Using volunteers in ministry

Some pastors struggle giving away ministry. That struggle may come because people in his or her church don't want the responsibility. They believe that ministry belongs to the pastor. He or she is the one "hired" to do the ministry. Their only responsibility is to sit back, support the church with their tithes and evaluate how well the pastor is doing what he or she is supposed to do. If this describes your church, you are in a very dysfunctional church. Unfortunately, this mindset probably exists because former pastors taught the church to think this way. Dr. Phil reminds us that we teach people how to treat us.

Many pastors struggle to give away ministry because they want to be needed. In fact, they need to be needed. Their ego requires it. It's what they've been trained to do, and some believe that no one can do ministry better then they can, at least not a volunteer. This is a very short-sighted, and unbiblical, approach to ministry.

In the Bible we see Jesus consistently giving away ministry to His disciples. I'm sure you would agree that He certainly could have done it better, but He also knew that to deprive the disciples of the opportunity to minister would have also deprived them of opportunities to grow. Sometimes they got it wrong, but even those were growing opportunities. As they served others with His guidance, they grew in their ability to minister. Later, when Jesus was gone, they became known as the people who turned the world upside down.

Isn't it interesting that in Acts 6 we find the disciples following Jesus' example. They gave away part of their ministry to those we often now refer to as deacons in the church. The apostles recognized that they could not do it all so they chose others to be responsible for some aspects of the ministry. Later, as the church grew they appointed pastors and elders to serve the churches in various locations. As more and more people were involved in hands-on ministry, the church continued to grow.

John Maxwell has said that one is too small a number for greatness. If you want your church to have a great ministry in your community, it takes more than the pastor doing ministry. His or her role is to equip the saints to do the work of ministry. The more people in a congregation who recognize their responsibility to do ministry, the more the church can grow and influence their community.

Don't be afraid to give away ministry. It's not your ministry anyway; it's God's. Jesus wasn't afraid to give God's ministry to volunteers. Be like Jesus! 

Giving ministry to the people

 Someone wrote that the first reformation gave the Bible to the people. The second reformation will give ministry to the people. I totally agree. Too many churches expect their pastors and staff to provide all the ministry for the church while they sit back and evaluate how well these leaders are doing. The Bible teaches that the role of the pastor is to equip the saints for the work of ministry. In other words, the work of the pastor is to teach the congregation how to minister to the people they encounter every day.

In my seminars to small church leaders I give this illustration. No matter how good the pastor may be, he or she can only be in one place at one time doing one thing. Let's say this pastor is serving a church of 70 people, the median size church in America, who have been trained to do ministry wherever they go. Now you have 70 ministers in 70 places doing 70 things. Would you rather grow your church by addition, 1+1, or by multiplication, 70X1? Which do you think will be most effective for the kingdom of God?

If this is the biblical method of ministry why do we not see this happening in more of our churches? There are several reasons.

• Some pastors do not want to share the ministry with members of the congregation. They enjoy the appreciation and accolades too much when they minister to people. Although they may complain about being stretched too thin, they want to be a one-man show.
• Many churches will not change their expectations of the pastor as the ministry-provider. "This is what we pay him for," will be their response to what I'm writing about.
• For too long we have bought into the pastoral care concept when we should be moving towards a congregational-care style of ministry.
• Pastors do not know how to train people to do ministry. Some may believe that it is only in seminary one can receive this kind of training, and it's not really the role of lay people anyway.
• The church is so busy with committee and board work that there is no time for lay people to actually be involved in ministry. While some committee and board work may be needed, this is mostly maintenance work. Much of this can be done without requiring a group of people to give up an evening to discuss things that really do not need discussing and trusting the leadership to make these decisions. Now people have time to minister.

You can probably find other reasons that exist in your church. Regardless of the reason, the church must move towards equipping its members to do ministry. There is simply way too much work that needs to be done to expect that one minister can do it all.

Open doors for your leaders

One of the tasks of leaders is to raise up other leaders. No organization can rise any higher than the level of its leadership. This is true in the business world, and it is true in the church world. In this blog I have frequently written about the need for pastors to lead their churches. The primary reason approximately 100 churches in American close their doors every week is poor leadership. The principle reason over 80 percent of our churches are plateaued is poor leadership. This includes the pastors and the lay people in positions of leadership in the local church.

Trying to raise up leaders while performing all the other tasks often expected of pastors is not easy, but it is a critical component of leadership. It may well be that some of these other tasks need to be delegated to other people so the pastor can focus more of his or her attention on developing leaders in the church.

The tendency after we identify and develop leaders in our churches is to hold on to them for dear life. The last thing we want is to invest this much time in developing their leadership abilities only to see them leave for another ministry. But, sometimes this is exactly what God is calling us, and them, to do. At this point we need to recognize that we are called to Kingdom work, not just in building up our own churches.

I want to encourage you to open doors for the leaders you've helped equip for ministry. It may be God is calling them to pastor a church themselves or to serve in another church in some other ministry capacity. They need you to go before them to open the doors to give them this opportunity. This might involve sticking out your neck on their behalf, but this the price we pay to be in leadership. In a previous post I mentioned that we grow people by helping them acquire a larger vision for themselves than the one they might have. It does them no good if there is not someone who trusts in them and is willing to open doors of opportunity for them.

As the bivocational pastor of a small church I assumed that would be my ministry until retirement. When I became aware of a sense that God might be calling me to another ministry I wasn't sure what that might be. I contacted my judicatory leader who spent some time with me discussing possible ministry options. One was to go into the role he was filling. I questioned if that was possible since I had not attended seminary at the time and had only served that one small church. He insisted that it was possible.

A few months later it was announced that he was leaving for another ministry. Shortly after that announcement I was asked if I would serve as the interim in his former role which I accepted. About a year later I was called to that position full-time. There were people who were not happy with that decision. I'm sure they made their opinion very well known to the ones who selected me, but individuals opened a door of opportunity for me that I did not know was possible. I served in that role for 14 years until I took retirement. I am so grateful to Riley Walker who first told me I could serve in that position, Larry Mason who probably took more heat than I know for giving me the opportunity and our Region Board for trusting in me enough to offer me the opportunity. I will forever be grateful for these individuals who opened that door for me.

As a leader open such doors for the leaders you develop. Many of the ones you equip will remain in your church to serve, but God might have different plans for other leaders you develop. Help them fulfill those plans.

