To make serving, with everybody doing their part, engrained in who we are as a Church, takes a culture shift. We get there by building an awareness of God’s design for the growth and health of the Body as seen in His commands about serving. We accept the challenge of equipping people to do their parts, understanding that it takes time and patience to get there. With the groundwork laid, we then need to put a course of action in place that will facilitate everybody doing their parts.
The Right Course of Action Could Depend on Your Setting
How easy it is to look at what other churches are doing and follow suit. A cookie cutter approach fails to take important factors into consideration.
1) Where you are
The readiness of people makes such a difference in any kind of change. You need to know where people are in order to take them to the next step. If you try to go from A to Z all at once, your efforts are bound to fail. As seen in Proverbs 27:23, you need to “Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds.”
2) What you already have in place
Sometimes you can build on what you’re already doing. Sometimes you must initiate a new strategy. The specific action steps may vary depending on where you’re beginning and what’s already in place.
Key Factors That Need to Be a Part of Any Course of Action to Promote a Culture Shift
We need to make it an ongoing emphasis and effort, more than a shot in the arm. — People need constant reminders, through various means, that God designed the Church to function in a certain way that brings health and growth to the Body. We can so easily get distracted. We can so quickly forget.
We need to provide tools or a pathway for getting there to sustain this directive in order to make it part of the church’s culture. This could include, but not be limited to:
- ongoing teaching on God’s design for everybody doing their part — It can be part of Sunday School teaching, small groups, new members classes, sermons, provision of reading materials, talking about it verbally and in writing on any variety of platforms.
Resource: Everybody Has a Part Curriculum
- help identifying spiritual gifts so people discover their best fit in ministry — Seeing how God has divinely empowered us for serving produces confidence.
Resource: Everybody Has a Part Spiritual Gifts Tests Resource
- recruiting based on spiritual gifting — How we recruit is important in demonstrating the value we place on serving.
Resource: Ministry Handbook: Spiritual Gifts in Use
- highlighting how people can serve through ministry fairs, pamphlets, or some other means — Knowing what ministries are available, connecting people responsible for overseeing the ministries, and learning how they can plug in to the different ministries, brings it to them rather than waiting on people to come to you.
Articles:
- Ministry Fairs: Goals – Why Have Them
- Ministry Fairs: Planning – How to Plan Them
- Ministry Fairs: Ideas – What to Include