Most of my early years in ministry were invested in
college students on three campuses—Middle Tennessee State University,
Mississippi State University, and Carson Newman College. I learned very soon
that if you want to build an organization on student leadership, you have to
work quickly. They come in as freshman
or transfer students and before you know it, they are gone! You have to recognize potential and gifts in
these young adults and find places for them to use those abilities while
providing coaching and support. And they
are volunteers, so you have to know how to motivate and encourage them in
meaningful ways.
Even though most churches don’t have the kind of turnover
that one experiences in a collegiate ministry (some may argue with me about
that!), the challenges are similar: recognize a person’s potential, find a
place for him or her to serve, support their service, and provide reinforcement
and appreciation.
With tighter budgets, many churches are becoming more
committed to developing their own leaders and using volunteers. The future of the church’s ministry will be
based on committed lay leaders, part-time or bi-professional staff, and “promotion
from within”—moving gifted lay leaders into full-time ministry roles.
Andy Stanley made the comment, “You should always be
training someone to take your place.”
This is not a threat to the ministry leader but an opportunity to
discover, equip and, empower others. The
only way for Kingdom work to be sustainable is to pass the ministry along to
others.
Certainly, this comes naturally to many ministry leaders,
but some have such a passion for what they are doing that they often fail to
“give it away” to others. As talented as
one may be, he or she should always be looking for someone to teach and in whom
to invest his or her experience.
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