Sharing the work

A pastor friend of mine recently wrote of the challenges he has in trying to balance the various things he needs to do. This is especially a problem felt by bivocational ministers, but it's one that affects all ministers. As he wrote, trying to serve the church, be an active presence in the community and be present with his family makes it hard to maintain a sense of balance.

We will never find a balance in life and ministry if we never learn to share the work with other people. For too many years we have emphasized a pastoral care model of ministry that isn't biblical, expects too much of our clergy and ignores the gifts God has given others in our congregations.

God has given gifts to every believer which are to be used to serve others. When the pastor reserves ministry for himself or herself that pastor is robbing others of the joy of service. Such a pastor keeps the church from being the church and deprives individuals from using the gifts God has given them.

A more biblical model of ministry has the pastor and other ordained persons in the church equipping the saints for the work of ministry. Our role as pastors is not to try to figure out how to get everything done. Our role is to help equip all those in our churches to be engaged in ministry using the gifts they have been given.

In my pastoral seminars I often tell people that no matter how talented and gifted their pastor might be, he or she can only be in one place at a time doing one thing at a time. However, if there are 50 people in the congregation who see themselves as ministers and who have been equipped to use their gifts you now have 50 people in 50 places doing ministry. Which is going to be most effective for the Kingdom of God? The answer is a mathematical one. Do you prefer 1X1 or 50X1? I'll give you a hint: the most effective will be the one with the most people involved.

As we enter a new year let's take a look at how ministry is being done in our churches. Are we expecting the pastor to take the lead in doing ministry, or are we expecting the pastor to help equip us to do ministry? Your answer will tell a lot about what the future holds for your church.

The second reformation of the church

In yesterday's post I discussed how each Christian is ordained for ministry at the time of his or her baptism. Every believer has been called to minister and given spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit to enable us to do ministry. The role of the pastor is not to do the ministry of the church but to equip each member of the church to minister according to the gifts given to that person.

Greg Ogden, in his book Unfinished Business: Returning the Ministry to the People of God wrote "It has been broadly observed that the first Reformation of the early 1500s placed the Bible in the hands of the people and that the Second Reformation will place the ministry in the hands of the people." This is occurring in churches across the country, especially in those served by bivocational pastors.

In a bivocational setting there is a lot of ministry that will not get done if the pastor is expected to do it all. There simply isn't enough time. By definition, a bivocational pastor has another job. It may be a part-time or full-time job, but in either case this pastor is not always available to do "church work." In my experience I have found that in healthy bivocational churches members of the congregation are willing, and even expect, to minister when the pastor is not available.

However, returning the ministry to the people is not merely a pragmatic action because the pastor is not always available. It is the biblical model for ministry. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons we have not emphasized the ministry of the laity for the past several decades. As a result we have perpetuated an unhealthy family system.

Ogden explains, "In the healthy family, the goal of parents is to grow children into responsible, self-initiating, caring, and serving adults. The church, on the other hand, has more often that not viewed the role of pastor as parent and the people of God as dependent children who need to be constantly cared for. As a result, the children remain perpetually children."

He goes on to note that too often the church and the pastor have entered into an unhealthy conspiracy of dependency which has been equally unhealthy for both. Pastors are burning out and leaving the ministry at frightening rates, and churches are continuing to decline in attendance, finances, and impact on their communities. It is vital that we rediscover the equipping role of the pastor and the ministry role of the congregation.

How would a pastor go about equipping his or her congregation to do ministry?

• Begin by casting the vision for such ministry. Be sure to begin with the why before you go into the what or some people will think you're just trying to get out of work. Because the church has operated in the old, incorrect model for so long this initial phase will take time in most churches.
• Change your role from teacher/caregiver to that of a coach. This may be a difficult change for the pastor, especially one trained in seminary for a very traditional form of pastoral ministry.
• Train your leaders. Ogden suggests a pastor should spend 80 percent of his or her time with 20 percent of the congregation who has the greatest ministry or leadership potential. I agree with this. In the old model we often spent 80 percent of our time with the 20 percent of our congregation who had the most problems. We need to reverse this.
• Help people identify their spiritual gifts. There are numerous surveys to help you do this. Challenge them to work most in the areas where God has gifted them.
• Model ministry to those you are equipping. Invite them to go with you and participate in various ministry activities. In time, you will be able to send them to minister to these needs. In fact, they will be able to take others with them to help develop them as ministers as well.
• Demonstrate your trust in them as ministers. Believe in them. They may not do things the same way you would do them, but that's OK. 
• Do not underestimate the desire of the church to want to go back to the old way of doing things. Remember, it's what they knew for decades, and there is always a pull to return to what we've known. Don't allow that to happen. Keep this vision before them. Celebrate and publicly recognize those in the church who are doing good ministry.

Ordained at baptism

In 1982 a group of pastors and lay leaders met to ask me questions about my beliefs  before making a recommendation that I be ordained to the ministry. The recommendation was made and a couple of weeks later I was ordained by my church and our association.

The truth is that I had been ordained years earlier, but it was an ordination that is not often recognized. We don't usually associate ordination with baptism, but in reality God does ordain us to ministry at our baptism.

One of the tenets of my Baptist tradition is "the priesthood of the believer." We believe that we have all been called to minister and have been given spiritual gifts through which such ministry can occur. However, this is often talked about more than actually done.

Far too many in our churches are willing to sit in their pews every week and evaluate the work of the minister rather than engaging in ministry themselves. The mindset in these churches is to call a seminary trained pastor who will them be responsible for the ministry of the church.

The problem with this mindset is at least two-fold. One, there is far too much ministry that needs to be done for one person to do it. The second, and more serious problem, is that such a mindset is not biblical. The Bible is clear that the work of the pastor is to "equip the saints to do the work of ministry."

Each of us who call ourselves Christians are called to be engaged in ministry. This responsibility cannot be satisfied with us providing financial support for a professional to do that work for us. We are each called to be on the front lines of ministry.

This does not mean that we are all called to preach or lead a church. As mentioned above, we have all been given unique gifts to enable us to minister so our ministries will each take on different characteristics. One may have the gift of teaching while another has the gifts of mercy and healing. Their ministries will look different, but when each are serving in the areas of their giftedness it adds to the overall ministry of the church.

Even when some churches emphasize lay ministry the idea too often is that lay members are to be helpers to the pastor. That thinking is wrong and needs to be turned around. The pastor is to assist the lay persons in the work of their ministries. The role of the pastor is to equip each person in his or her church to perform their ministries in their daily lives.

