Calvin Synod Herald, 2010 (111. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2010-03-01 / 3-4. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 5 Motivating Lay Leaders to Establish Small Group Ministries You must understand that leading and transitioning the church is all about leading and transitioning people. - From Focus on the People by Brad Powell Healthy churches are made up of little communities of faith -small groups. - From Building a Church of Small Groups by Bill Donahue Why do I find equipping leaders for ministry in a small group setting relevant and compelling in our Reformed congregations? In order to answer this question we need to first see our congregations as they really are. In our churches the majority of our members function merely as spectators. They are the audience in the congregation. One of my professors during my theological studies back in Hungary said the following about this: “In our church services our members are more like an audience than a community” (Butosi). In the Hungarian language, interestingly enough, there is only one letter difference between these two words, audience and community; “közöwség” and “közösség.” Why did he say that? Our members attend the Sunday worship services; they listen to the sermons or participate at the weekday Bible studies. They just listen to the pastor’s teaching and then they go home. They do not have a forum where they could express their own thoughts and ideas or share their personal concerns with fellow believers. The pastors need to admit that we have brought our members up with the defective view that they should not interact and share their thoughts during our services and ministries. There were quite a few times when I asked a question at the Hungarian Sunday worship service during my sermon. I asked the members, for example, to put their hands up if they have been in a similar situation or if they had experienced something I mentioned in my sermon, but many times they hardly responded at all. In addition to this problematic way of thinking, our Reformed congregations do not really emphasize lay ministry. Why do I say that? There is an erroneous view in our congregations that the pastor alone should do all the work of the ministry. “He is trained for doing the ministry, not me,” they say. Besides, our Reformed churches usually consider the minister to be an employee of the congregation. Therefore he alone needs to do the work of ministry. “The minister is here to serve the members,” they say, “because he gets paid to serve them.” The members do not think of themselves as significant and effective parts of the church’s ministries. These two major problems should not hinder us from starting new things and rediscovering important doctrines and practices of our Christian and Reformed faith, such as lay leadership training and ministry in a small group setting. The Acts 6 Solution In Acts 6:1-7 we find that in the growing early church some widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. It caused great tension in the community as the Grecian Jews complained against the Hebraic Jews. It was no longer possible for the apostles to do all the work of feeding every widow. Therefore the apostles had to make an important decision. Their solution was to find and appoint seven new leaders, whose names indicate that they were familiar with the Greek-speaking widows. By making such a decision and changing, the whole church was finally able to find peace and move in the direction God intended for them. We need to note here, however, that the congregation could not go forward until new ministers were released into ministry. If we look back to our Reformed churches’ past, we realize that God blessed our congregations. Then after a while (I should say several decades later) the momentum slowed down and the church’s membership went into decline. Now we have mostly aging congregations. One of the main reasons why this happened was that our churches did not meet people’s needs by providing equal care and attention for every age group. In addition to this, in the midst of all the changes in our society throughout the decades, our churches did not find new ministries by which to effectively continue what God has started among us. In the early church, the solution to a similar problem was to expand the care capacity of the congregation by raising up new lay leaders - lay ministers. The apostles shared the ministry with others so they were able to give their full attention to prayer and the ministry of the word (Acts 6:4). Six Values Your Church Needs to Consider Before a congregation starts lay leadership training and any ministry in a small group setting, the members - and especially the potential lay leaders - need to be aware of six important values. Bill Donahue lists these six core values in his books, Leading Life-Changing Small Groups and Building a Church of Small Groups. • Building relationships. Caring about others and seeking to know and understand them. How much do parishioners naturally care for each other? • Loving lost people. Since all people matter to God, lost people are close to His heart. Are people inclined toward outsiders? • Truth-telling. Graciously and lovingly speaking truth to one another, not hiding issues, harboring resentments, spreading gossip, or avoiding healthy conflict. Does your congregation acknowledge and deal with conflict? • Mutual ministry. Everyone shares together in ministry; it is not for just a few paid professionals. Honor the priesthood of all believers. What is the current lay ministry quotient? • Accountability. Committing to one another to practice integrity and moral discipline, allowing a brother or sister in Christ to inquire about each other’s conduct and progress in carrying out responsibilities or behaviors. Is there enough vulnerability and submission to grow? • Commitment. Following through and owning responsibility for the mission. Do people own the church’s mission and act like it? Continued on page 6
