When changing church culture, live the change.

Jesus came to change everything. He embarked on the mission of changing the way people thought about God, the way they responded to God, and the way they lived out their relationship with God and others. He embraced the mission of changing the world’s culture—of changing norms, values, philosophies, behaviors, and actions one life at a time. Jesus envisioned big change, but he began that change with a towel.

In John 13:1-17, Jesus did the unthinkable. He knew his mission, so before the Passover celebration, he got up and wrapped a towel around his waist. The disciples probably gasped as they saw Jesus put on the “clothing” of a slave. Then, despite well-meaning protests from Peter, who knew how a respected rabbi was supposed to act, Jesus washed the disciples’ muddy, calloused feet. When finished, he took the towel off, put on his robe and returned to the table. With the disciples staring in wonderment, Jesus said, “I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you” (John 13:15, NLT).

Jesus wanted to change the culture or mental model of a leader from someone who lorded over people with dictatorial power to someone who served people with great love. With a towel around his waist, Jesus lived out the change he came to make. The disciples saw the change in action and became motivated to make the change themselves and then take that change to the world.

We equipping leaders (those who see Ephesians 4:12 as a command from God to equip “volunteers” to become ministers) face the challenge of taking change to the church. We face the uphill task of changing church culture from a spectator sport with everyone sitting on the bench (except the paid ministry professionals) to the game of a lifetime with everyone on the field playing to full potential. To climb the mountain of cultural change, we must follow Jesus’ model. We must live the change by equipping the equippers. That means building teaching models within our church.

For Jesus, the teaching model was the towel that he used to live out the principle of servant leadership. As equipping leaders, our teaching models are ministries into which we can build equipping principles so that others see the great impact of those principles being lived out. Equipping principles center around:

• teaching the biblical foundation for equipping.
• communicating the equipping vision.
• assimilating people into church culture.
• discovering people’s spiritual gifts, passions, life experiences, and personalities.
• connecting people with ministry opportunities in the church and community based on spiritual gifts, passions, life experiences, and personality.
• training people once they’re connected to ministry.
• developing appropriate people into leaders.
• affirming people in their ministry.
• helping people reflect on how God has touched their lives and others through ministry.

The key to identifying teaching models revolves around need and opportunity. Jesus took one look at his disciples’ feet after a day of walking around the dusty streets of Jerusalem, and he immediately knew the need. With a towel, he seized the opportunity to live the change and demonstrate servant leadership.

A 21 st-century example of a teaching model surfaced recently at Forest Hill Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, where a passionate team leads the Habitat for Humanity ministry to assist in building homes in the inner city of Charlotte. Their need was to find people with experience in construction and the passion to help others begin a new life. The old way consisted of inviting people to join the ministry through short, two-line announcements in church communication pieces. As a result, few people participated in—or even knew about—the Habitat ministry.

But then the equipping team took the time to train Habitat leaders on accessing a database listing the spiritual gifts, passions, and interests of church members. The Habitat leaders identified the gifts, passions, and interests needed for their ministry, and got a list of people with matching profiles. The team then sent personal emails and made follow-up phone calls, resulting in the largest team ever–40 people!–going to the work site.

The Habitat team now serves as a teaching model of connecting people with ministries based on gifts and passions. The equipping team has taken the next step of telling the story to church leaders so that they see the results of equipping in action. Little by little, a culture changes.

Like with Jesus, who saw a towel as an instrument of change, we must think creatively when looking for opportunities to build teaching models. When we identify outstanding leaders and train them to mentor potential leaders, a leadership development process begins. When we connect new members with ministries that occur in teams and require little training, assimilation happens. When we teach team leaders to ask questions that guide team members through recognizing what God has taught them through ministry, reflection soon becomes the heart of team relationships.

While thinking creatively, we also must ask right questions. We uncover opportunities to build teaching models when we ask:

• With which ministry teams do we have trusting relationships? Jesus could ask the disciples to do something uncomfortable and unfamiliar (letting him wash their feet) because they trusted his heart.
• What is an area of health in those ministries? Jesus knew the disciples had gotten the message of servant leadership when Peter passionately exclaimed, “Wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!” (John 13:9). The Forest Hill Church Habitat team had passionate leadership who came to the ministry through careers in construction.
• What equipping principle can enhance that area of strength? The Habitat leaders could (and did!) become more successful by adopting the principles of discovering people’s overall giftedness for ministry, and connecting with people whose gifts matched their ministry needs.
• After building the teaching model, to what leaders do we need to tell the story of the impact and change God is making? Jesus asked the disciples, “Do you understand what I was doing?” (John 13:12). He then explained the change he modeled. The equipping team at Forest Hill Church showed the leaders of other ministries there how successful the Habitat team had been.

Jesus lived the change by seeing an opportunity, seizing a towel, and telling the impact of the model the towel represented. When we live the change by creatively seeking teaching models, building equipping principles into those models, and intentionally telling stories of revived ministries and lives, churches change—one ministry at a time. Like Jesus, seize the towel, live the change, and enjoy the adventure.

Deana Nail is director of ministry involvement and leadership development at Forest Hill Church, a 1,500-member Evangelical Presbyterian church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before joining the Forest Hill staff in January, Deana served for seven years as a church coach and consultant for Baptist Metrolina Ministries, the association of Southern Baptist churches in Charlotte.

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