I am convinced that each believer is Jesus Christ was ordained for ministry at their baptism. The pastor's role is to help each person fulfill their calling as ministers. Until the church recaptures this biblical mindset it will continue to limp along relying on the professionals to do the work each believer has been called to do.

Training for bivocational ministers

As I talk with leaders from numerous denominations I find that there is a wide variation in the educational levels of their bivocational pastors. This is in line with my own survey of bivocational ministers in American Baptist Churches, USA which I conducted in 2004. I found that the educational levels ranged from those who had PhDs to others who had a high school education. Those who know my story know that I began my pastoral ministry with no education beyond high school.

Each of the leaders I spoke to agreed that training their growing numbers of bivocational ministers was often a challenge. Declining revenues common to most denominational bodies today also means less money available for training. Much of the training that is offered is not specific to bivocational and small church settings so many pastors from these churches do not attend the training that is offered. It also doesn't help that this training is often offered during the day time when bivocational ministers may be at their other jobs.

For 20 years I served as the bivocational pastor of a small church in rural Indiana. I left that ministry to become a regional minister in our denomination working with many bivocational and smaller church leaders. In the past 14 years I have published a number of books on small church and bivocational ministry and led seminars and workshops for numerous denominations.

At the end of this year I will retire from my denominational work and will be available to lead more training events for church leaders. I have several seminars that I have led in the US and Canada that are specifically designed to speak to the needs of small church and bivocational leaders. At every event someone will come to me during a break and ask, "When did you visit our church? You've described it perfectly." The material I present is applicable to to every small church.

If you are interested in providing a training event for your bivocational and small church leaders in 2016 I invite you to contact me to see if we might be able to partner together to make this event happen. I already have three such training events scheduled for 2016 and would love to work with you to help equip your small church leaders.

You can contact me at dbickers@roadrunner.com.  I would love to hear from you.

The effective pastor

The number one complaint I've heard from every bivocational minister I've talked to is the lack of time to accomplish all the things that needs to be done.  I often break down the life of a bivocational minister into five areas: God, Family, Church, Work, and Self-Care.  It is a real challenge to keep balance in these five areas of our lives.  I teach a class in our region's Church Leadership Institute that addresses this challenge, but I will be the first to admit that it's often difficult to balance these five areas in our lives.

One of the things I address in the class is the importance of setting priorities for how we manage our time.  If you don't set your priorities someone else will, and they will seldom have the same priorities for your life that you would have.  It is very easy for a bivocational minister to spend large blocks of time dealing with secondary issues and spending little time on the more important areas of our lives.

A book that I've started reading that looks like it will be very helpful is What's Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done by Matt Perman.  In the second chapter he writes

When most people think of productivity, they think of efficiency - getting more things done in less time...While efficiency is important, it works only when we make it secondary, not primary.  It doesn't matter how efficient you are if you are doing the wrong things in the first place.  More important than efficiency is effectiveness - getting the right things done.  In other words, productivity is not first about getting more things done faster.  It's about getting the right things done.

Later in the chapter Perman reminds us of the words of Peter Drucker: "The most unproductive thing of all is to make more efficient what should not be done at all."  How many times have you been encouraged to download an app that someone insisted would save you a lot of time, but when you downloaded it you found that it did something that you really didn't need to be doing anyway?  That recently happened to me.  The app looked promising, but after downloading it I realized that it would take a long time to learn how to use it properly and it didn't do anything I wasn't already doing with another program that I already knew how to use.  I deleted the new app.

Looking back on my pastorate I have realized that many of the things I did really didn't need to be done at all, and if they did need done they should have been done by someone else.  My ministry became much less difficult when I learned to say no to things that I didn't need to do.  That gave me the freedom to do the things that actually needed to be done by the pastor that would help our church achieve the vision we believed God had given us.  I think you'll find the same thing to be true for you.

I can't tell you what things you need to do in order to be your most effective.  That will depend on the vision of your church and many other variables.  But, it is critical that you identify those things and begin to focus the bulk of your attention on them.  Delegate the other activities to other people.  If you say that you have no one you can trust for those other responsibilities then perhaps your first priority is to train people for those tasks.

The Pareto Principle teaches us that 20 percent of what we do gives us 80 percent of our results.  If we can focus more of our attention on that critical 20 percent our ministries will be much more effective, and, as an added bonus, we will feel much less stress in our ministries and lives.  That is a win-win!

For more information on how to better balance your life and ministry be sure to check out my book The Healthy Pastor: Easing the Pressures of Ministry.

Church Leadership Institute

Several years ago the American Baptist Churches of Indiana and Kentucky began to seek a new way of developing leaders in our churches.  After about a year of studying similar programs we developed a two-year study we called the Church Leadership Institute (CLI) and began the first class.  Our goal was to have ten people in our first class.  Thirty-two enrolled, and we have never looked back.

The primary purpose was to train lay leaders for our churches, but as the first class began to work its way through the program they started asking what was available for them when they finished their studies.  The development team decided to add a second level which would also be for lay leaders but could provide training for persons serving in bivocational churches who may not have a seminary education.  The first level consists of eight courses which can be completed in two years, and the second level is an additional five courses which requires a third year to complete.  Each course consists of four classes held on Saturdays over a two month period.

By any measurement, CLI has been a success for our region.  Dozens of students have completed either the two or three year programs.  Several of them are now serving as bivocational ministers in our region, and the rest are providing exceptional leadership to their churches in various capacities.  These students have received an education that could not be offered in most local churches by qualified instructors who hold advanced degrees in the fields they are teaching and/or have experience in those areas.

Due to the generosity of Franklin College all our classes have been offered on their beautiful campus until last year.  Our primary campus remains at Franklin, but we now have sites in New Albany and Vevay where our classes are also offered.  We hope to soon be able to have a site in northern Indiana to make this program more accessible to churches there.

Another change that occurred last year is that we opened CLI up to anyone regardless of their denominational affiliation or church membership.  Prior to this it was only available to members of our region churches, but we believe that this training can benefit more churches than just those in our particular denomination.  We already have a few individuals from other denominations participating in CLI, and our prayer is that we will see this number grow.

As a pastor for twenty years I know that in nearly every church there are a handful of individuals who want to go deeper in their training and in their walk with God.  I also know that it is very difficult for a pastor to spend the time with these individuals that he or she would like to spend.  There are so many demands on a pastor's time that it is very difficult to invest the amount of time in these folks that would be needed.  I also know that no pastor has the experience and knowledge in each of the subjects we teach to give their people what they need to go deeper. 

