got to die, leave the church, or be willing to live with intense guilt. We need to allow people to take sabbaticals or change ministries without feeling guilty. Sometimes people become stale in a ministry. Or they may need a change of pace. Or maybe they just need time off. Whatever the reason, you need to have replacements ready to fill in.
We never handcuff people to a ministry. A decision to serve in a particular ministry is not written in stone. If someone doesn’t enjoy or fit a particular ministry, they’re encouraged to change to another one without any shame or embarrassment.
Give people the freedom to experiment. Let them try several alternative places of service. As I said earlier, we believe that experimenting with different ministries is the best way to discover your gifts. Although we usually ask for a one-year commitment to a ministry, we never enforce it. If people realize they are mismatched, we don’t make them feel guilty for resigning. By calling it an “experiment,” we can encourage them to try something else. Every year, during our Lay Ministry Month, everyone is encouraged to try a new ministry if they are unsatisfied where they are currently serving.
Trust People: Delegate Authority with Responsibility
The secret of motivating people into serving over an extended period of time is to give them a sense of ownership. I want to repeat that as much as possible, you need to allow the people leading each ministry to make their own decisions
without interference from some governing board or committee. For instance, allow those in the nursery ministry to decide what the rooms look like, the type of cribs to be used, how many are purchased, and the system used to check children in or out. The people actually involved in the ministry will make more informed decisions than some general board that is trying to control everything froma distance.
People respond to responsibility. They thrive and grow when you trust them. But if you treat people like incompetent babies, you’ll have to diaper and feed themthe rest of your life. When you give authority with responsibility, you’ll be amazed at the creativity of your people. People are always as creative as the structure allows them to be. At Saddleback, each lay ministry is assigned a staff liaison, but, as much as possible, we stay out of their way.
Expect the best of your people and trust them with ministry. Many churches are so afraid of wildfire, that they spend all their time putting out every little campfire that’ll warm up the church! If you’re a pastor, let others make some of the mistakes! Don’t insist on making them all yourself. You bring out the best in people by giving them a challenge, giving them control, and giving themthe credit.
At the beginning of Saddleback, Kay and I literally helped with every job in the church: Setting up the facilities, taking them down, printing bulletins, cleaning bathrooms, making coffee, making name tags, and on and on. I stored all our equipment—cribs, sound system, and so forth—in my garage.
Every Sunday morning I borrowed a truck to haul that equipment to the school we were renting. In the first year I often worked fifteen hours a day—and I loved every minute of it.
But by the time Saddleback was just a few years old I found myself running out of energy. The church had grown to several hundred people and I was still trying to be involved in every aspect and detail of the ministry. I was burning out, physically and emotionally.
At a midweek service, I confessed to our congregation that I was exhausted and that I couldn’t continue to lead the church and be involved in all the ministry at the same time. I went on to say that God didn’t expect me to do all the ministry. The Bible was very clear that the pastor’s job is to equip members for their ministry. I said, “I’ll make you a deal. If you agree to do the ministry of this church, I’ll make sure you’re well fed!” The people liked the deal, and that night we signed a covenant that, from that day forward, they would do the ministry and I would feed and lead them. After making this decision, Saddleback exploded with growth.
From the first day of Saddleback, my plan had always been to give the ministry away. Whenever a new church is started, the pastor usually holds it together in the early days. But the goal must be to wean the church from dependence on the pastor for ministry as quickly as possible. As our church grew, I released one responsibility after another to lay ministers and
to staff members. Today, I only have two primary responsibilities: To lead and to *feed—*and even these responsibilities are now shared with six other pastors. Our pastors’ management team helps me lead the church and our preaching team shares in the speaking responsibilities. Why? Because I deeply believe the church was never meant to be a one-man superstar show!
We have all seen what happens when a prominent ministry is built around a single individual. If that person dies, moves, or has a moral failure, the ministry collapses. If I were to die today, Saddleback would continue growing because it is purpose driven, not personality driven. We’d probably lose a thousand of what I call “gospel groupies”—fringe attenders in the crowd who like to hear me speak. But that would still leave thousands of dedicated members of the congregation, committed, and core.
