Transforming a Culture
Sue Mallory

Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might. — Ecclesiastes 9:10

In Ecclesiastes, the author (thought by many biblical scholars to be Solomon) issues us a challenge: to give our very best effort in the ministry to which God has called us. To do this, we must pray and we must continually learn. We must seek the best practices and learn from others as we continually strive to take our ministry and journey with Christ to higher levels. What are others doing? Who can I learn from? Who can I walk with on this journey? Why is this so hard?

Are you frustrated that no matter how hard you plan your “recruitment campaign” for ministry volunteers, it always falls short? And yet, you know there are people in your church whose lives would be transformed in the process of serving others. This is the ongoing dilemma of many, if not most, volunteer coordinators called to “fill a slot” in their ministry.

The “in thing” these days is for churches to hire someone to be responsible for calling and equipping people to serve. This new position is titled everything from Equipping Pastor, to Director of Lay Ministries, to Volunteer Coordinator. The assumption is typically that this person will create a successful gift discovery program, find numerous volunteers, train them, and send them—equipped and empowered—to the ministry field for effective service. Approached this way, though, it rarely happens successfully, and the new Equipping Pastors become frustrated as they attempt to push this boulder uphill alone. As a result, the other leaders and staff members experience frustration too, and eventually they frequently respond by saying, “We’ve tried that gift thing, and it did not work for us.”

The biggest problem with this scenario is that gift discovery is seen as a program to get volunteers (which often leads to pigeonholing someone by their gift). Gift-discovery is not a program; it’s a biblical mandate to reveal how God created and uniquely anointed each believer with special gifts to use in service of his kingdom. Exploring and using our God-given gifts is not the individual responsibility of an Equipping Pastor; it’s a value that must be taught, preached, and modeled from the top down. All pastors, staff, elders, deacons, and any leadership with a voice and a serving responsibility must understand this biblical mandate, and lead from their own gifts. Those who teach must impart this biblical understanding and help people interpret the results of this rich discovery.

This will begin to create an equipping culture in the church. It’s exciting to see the value and transformation that come in people who serve with their gifts. One of the best ways to spread that excitement and implant the culture is by inviting people to share their stories in front of the church.

So if this is a biblical mandate, why aren’t more churches doing it? Actually, many have begun moving in this direction, and we hear some exciting stories from those who attend our workshops. But the reality is that the majority of pastors and staff members have never been taught the depth of Ephesians 4:11-16’s instructions to “equip the saints for ministry.” They have no idea how to support and sustain an equipping culture. Many have been caught in the snare of the congregation’s expectations that the staff is supposed to do the ministry. This is not an indictment, just a fact. Seminary did not prepare pastors to empower and to release God’s people.

As lay leaders, we must acknowledge this reality in our churches and proactively respond in dealing with this difficult challenge. But how? We must begin with staff—those told in Ephesians to equip God’s people. Pastors and their teams need to be trained to understand their roles in leading and changing the church culture; that their job isn’t to be the ministers, but to equip the ministers. The biblical injunction in Ecclesiastes 9:10 should drive pastors to seek training to enhance their seminary learning, and to gain the tools to more effectively lead their congregations.

For a Director of Equipping, Lay, or Volunteer Ministry to succeed, he or she must work in partnership with the senior pastor and staff to plan, build, educate, and train to the values and processes of an equipping church. (I know from experience; I started with this role in a church in which I had to train upward!) The role of the teaching staff is to preach and teach often and in depth about what it means to be gifted and called into service. This includes planting these seeds in worship, in a variety of classes, and in small groups. The role of the director is to assess what’s working well and where the missing links are. You need to begin work with multiple teams to build systems that reflect the equipping value, while supporting the specific needs and values of your church.

There’s no one quick fix to getting volunteers. However, I know from much experience that over time your church will be transformed when you intentionally create and support a culture that identifies, values, trains, encourages, affirms, and evaluates the health of your people, their needs, and their service. It’s not an easy task, nor does it happen quickly or alone. It’s a partnership with pastors and lay folks, all committed to understanding and working toward what those words mean that are written on the back of so many of our orders of worship: “We are ALL ministers.” It will take a willingness to learn from others moving toward an equipping culture. When you do build a body of ministers rather than believers or attenders, you will find more than the reward of richness in ministry; You will also find that—at its best—ministry “with all your might” is really fun!

Sue has served as executive director of Leadership Training Network, and adjunct faculty at Golden Gate Baptist, Princeton, and Fuller Theological Seminaries. She’s the founding president of the Southern California Association of Lay Empowerment and Development (LEAD), and is the author of The Equipping Church and coauthor of The Equipping Church Guidebook. Sue is currently the directional leader of Leadership Connection.

This is the beginning of a series of articles from Leadership Connection practitioners; those who are actively building an equipping culture in their churches.