We want to help you and your people grow deeper in their walk with God and in their leadership capabilities.  CLI has proven its ability to do that for the past dozen years, and we would like the opportunity to work with you and your church to do that for you. 

For more information about CLI go to our website at www.abc-indiana.org and follow the links to CLI or contact Jennifer Greene at jennifergreene@abc-indiana.org. 

Developing teams in the bivocational church

Over the past few years I have officially coached several bivocational ministers and worked with dozens of others.  At some point in those coaching relationships the problem of time has always come up.  I have yet to meet a bivocational minister who doesn't struggle with finding the time to accomplish everything he or she needs to do.  I've tried to address this in several of my books, and especially in The Healthy Pastor: Easing the Pressures of Ministry.  I also talk about it in a couple of the workshops I lead for bivocational and small church ministers.  While there are several things that can be done to help ease the stress of time pressures, one of the best ways to address it is by developing teams in the church to handle some of the ministry tasks that too many of us in bivocational ministry try to do ourselves.

When I began my ministry I really believed that I had to touch everything that happened in the church.  I was young and a self-admitted workaholic so that wasn't a problem for the first few years, but it eventually caught up to me.  I was close to burning out.  I was diagnosed with clinical depression that was due in large part to pastoring a church, working a full time job in a factory, attending a Bible school, and trying to meet the needs of a wife and two children.  When I write or talk about the dangers of living an unbalanced life it comes from my own personal experience.

At an annual meeting of our region I sought out my judicatory leader and told him of my struggles.  He explained that much of my problem was that I was trying to be the church.  I was doing it all.  He went on to say that I was also depriving the congregation of the opportunity for them to be the church.  He helped me understand I was cheating them out of the privilege of doing ministry.  The next week I shared with our congregation what I was going through and my conversation with this leader.  I also announced some changes in how I would serve as their pastor.  One of my challenges at that point was that I didn't know how to do anything other than what I had been doing.  It was a learning curve for me as well as for the church.

A resource I wish I had back then is a great book written by someone who is as committed to bivocational ministry as I am.  Terry Dorsett has written a book called Developing Leadership Teams in the Bivocational Church.  Bivocational ministers do not have to do everything in the church, and we shouldn't.  Our biblical role as explained in Ephesians 4 is to equip the saints to do the work of ministry.  Terry's book is one of the best I have found to help the pastor identify and train the various teams that a particular church might need.  He provides worksheets for both the pastor and the students to use as their work on various ministry roles in the church.  Evaluation forms are also provided so it can be determined how helpful the training was in these various roles.  This is an excellent resource that should be in the library of every bivocational minister, but don't just put it on your library shelf.  This is a resource that is to be used over and over again to continuously be training people how they can use the gifts God has given them to serve both him and others around them.

John Maxwell has a saying that "Teamwork makes the dream work."  I think that's true.  Most of us went into bivocational ministry because we sensed God was calling us to do so.  We began our ministries with wonderful dreams of making a difference for God.  However, for too many of us those dreams turned into nightmares as we allowed ourselves to become over-extended.  If we want to see those original dreams accomplished we need to invest ourselves into developing and training teams in our churches that will allow us to enjoy far more ministerial success than if we try to do everything ourselves.

What is your church doing to make disciples?

A few years ago I attended a meeting of leaders from different denominations.  During the meeting someone commented on the rapid growth of a church in one of the denominations represented.  The individual from that denomination admitted that particular church was growing in its worship attendance but the attendance in that church's Christian education program was declining at almost the same pace.  He explained it was the same problem many of their denominational churches was having, and his fear was that this would lead to serious problems in the next 10-20 years.  The reason for his fear was that the new people their churches were reaching were doing little to grow spiritually, and in the next few years they would be the next generation of leaders in their churches.  Unfortunately, this problem is not limited to his denomination.

The church must do more to help its members grow spiritually.  The Great Commission  does not simply tell the church to lead people to a decision or to baptize people; it says we are to "make disciples of all the nations."

When many evangelical churches think of discipleship they immediately think of their Sunday school program, a program that is in decline in many churches.  If we expect our Sunday schools to be sufficient for producing disciples it demonstrates we have a mistaken concept of discipleship.  Being a disciple is more than just acquiring knowledge.  To be a disciple we must be transformed by the knowledge we gain.

Discipleship is more caught than taught.  Yes, we need to be taught the truths of Scripture, but we must also have the opportunity to put those truths into practice.  The challenge for the church that is serious about discipleship is helping people apply what they are learning.  Too many of our churches fail to provide those opportunities.  We call ministers to provide ministry services to the congregation who sees themselves as consumers of those services.  Clergy is then evaluated on how well they provided such services.  We need to involve everyone in ministry if we are to create disciples.

Jesus called those who would be his disciples to "Follow me."  He then took them on a journey that would shape their lives and prepare them for the ministry they would be given.  Part of that journey involved listening to his teachings, and part of it involved hands-on ministry.   This is the same model churches must follow if we are to be serious about raising up disciples.

One reason more churches do not do this is because discipleship is messy.  It's often easier for the pastor to do the ministry than it is to send out others to do it.  Besides, how can we know when someone is ready to minister to others?  Often, we can't until they are actually involved in ministry.  There is the real possibility that people will mess things up when they try to minister to others...just like Jesus' disciples did.  They couldn't cast a demon out of a young boy, and they didn't have a clue what to do when Jesus told them to feed the multitudes with a few pieces of bread and fish.  Of course, nothing matched their biggest failure when they ran away on the night Jesus was arrested.  But, the important thing is they learned from their mistakes and eventually became known as people who turned the world upside down.

As we approach 2014 I encourage you to take a look at your discipleship efforts in your church.  Are those efforts producing disciples?  Are the members in your church becoming more like Jesus, and are they involved in ministering to others?  What ministry opportunities will your church provide for those who want to grow as disciples of Jesus Christ?  These are important questions you need to answer as you prepare to lead your church into next year.

Much of this material comes from a chapter in my book The Healthy Community: Moving Your Church Beyond Tunnel Vision where you will find some more recommendations on how to help improve the discipleship ministry of your church.

