Celebrate the Equipping Church
Herein lies the deep need for a commitment to equipping. What you do at the beginning stages of equipping used to meet the need, but now you have equippers who are equipping others to equip. Mind-numbing, I know. Fortunately, most organizations don’t go from zero to a well-oiled machine of 500 volunteers overnight. We at Pleasant Valley have been so blessed to experience God’s providence to challenge us enough to learn, inspire us enough to vision-cast, and energize us enough to connect people with God daily through meaningful service in His Kingdom. Currently, we have a care chart tracking system in place that allows us to know the name of each person in each ministry who joins or leaves the ministry each month. The care charts allow us to personally stay in touch with our nearly 1800 volunteers.
Pre-launch Checklist
A simple, sequential scenario must be in place not only to establish an equipping culture but also to retain the vibrant sense of a new beginning.
I wouldn’t pretend that I could put together a list of detailed steps that would be the perfect recipe to equip any church. However, the questions below will help serve as a reference for the fundamentals of the equipping process. When you begin equipping others to serve, there are two things you can count on: First, with diligent work your fundamental needs will harmonize, but not in the first week! Second, there will be joy in the process!
- Do our staff and key leaders embody the authentic principle of Ephesians 4?
- Do we have the philosophy of “whatever it takes, we will equip all saints” according to Ephesians 4?
- Does our senior leadership lead the charge in equipping others?
- Do we have systems in place that will ensure each believer the opportunity to discover how God has made them and exactly where they can connect in meaningful service?
- Have we designed meaningful feedback guidelines for each service/ministry opportunity?
- Do our volunteers discover who they are in Christ and become empowered to engage in meaningful ministry?
- Do we train all of our volunteers?
- Do we affirm and celebrate all of our volunteers?
- Do we recognize each volunteer for who he/she is and what he/she does?
I trust that these thoughts will not only challenge you to live out the equipping principles in Ephesians 4 but also encourage you to know that you and your church can actually experience the joys of equipping. As you begin the process, you will be challenged. As you continue through each step, you will experience incomarable joy watching each believer discover their purpose and connect in meaningful ministry. This is great cause to celebrate!
This article is used by permission from Dr. Dan Reiland‘s free monthly e-newsletter The Pastor’s Coach available at www.INJOY.com. Copyright 2005, Injoy PO Box 2782, Suwanee, GA 30024.
Category: Ministry, Spring 2016
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