Provide the Necessary Support
Don’t expect people to succeed without support. Every lay ministry requires an investment of some kind.
Provide material support. Lay ministries need access to copy machines, paper, various materials and resources, a telephone, and, most likely, space to meet. In one of our future buildings, we’re planning on having a large room to hold our “ministry incubators”—small, private areas for lay ministry coordinators that are equipped with a table, phone, computer, and fax for their ministries. Archimedes said, “Give me a place to stand and I will move the world.” We consider lay ministers as important as paid staff. Providing space tells people, “What you are doing is important.”
Provide communication support. Develop ways to stay in touch with your lay ministers. The same tools that are used to keep in touch with our members (Welcome Cards, CARE Callers, Lay Pastor Reports) are useful here too.
Provide promotional support. It is important to keep your ministries visible to the congregation. There are countless ways you can promote the ministries of your church. Here are a few suggestions:
Have each ministry set up a table outside your auditoriumor in the foyer every Sunday so people have an opportunity to see what’s available. If space is a
- problem, rotate the ministries that are highlighted.
- Give each lay minister a name tag so members can see who’s involved in what ministries.
- Hold a ministry fair. At least twice a year, we have a ministry fair where every ministry advertises its focus, programs, and events.
- Print a brochure for every ministry and publish articles on different ministries if you have a newsletter.
- Refer to the various ministries in your messages. Use testimonies that tell how a particular ministry has made a difference.
Provide moral support. Continually express appreciation, in both public and personal ways, to those who serve in your church. Plan special events such as appreciation banquets or leadership retreats to reward your core group of ministers. Present a monthly “Giant-Killer” award for outstanding service.
Throughout this chapter I have repeatedly used the term “lay ministry” so that readers would not think I am talking about paid staff. I actually don’t like the term “lay minister” because it can connote a second-class form of citizenship and competence. Do you want a “lay doctor” operating on you or a “lay lawyer” defending you?
There are no laypeople in a biblical church; there are only ministers. The idea of two classes of Christians, clergy and laity, is the creation of Roman Catholic tradition. In God’s eyes, there is no difference between volunteer ministers and paid ministers. We should treat those who serve without pay with
Renewthe Vision Regularly
Always keep the vision of ministry before your people. Communicate the importance of their ministries. When you recruit to ministry, always emphasize the eternal significance of ministering in Jesus’ name. Never use guilt or pressure to motivate people for ministry. It’s vision that motivates; guilt and pressure only discourage people. Help people see that there’s no greater cause than the kingdomof God.
Do you remember the Nehemiah Principle I talked about in chapter 6? It states that vision must be renewed every twentysix days, which is about once a month. This is why our monthly SALT meeting for our core is so important. It is where the lay ministers need to hear the vision and values continually restated. If I’m feeling ill, I do not hesitate giving up speaking to the 10,000 in the crowd, but I have to be dying to miss being with the core at SALT. It is my opportunity to reemphasize the privilege of serving Christ.
I’ve often said to the members of our congregation, “Imagine dying, and fifty years from now somebody in heaven comes up to you and says, ‘I want to thank you.’ You reply, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t think I know you.’ Then they explain: ‘You were a lay minister at Saddleback. You served and sacrificed and built the church that reached me for Christ after you died. I’m in heaven because of you.’ Do you think your effort is worth that?”
If I knew a more significant way to invest my life than in service for Jesus Christ, I’d be doing it. There is nothing more
important. So I make no apology for telling people that the most important thing they may do with their lives is to join Saddleback Church, get involved in a ministry, and serve Christ by serving others. The effect of their ministry for Christ will outlast by far their career, hobby, or anything else they do.
The church’s best-kept secret is that people are dying to make a contribution with their lives. We are made for ministry! The church that understands this and makes it possible for every member to express his or her shape in ministry will experience amazing vitality, health, and growth. The sleeping giant will be awakened, and it will be unstoppable.