Training men and women for church leadership

Ten years ago the American Baptist Churches of Indiana and Kentucky launched the Church Leadership Institute (CLI) as a way to train lay leaders in our churches for more effective leadership.  We also wanted to provide a way to help equip persons who felt called to bivocational ministry but lacked formal ministerial and theological training.  A year prior to the launch a team of people looked at programs other denominations were using.  We adapted some elements of their programs and added some we felt were important to our region.  Because Franklin College is rather centrally located in our state we asked to use one of their classrooms for our classes, and they very graciously agreed.  We decided that if ten students signed up for the first class we would consider that a success.  Thirty-two people enrolled in that class, and CLI has never looked back.

This past Saturday a graduation service was held in the Franklin College chapel for six graduates.  One of those graduates completed the two year program which earned him a Certificate in Christian Leadership.  The other five completed the third year of classes for which they received a Diploma in Pastoral Studies.  One of these graduates currently serves as a bivocational pastor in Michigan!  He had about a four hour drive each way to attend our Saturday classes, and said during the graduation service that what he received from this program was far more than what it cost him to travel.

Since its inception 217 students have been enrolled in CLI.  Fifty-four of them have taken one or more courses for their own personal enrichment in the past two years.  They may or may not complete the entire program, but they saw some individual courses they believed would be a benefit to them.  We currently have 35 students enrolled in either the two-year or three-year program.  Fifty-two students have graduated with either the certificate or the diploma.

A number of our graduates are now serving as bivocational pastors in this region.  While CLI was never designed to replace a seminary education, it does provide very practical and theological training for persons who feel called to ministry but will not be able to pursue a formal seminary education.  Each of these individuals are enjoying productive ministries in their churches.  However, the majority of our graduates are serving in their churches as lay leaders.  Through CLI they have been equipped to provide leadership to their churches in a way that they could not before their involvement with CLI.

As exciting as our past ten years have been, we are looking ahead to the future.  Last year we added an additional site to make CLI available to more individuals in our region, and this fall we are adding a third site in another part of our state.  In addition, we have now opened CLI up to church leaders of all denominations.  Previously, we made it available only to persons in the American Baptist churches in our region, but now we are inviting persons from all churches to enroll in CLI.

One of the challenges I continually hear from denominational leaders is how they will train the growing numbers of bivocational ministers in their denomination.  Something like CLI is one possibility.  Develop a quality program, staff it with excellent instructors, and make it available at a reasonable cost, and it will attract persons who want to grow in their leadership skills.  Not only will it attract bivocational ministers, but it will attract lay leaders from your churches who will take back to their churches the things they have learned.  This can have a great impact on your churches.  One of the responsibilities of a leader is to develop other leaders.  I believe we in denominational work need to identify ways to develop leaders for our churches, and CLI is a way that is working for us.

Passing the leadership baton

Probably the one thing that brings me the most pleasure these days is training future leaders. This past Saturday I taught the first class of a course I teach in our Church Leadership Institute on "Personal and Family Health." This term we have six students. Some are already serving as bivocational ministers; some are considering such a call while others in the class plan to continue as lay leaders in their churches. The course examines the challenges of ministry and how to maintain balance in the various areas of life that makes for a healthier life and ministry. I look forward to teaching this course each year because it addresses an aspect of leadership that is often overlooked.

For the past several years I've had the opportunity to lead a number of workshops for various denominations. Most of these workshops have focused on bivocational ministry, small church health, and transforming the small church. Some are scheduled for one-day events. Others are scheduled for multi-site, multi-day events. More than once I've done the same workshop in four different cities in four days in order to reach the greatest number of participants. I usually sleep well on the way home when these are over, but I am always energized by the opportunity to help equip current and future leaders.

A couple of years ago I was asked by a university to teach an on-line course on "The Healthy Church." I had taken on-line courses, but I had never taught one. I was impressed with the amount of work that went into the preparation of the course material and how it would be presented on-line. I think we had sixteen students enroll in the course. It was an intense time, but I loved every minute of it. Again, it was the excitement of training future leaders for our churches, being able to interact with them, respond to their questions, and listen to their concerns. Unfortunately, with a DMin and not a PhD not many of these opportunities are available to me due to the accrediting agencies preferring the PhD for instructors. Still, I would not have traded teaching that course for anything, and my prayer is that I helped at least one student as he or she moves forward in ministry.

As a denominational leader I sit in many meetings where the topic is the lack of great leaders for our churches. One of the aspects of our region's vision is to grow healthy leaders. Unfortunately, for many of us in these positions this has been talked about more often than it's been done. About 10-11 years ago we developed our Church Leadership Institute (CLI) in an effort to do that in our region, and since then we've had over 230 students taking classes with many of them completing a two or three year program of study. But, with over 300 churches in our region we need many more involved in such training. I often think if only ten people from each church in our region completed our CLI program it would have a tremendous impact on our churches and on our region. We now have a team looking at how we can do more to intentionally develop leaders in our region,and I think by the first of next year we will have implemented some new ways to do that.

What is your church doing to develop leaders in your congregation? Most churches are doing nothing intentional about leadership develop and wonder why they struggle to find excellent leaders. As the authors of The Leadership Baton: An Intentional Strategy for Developing Leaders in Your Church write, "The answer to the shortage of church leaders is...restoring the church to the center of leadership training....When the church is actively fulfilling its mission of raising up leaders for the harvest, nothing can stop it. The answer is church-based leadership development."  I would challenge you to become intentional about developing the leaders you need in your congregation.  Bivocational churches in the future are going to find it much easier to raise up men and women to serve as pastors from within their congregations than it will be to find some person from the outside to serve in that capacity, but the time to start developing these leaders is now.  Our churches also need to focus on developing their lay leadership if they are serious about becoming more effective in their various ministries.  The key word here is intentional and the time to begin is now.

Equipping the saints to do ministry

I apologize for not posting for a few days, but we've been visiting our son and his family in Pennsylvania and just returned home yesterday evening.  We had a great time with him and our grandchildren, but all good things must end so we had to return home and to work.

One of the positives about bivocational ministry is that people in bivocational churches often understand the pastor is not always available.  These people are often willing to take on more ministry responsibilities simply because they know their pastor has another job that prevents him or her from doing ministry at certain times.  However, just because they are willing doesn't mean they will step in and do things if they haven't been trained to do them.  That was a mistake I made early in my pastorate and one I had to correct if we wanted to see more of our members involved in ministry.  I see many pastors making the same mistake.  We may fuss about the lack of ministry involvement by the people in the churches we serve, but if we have never trained them we shouldn't expect them to be involved.

