Employing vs. Empowering
At our church a few weeks ago, Sara shared her heart with our pastor about what she is passionate about. What God has given her a desire to do. I was there and watched her talk and saw the pastor's response. It was more or less a brush off. Sara has a degree in Family and Child Development and is passionate about helping families. So many churches want children and have VBS and huge kids ministries, but don't do anything for their parents. This kids might hear the word at church, but go home to the bad environment. Sara believes it's important to reach the parents as well as the kids, and God has given here a great passion for that. To give families tools to function, to help parents love their kids and build them up.
It is well documented that our church has a "need" for people to work with children. They want to start things on Wednesday nights, and a choir/worship service for Sunday nights, as well as maybe a kids church. But we were told that our church wasn't ready for that, that we weren't big enough to have a program like that, reaching parents. But we want people to work with kids.
All of this to say, it seems that churches today spend a great deal of time creating programs, creating ministries. The leadership might think that they need a kids ministry, so they make one. Or they think they need a soup kitchen, so they do it. And then they have a ministry with no people to work it. So they go out and recruit, they act as an employer looking to fill a specific need.
I don't think that is the way that the church should work. As a pastor, I think it is my job to know the people, to know where God has gifted them, and what they are passionate about. For a church member to come to me and say "This is my heart, this is what God has given me a desire to do" It is then my job to empower them, to equip them. If that is what God has made them passionate about, if he has given them this idea, I want to give them tools, money, resources, help, prayer, guidance, encouragement, to accomplish this.
To many churches are recruiting people to fill the need they have, and you end up with people doing a job because there is a need, and they feel obligated to. But the
It is well documented that our church has a "need" for people to work with children. They want to start things on Wednesday nights, and a choir/worship service for Sunday nights, as well as maybe a kids church. But we were told that our church wasn't ready for that, that we weren't big enough to have a program like that, reaching parents. But we want people to work with kids.
All of this to say, it seems that churches today spend a great deal of time creating programs, creating ministries. The leadership might think that they need a kids ministry, so they make one. Or they think they need a soup kitchen, so they do it. And then they have a ministry with no people to work it. So they go out and recruit, they act as an employer looking to fill a specific need.
I don't think that is the way that the church should work. As a pastor, I think it is my job to know the people, to know where God has gifted them, and what they are passionate about. For a church member to come to me and say "This is my heart, this is what God has given me a desire to do" It is then my job to empower them, to equip them. If that is what God has made them passionate about, if he has given them this idea, I want to give them tools, money, resources, help, prayer, guidance, encouragement, to accomplish this.
To many churches are recruiting people to fill the need they have, and you end up with people doing a job because there is a need, and they feel obligated to. But the
Comments
I really hope you live up to this...