When it comes to mission, churches tend to think primarily in terms of volunteers, i.e. “we need volunteers to fix dinner at the Rescue Mission this month.” While Parachurch organizations are always looking for volunteers as well, they often attract people who are compelled, i.e. the servants. Out of the ten people who volunteer to fix dinner at the Rescue Mission one or two go to the mission on a regular basis because they feel that God has called them to minister to the homeless. I have a friend I met with recently who feels called and he and his wife go because they want to be there, God has called them to this ministry, and they are compelled.
When a church commits to “a night at the Rescue Mission,” it is required to recruit volunteers. So the church’s night at the Rescue Mission is a “church thing” and is built on volunteers. But when some of the church’s people pursue their commitment to Rescue Mission with passion and get involved on nights other than their church’s night to fix dinner, we think of them as doing the Rescue Mission’s ministry.
Unfortunately, churches take ownership of projects that need volunteers, but they rarely take ownership of the ongoing community ministries of its servants. As a result the church is stuck with the weary job of recruiting volunteers and it misses out on celebrating the passion that only servants can create. Once people actually want to pursue a community ministry, their church doesn’t know how to “claim” them or to celebrate their ministry with them. The challenge is to change our thinking about those who pursue ministry at the Rescue Mission as servants. We have to figure out how to claim and celebrate their ministries first, as ministries of our church, and, secondarily, as a ministry of the Rescue Mission.
To reclaim a church’s “Parachurch” servants by recognizing them as the Church’s servants, churches will have to create a “new dimension of church recognized ministry.”
Thoughts about unleashing the greatest force on Earth
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About Me
- Rich
- I am a slave to no man or institution. I have worked with Frank Tillapaugh for thirty years and most of the ideas are work we would like to share.
The next generation
God thank you for two amazing young leaders
Looking Forward
Each year I get to spend time with young leaders and the gap is growing between them and my generation, why?
1 comment:
"Unfortunately, churches take ownership of projects that need volunteers, but they rarely take ownership of the ongoing community ministries of its servants." This is so true. In fact at many churches, including mine, individual ministry ideas are squelched, sidetracked, and diminished.
It's easy to see why. Pastors, especially at mega-churches like mine, get ministry ideas all day everyday from their staff, from fellow pastors, from the church across the state with the great idea . . . and then they throw open the doors and in flows a crowd of innvigorated excited members each with an idea "that God has laid on their heart." It's no wonder that approaching a staff member on Sunday can be like approaching a kicked dog. She either runs away or attacks.
Either way, the pastor and the member have a terribly unsatisfying experience.
But what if the Church saw that very exchange as success? What if that conversation was the win? A few years ago Erwin McManus freaked out his leadership at Mosaic when he stood up and told everyone to quit any ministry they didn't feel personally called to be involved in. Yes, some major programming died that day but if the church can't engage enough people in their vision then the ministry probably shouldn't have ever started. Years later Mosaic's footprint on Hollywood is unmistakable. Can we say the same?
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