Actually, regardless of whether one serves in a bivocational church or is fully-funded, the biblical model is that the pastor is to equip the saints to do the work of ministry (Eph.4).  The failure of many churches to follow that model is one reason so many churches are not living up to their ministry potential.  We have separated the roles of clergy and laity to the point that too many clergy persons do not trust the laity with ministry responsibilities, and many lay persons do not feel confident or called to do ministry.  We forget that Scripture teaches that the Spirit of God has given every believer at least one spiritual gift that is to be used for ministry and that one of the responsibilities God has given pastors is to train the people entrusted to him or her how to use those gifts.  If we could recapture that message we would soon find our churches serving in ways far beyond what we often see today.

The good news is that many churches are taking the Ephesians 4 model of ministry seriously and intentionally raising up disciples who are equipped to do ministry.  Greg Ogden, in his book Unfinished Business: Returning the Ministry to the People of God, notes that the first Reformation gave the Bible to the people, and the second Reformation will give the ministry to the people. This Reformation will not be easy for some churches because it will represent a major paradigm shift for both pastors and congregations.  It will require some pastors to learn new skills because many were never taught in seminary how to equip their church members for ministry.  It will also require a much higher level of discipleship that many people in some churches have ever known.  It will require a major restructuring of how churches are structured.  We cannot expect people to sit on a half-dozen boards and committees and also be engaged in ministry outside the church.  It will require pastors to learn how to delegate and trust others to do the ministry that they've often done themselves.  I'll stop here, but I hope you can see it will require a lot to make this change, but I cannot overemphasize how critical it is that this change happens in our churches.

I devote an entire chapter on this subject in my book The Healthy Community: Moving Your Church Beyond Tunnel Vision and encourage you to read it as well as Ogden's book mentioned above.  When the church I pastored became serious about developing our lay people for ministry it revolutionized our church.  I believe it will do the same for your congregation.

My workshops

In the past several weeks I've had a number of bivocational ministers asking if I was scheduled to lead any of my workshops in their areas.  In every case the answer was no.  I am doing workshops in the Great Rivers Region in Illinois this week and another one in Michigan later in the year at an annual meeting of a state convention, and those are the only two I currently have scheduled this year.  Most years I will lead 3-5 workshops so this is a slow year, but that happens sometimes.

I only go where I am invited, so anyone who is interested in one of my workshops should contact their state convention, judicatory leader, or denominational leader and ask them to invite me to lead a workshop for their pastors and lay leaders.  Although I serve in the American Baptist Churches of Indiana and Kentucky, I have led my workshops for Southern Baptists, General Baptists, Church of the Nazarene, Salvation Army, United Methodist, Wesleyan, Atlantic Baptist Mission (Canada), and Lutheran.  I am willing to work with any denomination or group that wants to encourage and equip their bivocational leaders and the churches they serve.  I have also done workshops for interdenominational events held at universities.

The workshops I currently offer are:

• Bivocational Ministry in the 21st Century
• The Healthy Small Church
• Transitioning the Small Church from Maintenance-Minded to Missional
• The Healthy Pastor
• Church Hospitality: How to Turn First Time Guests Into Followers of Christ
• Coaching Bivocational Ministers for Greater Ministry Effectiveness  (This workshop is primarily for judicatory leaders who want a tool they can use to better serve their bivocational leaders.)

Most of these workshops are available in a 90 minute format, a half-day format, or a full day event.  I prefer the full day workshops as they permit the most coverage of the topic, but I have adapted them to fit the needs of the inviting agencies.

Because of my work I limit myself to 5-6 workshops a year outside of our Region, so it is important that people contact me as soon as they can to get me on their schedule.  There is still time to schedule me for an event this fall although 2013 is filling up with other activities.  Again, if you are interested in attending one of my workshops, talk with someone who can host an event and ask them to invite me.  I'll be more than happy to speak with them about their needs.

The ministry of the pastor

In yesterday's post I referred to a book I was reading, The Pastor: A Memoir by Eugene Peterson.  Last night I finished reading the book.  I have long been a fan of Peterson's books, but this is my favorite as it gave me some insights into the journey that led him to write his other books.  More importantly, this book explains why he became the type of pastor he was, an unbusy pastor.

Many of us in ministry, especially those of us who are bivocational, are in constant motion.  We go from church to job to family activity to a dozen other things.  What often suffers in all that activity is our own personal walk with God.  We are so busy doing things for God that we fail to spend time with God.  We spend so much time with people that we can never really be with any of them.  Peterson found himself in that situation.  One night his daughter asked him to read her a story, and he responded he had to attend a church meeting that night.  She replied this was the 27th night in a row he had attended a meeting.  She was counting.  It broke his heart, and when he went to the meeting he told his elders he was resigning as their pastor.

When the elders asked why he wanted to resign he explained that he had become a pastor he did not want to be.  He wanted to pray, to study, to spend unhurried time with people so as to really understand their lives, and to lead the congregation in worship and a deeper walk with God.  He wanted to be an unhurried pastor, and he could not do that while trying to run the church and meet all the demands that entailed.  The elders asked him to trust them to handle the business of the church so he could become the pastor he wanted to be. By the end of the meeting they worked together to reorganize the administrative work of the church, and Peterson never attended another meeting except for the monthly elder meeting.

The entire book was a refreshing look at the life of a pastor, but that particular story really spoke to me.  So much of my ministry was spent feeling like I was a hamster in a wheel, always running but often going nowhere.  Although our church experienced many good things during my pastorate with them, much of my activity was just that, activity that accomplished little.  It wasn't until the last few years of my pastorate that we took seriously Ephesians 4 and began training the saints to do the work of ministry.  In the elder's meeting Peterson admitted he didn't trust them to handle the work of the church, and I suppose the same could have been said about me.  The reason Peterson and I didn't trust our church leaders was that neither of us had ever taken the time to teach them how to do that work.  We bought into the separation between clergy and laity and assumed that the work of the church was limited to the professional clergy.  Peterson learned that was not true much earlier in his ministry than I did, but it was a lesson that improved both our lives and that of our churches.

Due to my age it is doubtful I will ever return to pastoral ministry, but if I did I would want to be an unbusy pastor.  Frankly, that would not be popular in many of our churches.  People tend to judge pastors the same as they judge business leaders and those who play sports.  We measure the things that can be seen, and we keep track of the things that are most important to our particular organizations.  For pastors that is often the holy trinity of buildings, budgets, and baptisms.  In smaller churches it could even be how many committee meetings the pastor attended, how many times he or she went to the hospital or visited in member's homes, and whether or not he or she keeps regular office hours in case someone wants to drop by.

