So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13
“Learn to entrust and equip others to be meaningfully involved as coordinators and leaders. There are skills you will have to acquire as you make this shift, since most of us are trained (or have learned through experience) to do the work of ministry rather than to equip others to be partners with us in this. You will have to help people discern who the appropriate parishioners are for leadership or coordinating roles, develop structures of communication and provide training for them.
Once ministries begin to function in this way, however, it is freeing for current leaders, who can now keep the bigger picture of the vision you hold in common and ministry needs and practices in mind. The parishioners who are entrusted with ministry will find themselves able to draw others into service with them. The ministries multiply, simply and gracefully…The truth is, the more engaged parishioners are, and the more fully they grow as stewards, the less we have to worry about funding the ministry within or beyond our parish.”
Leisa Anslinger and Victoria Shepp in Forming Generous Hearts: Stewardship Planning for Lifelong Faith Formation (New London, CT: Twenty Third Publications) 143.
Entrusting God’s people with ministry helps them mature and helps the local church grow. Equipping God’s people for works of service positions them as stewards and your whole church corporately for abundant fruitfulness.
Entrusting and equipping unleashes generosity!
As Anslinger and Shepp rightly note, however, most of us are trained “to do the work of ministry rather than to equip others to be partners with us.” They are not kidding when they say that entrusting and equipping are skills that need to be acquired.
Does your church need help in this area?
Today I am Indianapolis attending ECFA Church Excel advisory committee meetings. Why serve on this committee with enthusiasm? It’s been a joy to work with skilled ECFA staff and volunteers to develop free resources for pastors and church administrators.
Check out www.ecfa.church and encourage your pastor and church administrators to become a Church Excel subscribers. It’s free! Tap into a host of knowledge center documents, courses, ebooks, and other resources for helping entrust and equip God’s people to faithfully administrate God’s work in local church settings.