Thursday, May 08, 2008
Ministry Staffs
Growing churches have multiple staffs. That is the theory we have all bought in to, and I happen to think it is Biblical. I am convinced Antioch had five preachers on staff. However, I believe growing churches have multiple evangelists on staff. I mean they have people whose full-time job is to bring people into relationship with Jesus. Most of our staffs today have ministers to work with the members. We typically have one preacher, no evangelists, and the rest of the staff are ministers.
Think about it: most of our church staffs are hired to minister to us. Youth ministers, small group ministers, worship leaders, educational ministers, campus ministers, and involvement ministers are mostly to serve us. Some of these positions can be evangelistic, but the truth is that most of these are not. We are focused on us.
If we are going to survive as a fellowship, we had better get this one right. It is hard to grow when the overwhelming majority of our paid staff is for us. Even our pulpit ministers spend most of their time interacting with us instead of non-believers. Our own language betrays us. We hire ministers, not evangelists and preachers. My latest frustration is with the preachers whose title is minister of the Word. What does that say about everyone else on staff?
So how would you feel if your church hired evangelists whose job was to seek and save the lost? Would that change the make-up of your congregation? Should we hire more than one preacher? Would it change the dynamics of our churches if all staff members were required to spend at least half their ministry working with non-Christians, or new Christians?
Think about it: most of our church staffs are hired to minister to us. Youth ministers, small group ministers, worship leaders, educational ministers, campus ministers, and involvement ministers are mostly to serve us. Some of these positions can be evangelistic, but the truth is that most of these are not. We are focused on us.
If we are going to survive as a fellowship, we had better get this one right. It is hard to grow when the overwhelming majority of our paid staff is for us. Even our pulpit ministers spend most of their time interacting with us instead of non-believers. Our own language betrays us. We hire ministers, not evangelists and preachers. My latest frustration is with the preachers whose title is minister of the Word. What does that say about everyone else on staff?
So how would you feel if your church hired evangelists whose job was to seek and save the lost? Would that change the make-up of your congregation? Should we hire more than one preacher? Would it change the dynamics of our churches if all staff members were required to spend at least half their ministry working with non-Christians, or new Christians?