It's not nearly as easy to measure the prayer and devotional life of the pastor or the impact a casual conversation the pastor has with a server at a diner.  Congregations that measure the pastors' sermon by how it made them feel often have no idea how many hours were spent in the study to prepare that message or the ones that perhaps didn't create great feelings but took them deeper into the Scriptures in order to solidify their faith.

By the way, we in ministry often judge the quality of our own ministries by how busy we are as well.  I cannot tell you how many pastors have shown me their full calendars as proof of their worth as pastors.  It seems as if they can fill every day with activities it vindicates their calling as pastor.  After reading Peterson's book I will probably ask when they will have time for the unexpected ministry opportunity God will bring into their lives.  Where is their time for God?  If possible, I would make Peterson's book required reading for every minister, especially for those just starting.  I truly believe most of us could learn much about what pastoral ministry really is all about by reading his ministerial journey.

Developing the leaders in your church

A primary responsibility of a leader is to develop other leaders.  If you are a leader in your congregation, either a pastor or lay leader, someone invested themselves into your life and leadership.  You had to have had the drive, the call, and the desire to be a leader but there were people who helped you learn what you needed to know and experience what you needed to experience to make that a reality in your life.  Now, as a leader you have the responsibility to help other potential leaders develop and grow into the calling God has for their lives.  While this is true of all size churches, it is especially important in the smaller church.

People from small churches often call asking if I know of someone who could lead their youth group.  Typically, this will be a church that has 6-10 young people of various age levels, and people are concerned if the church doesn't do something for them they will lose interest in the church.  Such churches often say they could afford to pay maybe $100.00 for someone to lead this.  Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to find someone to fill such a position from outside that church.  My response is to usually ask if there isn't someone in the church who could do that.  Sometimes there have been persons who have been doing that work, but they are getting tired and want to step aside; other times the answer is that the church doesn't have anyone who can lead such a youth group.

My personal belief is that God has the people in a local church to do the work that needs to be done.  If there are young people in the congregation there usually one or two people who could lead the ministry for those young people, but they often need training.  One of the reasons people get tired and want to step aside is that they've done all they know to do.  They believe there is so much more that could be done, but they don't know how or what.  They are both frustrated that they cannot do more, and they are concerned that the young people are being hurt by their lack of knowledge and skills.  With the proper amount of training their knowledge and skill levels can improve, and a renewed energy can occur in the work they are doing.

In the smaller church most of your staff will be volunteers from within the congregation, and there is nothing wrong with that.  They already know the history of the church and they have bought into the ministry philosophy of that congregation.  They are a known entity in the church so they bring instant credibility to their work.  The only thing that is lacking is they need training, and it is the responsibility of the leaders to provide that training.

This does not mean you have to personally train them, but you do have to help them identify the training they feel they most need and where such training can be obtained.  Begin to coach them to learn where they feel the lack the knowledge they need to lead their ministry.  Once that has been determined look around at the training opportunities that might be available in your area.  Are there workshops coming up they could attend?  Are there other churches that are doing with excellence what they want to do with their ministry?  Take them to those churches and talk to the ones leading those ministries.  Does your judicatory or denomination offer courses that could help them develop as a leader?  It is also important that you arrange for the church to pay for these training opportunities.  Every church should have money set aside in its budget for continuing education for both the pastor and for lay leaders.  This is an investment your church is making in its future.

Two final thoughts.  If the church will pay $100.00 a week for someone from the outside to lead that ministry, there is no reason they shouldn't pay a church member the same amount of money for the same work.  Even a small stipend demonstrates that people believe this is important work, and it shows that the congregation supports this ministry.  Along with that salary, give your volunteer staff a lot of encouragement.  People want to know that others notice their efforts, and when they hear their leaders thank them for their work and that they are doing a good job, it provides that extra boost we all sometimes need.

What will you do in 2013 to intentionally develop the leaders in your church?

Doing discipleship in the small church

In recent blogs I've pointed out that discipleship is more than learning facts.  Over the years many of our churches have determined that education=discipleship, and that simply isn't the case.  If it was we would not have many of the problems in our churches that we have.  Many of our churches offer Sunday school classes for all age groups, a morning worship service, a Sunday evening worship service/Bible study, and a mid-week Bible study.  In addition there are often a morning Bible study group for women and perhaps a Saturday morning group for men.  Other churches also offer small groups that meet for fellowship and more Bible study.  John Maxwell once said in a conference I attended, "The average Christian is educated far beyond his or her level of obedience."  I have to agree.

Education is only one component of discipleship with the other component being the opportunity to put into practice what one is learning.  In other words, discipleship comes by doing the Word as well as learning the Word.  Still another way to put it is that discipleship is as much caught as it is taught.  If we want to develop disciples we have to provide them with opportunities to use their gifts and their knowledge in serving other people.

This is not a problem in larger churches that may have numerous ministry opportunities each week in which people can participate, but it can be a problem for smaller churches that have fewer such opportunities.  In these smaller churches, what can be done to help our members grow as disciples?

1. We can challenge people to identify ministries for which they have some gifts and passion to do and work with them to begin such ministries.  For example, your church may not have a ministry to a local nursing home, but if two or three people identified that as a ministry they would like to do encourage them to develop that ministry and do it.  Your church can come alongside with resources and support.
2. Work with other churches in your association/district to do ministry together.  One of my associations is made up entirely of smaller, bivocational churches.  A number of these churches work together in a variety of ministries both in their local community as well as in another state.  Men, women, and young people from these different churches work side-by-side, and not only do they accomplish good ministry they are also growing as disciples.
3. Work with churches of other denominations in your community.  When I was pastoring my church we had a few people involved with the local Habitat for Humanity.  Every Saturday they were building homes for people alongside others from various denominational backgrounds.  Doctrine and polity took a backseat to ministry, and many families in our small community have benefited from this ministry.
4. Talk to your judicatory or denominational leaders about possible mission opportunities.  Every year at least one or two of our larger churches in our Region plan mission trips outside the country, and most of the time they have available seats for persons from other churches.  Several years ago I went with such a group to Haiti, and that week not only changed my life but had a very positive impact on our church as well.
5. Find small projects your church can do on its own.  I remember once when a widow in our church needed a new roof.  She could afford the materials but not the labor.  We had a couple of men who had worked construction and knew how to install a roof, so a group of us spent two Saturdays removing her old roof and installing the new one.  It was a growing opportunity for us and a blessing to her.  Your church can find projects that your resources can handle as well.

