At some point the people that you lead are going to want to serve Jesus. It’s a natural instinct for someone that is filled with God’s Spirit. As we fall in love with him, we want to show him our adoration. For some love is shown by works of services, and those few will make everyone else feel guilty for not doing the same.
If you’re anything like me you’ll like everything to be done perfectly in a very particular way. The greatest sign that you have grown, and that your baby has grown, is when you trust someone else with it.
There will be people that can help setup speakers, or make the tea on Sunday mornings. There will also be people that actually know some scripture and can lead a Bible study, or even preach. If you’re going to grow beyond twenty people you’ll need to let some people lead some stuff.
Delegating tasks and ministries doesn’t negate your responsibility for them, so ultimately if they fail you will need to pick up the pieces, but that’s just part of being a leader.
We have ran a ministry, on and off when we could afford it, called HUG for the last four years or so. This year I told the Church that we’re not doing it anymore because it empties our bank account every time we do it. The hardest thing is that it’s reasonably successful in bringing people to Jesus so it’s really hard to give up once you’ve started it.
I gave the Church the option to sponsor the ministry on top of their tithes. Any household could give a maximum of £20 a month, or a minimum of £5 per month, to help run HUG. This meant that if a key family dropped out we wouldn’t take a huge hit and we could keep it running.
To my amazement we haven’t gone bankrupt this year and the Church has got behind it so much that we’ve even been able to buy the odd family their weekly shop, or some baby clothes.
People will put cash where their heart is, and then they’ll put commitment where their cash is.
You would be surprised how quickly Christians mature when they are asked to lead other Christians too. If they are keen on Evangelism and leadership they won’t want to upset or lose the team that you’ve given them, which means they’ll have to learn some social etiquette.
I get more questions about how to deal with people you are leading than I do anything else, and we always go back to humility and reading scripture to become more like Jesus.
Sometimes it’s even worth running a ministry for the sake of growing the saints instead of just trying to win the lost all the time.
Some ministries that are quite easy to give to new(ish) believers are: Sunday refreshments, putting chairs out, setting up sound equipment or lights, setting up the bouncy castle, litter picking, delivering flyers, sweeping and emptying bins.
You may think they are quite menial, but if you give people some responsibility they grow and they commit. The sharper cookies will make a rota for the task you’ve given them and then ask for more responsibility. Before you know it you’ll be released to teach and lead just like the early Church in Acts.
To consolidate what you already have around you, you need to delegate some tasks around the Church and community.
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