Restoring Ministry Passion Requires a Commitment to Minister to People Groups

Every church has people who are passionate about the traditional ministries, there passionate pastors, bible teachers, children’s workers, musicians, youth workers, etc. These folks, (a group that includes us by the way), normally represent about 20% of those who attend a church. The 20% are incredibly important; their ministries make the church’s Base of Operation a solid one.

The challenge for the other 80% is to cast a vision for additional ministries; ministries birthed out of their sense of ministry calling. These 80% need to be encouraged to get involved in the kinds of ministries that the scores of Parachurch organizations are already pursuing. If the ministry playing field in a church is too narrow, the 80% will end up in the rear echelon. Once in the rear echelon, in addition to becoming part of the sit, soak and sour crowd, they also become Great Commission Casualties. Their ministry potential goes unrealized.

You can’t feel the heart, of a shoeless little girl, beating next to your heart in a rear echelon class on Discipleship or Holy Land Geography. Christians of all ages, incomes, and abilities long to feel someone’s heart beating next to theirs. There is a huge river of potential ministry passion flowing in the pews of America’s churches. The biggest challenge that church leaders face at the beginning of the 21st century is to tap into the river of ministry passion.