Don't let the size of your church or limited resources be an excuse to not do discipleship well in your church.  As you teach your people the truth of God's Word you must also challenge them to put that Word into practice if they want to grow as disciples.  There are many ways even a smaller church can make such opportunities available.

The growing need for bivocational ministers

As I speak to leaders from numerous denominations they all tell me the same thing.  The numbers of churches being served by bivocational ministers are growing, and these leaders expect that growth to continue.  I agree with their assessment and believe that we are likely to see those numbers increase at a faster rate.  Right now we need more bivocational ministers than we have, and I'm convinced that need will grow rapidly in the future.  There are a number of reasons for this.

1. There are a large number of pastors and missionaries approaching retirement age.  Many have already reached retirement age and would retire if the economy was stronger.  I personally have spoken to a couple of pastors who would have retired at least a year earlier than they did, but they were hoping the economy would improve so their retirement checks would be larger.
2. Studies have found that a percentage of pastors refuse to serve in smaller churches.  Some believe that serving in such churches would not use their gifts and training very well.  Others came out of larger, suburban churches and are not comfortable going to a smaller church.  Still others are not willing to pastor a church for the salary and benefits a smaller church often offers their pastors.
3. Finances are certainly a factor.  Many marginally fully-funded churches that were barely able to provide a living salary find their finances have shrunk to a point that they have had to lower the salary they are paying the pastor.  Even if they do not lower the salary they are unable to provide increases which reduces the purchasing power of the pastor's salary.  Ministers with growing families find they cannot provide for them with the salaries these churches are paying, so the churches are forced to seek bivocational ministers.
4. Several denominations have set aggressive goals for new church starts, and many of them are depending upon bivocational ministers to start these new churches.
5. Many today are second-career ministers.  They may be well established in the workplace or have their own business.  While they do not feel led to give those up, they still feel called to the ministry. If they are settled in their other occupation they are also likely settled in the communities in which they live and may want to remain there and not have to move to lead a church.  For such persons bivocational ministry makes a lot of sense.

No doubt there are other good reasons why more churches are seeking bivocational leadership.  The challenge is finding persons to fill these ministry roles.  It is much easier today to find a pastor for a fully-funded church than to find a person willing to serve as a bivocational pastor.  I have long argued that one of the critical tasks of denominational and judicatory leaders is to identify and equip persons who have been called to be bivocational ministers.

One of the things I am certain of is that our growing need for bivocational ministers has not caught God by surprise.  I believe He has been calling men and women to such ministries to meet this need.  While no one can tell someone they have been called I do believe that those of us in leadership positions can challenge people to pray about a possible call of God on their lives.  While denominational leaders can do that, the best person to issue such a challenge is the pastor.


I want to encourage every pastor reading this post to begin thinking about possible people in their churches who might have such a call on their lives.  Are there persons who seem to have spiritual gifts that lend themselves to ministry?  Are there persons who seem to be natural leaders in your church?  Are there people who have a hunger and thirst for God and the Scriptures and who are able to share with others what they are learning?  These are the people that should be approached and asked to pray about a possible call on their lives to the ministry.  It should be explained that if such a call does exist it might be to fully-funded ministry or bivocational ministry.  I think it's important for a person with such a call to first say yes to the call and then see what doors God opens up.

The need for bivocational ministers will not shrink any time soon.  If those of us in leadership are not proactive in helping persons with a call of God on their lives recognize that call, many of our churches will soon find it difficult to find pastors and other ministry leaders.

We can't grow disciples if we do not learn to delegate.

Early in my bivocational pastorate I tried to do everything at the church.  I was worn out and about ready to leave the ministry when our judicatory had its annual meeting.  I scheduled a time to meet with a denominational leader to discuss what was happening in our church and my own frustrations and temptation to leave.  When I finished speaking he did not hesitate with his answer.  He said the problem was that I had become the church.  Not only was I wearing myself out by trying to do everything I was preventing others from being the church God had called them to be.  He was right.  I might complain that few people in the church would help with the ministry, but the truth was that I never asked.  The next Sunday I announced the title of my message, "Confessions of a Tired Pastor," and began to share with the congregation the conversation I had the previous weekend, my own sense of weariness, and my apologies for limiting them in their own spiritual growth as disciples.  I then announced that as of that moment I was not doing anything for which someone else had responsibility.  No longer would I go behind people and do the things they failed to do, and I would be asking others to step up.  Quite frankly, delegating tasks to others does not come natural to me.  I can do most of them quicker than I can train someone else how to do them, I know they are done if I do them, and I dislike asking people to do things.  But, not delegating prevents others to grow as disciples and it limits the ministry in our churches to only the things we can do ourselves.  No pastor should want to be guilty of either of these.

Delegation is more than just assigning tasks to people.  For delegation to be successful it has to be done while taking into consideration a person's unique spiritual giftedness and passion.  For instance, no pastor would want to ask me to become a choir director.  My musical abilities are extremely limited, and I am being kind to myself.  I have a great voice in case of fire or shipwreck, but you don't want me to lead singing.  In a similar fashion you would not want to ask the church grouch to lead the church greeter team.  One of the most important things a new pastor can do is to identify the gifts and passions of the people in the church so when it comes times to ask people to do certain things the pastor will know who is the best person for each task.

There are several good reasons why we need to do a better job at delegation.  One is that it provides our church with more ministry points.  If the pastor is the only minister in the congregation then the ministry of that church is limited to one person.  But, if the ministry has been delegated to a number of people the church has just multiplied its ministry by that number.  Second, it helps prevent fatigue for the minister.  Involving many people in the ministry of the church reduces the burden the pastor must carry.  Thirdly, it helps with disciple-making.

Growing disciples is more than just offering a number of Bible studies in the church.  Disciples need to learn the Scriptures, but in order for them to become disciples they must have opportunities to put into practice what they are learning.  Discipleship is education + service.  Delegating ministry opportunities to others enables them to grow as disciples.  Refusing to delegate stunts that growth.

If our churches are to be serious about developing disciples we must learn to delegate.  If we are serious about wanting to grow our churches we must learn to delegate.  If we who are in the ministry want to enjoy more productive ministries while maintaining a measure of balance in our lives we must learn to delegate.