The next three blog posts will break down the mission statement for the Worship Program at Cedarville, “Equipping Worshipers to Serve.” While this is a reminder to our students of our program’s purpose, I hope it will be a helpful tool for others to think about their own purpose and how we as ministry leaders are to equip people in our churches to have the heart of a worshiper and serve God well.
EQUIPPING
As a young worship leader and minister, I thought it was my job to be the primary doer of ministry. Early in my career, my senior pastor shared with the staff that we needed to give our ministry away. That was a hard undertaking for me, as I tended to be a control freak. I was not good at delegating because I wanted to ensure things were done well. In addition, if I gave my ministry away, what would I do? I actually saw this mindset as a threat to my job.
After conversations with my pastor and studying scripture, I finally realized that it was my job to be an equipper, not just a doer. Eph. 4:11-12 says:
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
It is not our job as ministers to do all of the work; our job is to equip saints to do the work of ministry.
PROCESS
1. Evaluation
One of the first steps is to help evaluate people for ministry fit. Not everyone has the personality to be a church greeter or the talent to play an instrument. Our job is to help people find where they can best do ministry. Each person in your congregation has a unique skill set, gifts, and personality, and we need to help them best employ their gifts.
2. Education
Once we have identified people who are likely candidates for ministry, it is our job to communicate the assignment’s expectations and train them on any required skills. This step is vital in equipping. Without the proper training, any endeavor is likely to fail. This training can take several forms. It could be attending workshops or conferences, taking a course, shadowing someone doing the ministry, having a ministry mentor, or some combination of methods.
3. Examination
Once the individual is serving in ministry, there should be a feedback loop to evaluate whether the person is effective in the ministry context. With higher education, it is easy to do this, as grades are always used as part of the evaluation process. It can be less formal in ministry, but this step is essential. If there is good performance, we should show gratitude and positive feedback to those who are serving under us. If there is a lack of ministry success, we must help give helpful, caring critique to help them succeed. Perhaps more education is required, or maybe another area of ministry would be a better fit for them. These conversations can be a challenging part of the ministry, but it is vital to being good stewards of their time and resources.
Results
This equipping has several results, as seen in this passage of scripture.
1. The saints are doing the ministry.
This helps laypeople get involved in the church’s work and can help share the ministry load of the staff, whether volunteers or paid employees. This sharing of the workload helps others exercise their gifts and bear the load, and it can help prevent burnout from overcommitted volunteers or overworked staff.
2. The body is edified.
This is found at the end of Eph. 4:12. The ESV translation says, “for the building of the body of Christ.” The church is built up when congregants do ministry. Healthy churches have a high degree of ministry involvement.
3. The body is unified.
Vs. 12 ends with a discussion of the edification and building up of the church, and then vs. 13 begins with “until we all come to the unity of the faith.” Working together using our giftedness will produce unity. While everyone is completing different ministry tasks, all should work together toward the same goal: creating unity.
4. Spiritual maturity is a result.
Vs. 13-14 shows the result—maturity. “Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes (ESV, italics mine).
Knowing Christ is the goal and indicator of spiritual maturity. To drive his point home, Paul says it in two other ways: “to mature manhood” and “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” As we build up the churches, we will achieve unity and be mature like Christ, and as a result, we will be able to stand up against doctrinal deception.
CONCLUSION
Equipping is an essential job of every ministry leader and every believer. We are to equip those around us to serve the body and steward the gifts entrusted to everyone well. The result of this will be strong churches and spiritual maturity.
I really enjoyed reading through this post. Being a new member of Cedarville’s worship department, I have heard their core value and heart for their program since the day that I arrived! But, it was nice to be able to read this post that goes into specifics. I like that this post is broken down into a three point process and a four point result. I am currently in the education process, learning the required skills to do ministry well. It is also important to note that everyone working in ministry has the same goal. This is talked about in the points for the results. the body should be edified and we should grow in spiritual maturity. With our knowledge from our education and hearts of service, we should become equipped to lead others in the church and steward our gifts well.
After reading and pondering, I believe that the feedback and encouragement of my Church family was a main reason I continued to pursue God’s calling to Worship Ministry. I had an initial call from the Lord that I then brought to the Church, who then gave me opportunities to lead and further seek out that calling. In the beginning I was kinda just thrown into some situations, one of them I had to help lead a Sunday morning worship at a park we stayed near on a Mission trip. I definitely couldn’t sing well and I was nervous infant of people for sure. But, Im thankful that my pastor’s heard my heart and call and wanted me to start working toward it right away.
Now, a few years down the line, friends, mentors, leaders in the Church affirm my calling and encourage me to continue in the pursuit of God’s plan for me. Church members (not my family) were the way God spoke Cedarville into my head. God’s people are amazing, I love them, and I strive for a life that empowers and encourages them through worship.