| Guaranteed Church Growth Leadership For Everybody |
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As a writer I've experienced rejection slip
shock, but last week was my first experience with someone requesting to be
taken off an email.
CStation currently is developing three email newsletters. One each for our Believers On Line, Success (business), and Web Creation stations. I've discovered that rejection slip shock and someone rejecting an email newsletter feels about the same. Ouch! But don't feel sorry for me. Some rejection comes with the territory in any vocation be it preacher or poet. What bothers me was the reason for the removal request. More email than they could read, they said, and besides, the person wasn't in a church leadership position at this time. Ouch! No really, ouch! How can someone with three names out of the Anabaptist (Brethren, Mennonite) book write something like that? We, after all, hold sacred as one of our most basics beliefs "the priesthood of all believers." 1Peter 2:9 for those of you who may wondered where the scripture basis is for the idea. The Anabaptist weren't the first or the last to support the concept of total shared Christian leadership. (See Martin Luther himself in his younger days). How far we have strayed into the wilderness of the professional pastorate that folks from the Anabaptist heritage have so little understanding of the importance of the priesthood of all believers concept. If you you've followed the path of Christian Leadership's first two "Guaranteed Church Growth" columns, you know that I'm willing to guarantee a congregation can double it's size in two years or less by following the advice in these columns. Point one in my advice is the need for a church to constantly exercise it's spiritual power through prayer and other means for discerning God's will. Point two, pay attention here, is understand that the most necessary leadership in any faithful congregation comes not from pastors, but from the congregation. Christ, centered, faithful leadership will literally make or break a church's ministry power. You'd think it would make sense then that churches would spend as much effort and resources into training their lay leaders as their pastors. But most don't. Cell churches are one of the few kinds of Christian congregations which understand the need for all of the church family to focus on leadership. They have systems established to train and call leaders, and in classic cell church structure, leaders gain experience and training while moving up the cell church system until those who are called become church pastors. Cell churches, by the way, are the fastest growing kinds of congregations on the planet. Studies have shown that churches with at least 80 percent of their members involved in ministry (not matter what kind of church they are) have more vibrant ministries than congregations with lower lay involvement. In fact, they less lay involvement in a church's leadership, the less the church will grow and it's ministry thrive. In my own pastoral ministry I have found this formula true. Yet how many churches guard their leadership ranks like it was the holy of holies? Where does shared leadership start? At the "bottom" of the church leadership ranks of course. By building a common vision in the congregation that every person in the church is a leader. That ministry is a shared experience which requires dedication by all, collective growth, and a willingness to serve Jesus by everybody. No, not every person can be a pastor, deacon, Sunday school teacher, but everyone can take on the responsibility of leadership. The World Wide Web provides resources for group and individual leadership growth. Take a look at our Believers Station links for a sample of what's possible. And welcome to the adventure of shared ministry! |
ready to try a different kind of
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