In a word – Discipleship!

Like Paul stated in 1 Corinthians 11:1 “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” We need to find a Godly individual that we can imitate so that in turn a younger generation can imitate us.

As a church we have some great ministries in place and they are there to build and serve our congregation and our community, but what they do lack for the most part – consistent volunteers. We have some that routinely volunteer for areas, but we have holes in our weekly services and special events regularly. Kids Ministry is a prime example – the need for volunteers never ends. I feel that it is not that the ministry is difficult, or poorly run – quite the contrary, we have an exceptional leader that is pouring her heart into this ministry. But therein lies the problem; she can only pour into so many lives, in return those people need to pour into others and let it take a ripple effect from there.

I currently serve in 3 ministry areas and I think that the urgency in all three areas is for strong leaders that will shepherd their volunteers to grow and commit to living for Christ in their daily lives which in turn will lead to a better response in serving. When I say leaders – I am not referring to our salaried staff and pastors – I mean us, the volunteer leadership. Steve Strutz mentioned the vision for the conference is “to have healthy, life-giving, prevailing, multiplying pastors and churches.” As I was driving home I was thinking that vision applies to all of us in each of our areas of ministry and lives.

So my sense of urgency is this; as leaders we need to make sure that we are leading lives that are uplifting, healthy, and always sharing God’s truth with those around us (both in words and in action). We need to have someone who is mentoring us so that we continue to grow and be healthy. But more importantly, we need to be in the role of disciplining those that serve with us to grow and be healthy as well. That role cannot just be on the day we are signed up to serve on – it needs to be a continuous relationship.

So I know you are thinking, I can’t disciple all those I serve with – you are right, but we do have Biblical Counseling and Small Groups that can fill that role as well. We need to be checking with those we serve with to confirm that they are connected with someone that they can learn from, grow with, and be held accountable to as well as pouring into a few of those that we connect with individually.

Hebrews 10:24-25 “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

In helping one another grow in Christ we will see an increased desire to Word centered, to serve our community, to expect growth and not remain comfortable, and to have fun while we are doing so - after all those are our goals. :) When that happens - we will have an abundance of volunteers and our community will truly experience Christ through the body at Harvest.