One of the biggest issues churches struggle with is people slipping through the cracks. They either don't find their place to serve, or they're in need of ministry themselves but nobody engages them enough to find out. There's a break in the path that leads people walking in the door into active participation.

Early in my years as an equipping ministry director I learned about the frustration, and often the wounds, that occur from such a gap. Most of us have a system to share information about people and their gifts with our ministry leaders. I certainly did. When I learned of people with an interest in serving, I shared the information with staff and church leaders and expected connections to be made. They weren't. When I met with staff and church leaders to find out what went wrong, each one said they had full plates and just didn't have time to reach out to people who needed to be connected. I was burdening already-busy people with one more request. Out of that learning experience, a new system was born: ministry connectors.

What's a Ministry Connector?
A ministry connector is someone who helps others connect with, and become involved in, a particular ministry. The ministry connector receives the names of people who need to be connected, and spends time with them to find out about their needs, desires and gifts. The connector then works to connect them with an appropriate ministry, and follows up a short time later to make sure that an appropriate connection was formed. In my experience, another good definition of a ministry connector is an answer to prayer for both the church leaders and the people waiting to be connected.

To get a system of ministry connectors going in your church:

• Start with people already serving in some ministry area.
• Look for individuals with a passion for connecting people into ministry.
• Look for good communication skills, relational skills, and some administrative experience.
• Look for gifts of hospitality, encouragement, administration, and shepherding.

The ideal is to have an equipping ministry team with a team leader who coordinates and trains a connector from each different ministry area. The connectors form their own team to learn, share, and develop the value, systems, and training for this ministry.

As we developed this new ministry at my church, we added a ministry connector chair to the equipping team. We figured out what connectional links and follow-up processes were needed, and we trained our ministry connectors every quarter. At these meetings we discussed what was working, what wasn't working, and how we could do it better.

It's Not Just Our Church
Willow Creek Community Church has a great program of spiritual gifts discovery and ministry placement, but their program lacked a process for making intentional ministry connections. About five years ago they began using the ministry connector concept, and now have a staff leader heading up the ministry connector team. Their monthly meetings usually begin with training and sharing stories—usually telling their biggest horror stories of where connections failed and why. They laugh and learn from each other's mistakes. Then they listen to success stories of how God is working in the lives of specific people—stories of transformation and blessing when that person has been connected in the right ministry. The third element of each of these monthly meetings is a time of training. The content varies from month to month, based on the needs of the connectors, but they're constantly equipping their connectors.

For the ministry connector system to succeed, church leadership must provide ongoing training and support to the connector team. The greatest success stories are coming out of churches that have made a commitment to regular meetings with the connectors and ongoing training for the connectors.

One of the core values of an equipping church is intentionality. Establishing ministry connectors is a way of being intentional about connecting every person in your church to service, to being served, to education, to training, to fellowship, to small groups…to being active, vital members of the body. It's not just a culture of connectivity that's created; it becomes a culture of caring. When people are effectively connected, they know they belong.

Sue Mallory has served as executive director of Leadership Training Network, and adjunct faculty at Golden Gate Baptist, Princeton, and Fuller Theological Seminaries. She's the author of The Equipping Church and coauthor of The Equipping Church Guidebook, and is executive consultant to Church Volunteer Central.

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