Great Expectations: Mobilizing Every Member For Ministry

What role do laypeople play in your church? Are they spectators who expect to be served by the paid staff? Are they critics who will lash out if programs do not meet their expectations? Or are they servants who sacrificially give of their time and talent to move the mission forward?

This article is final part of a mini-series about the roles played by the staff, the council, the laity, the visioning team, and the pastor. In the book Inside the Large Congregation, Susan Beaumont explains that these five systems must work together correctly in order for a church to thrive.

For any church renewal effort to be successful, leaders must mobilize the laity. It is not enough to give clear expectations to the pastor, the staff, and the council. Church members need to know what is expected of them, especially as the church changes in size. We’ll look at these changes in the role of the laity today, and we’ll briefly touch on the process of vision formation.

The Role Of Laypeople in Church Renewal Efforts

Getting Off the Bench

When members become disengaged from the work of ministry, churches get stuck. In many churches, laypeople have become content to sit on the sidelines, paying their tithes and expecting to receive goods and services in return.
It is hard to imagine a paradigm that is farther from the biblical model. Paul told the Corinthian church that every person has been gifted by the Spirit for the common good (1 Cor. 12:7). We must constantly cast vision for a model in which everyone owns rather than observes the church’s ministry.

Taking Hands Off the Wheel

Even as everyone “owns” the ministry in one sense, in another sense it is important that there not be too many cooks in the kitchen. When every person has a strong opinion and is unwilling to compromise, the church will be paralyzed. Have you ever tried to drive a car with that many hands on the wheel?!
In very small churches, it is normal for everyone to be in the loop about most decisions. In larger churches, this is impossible, and decisions need to be made by smaller groups (the council for strategic questions, the staff for day-to-day management issues). If you do not cast a vision for this shift, laypeople will feel disenfranchised and may assume the staff or council is on a power trip.

A New Path of Enfolding

As churches grow, the way people are enfolded grows in complexity. In family-sized churches (0-50), a single matriarch or patriarch may make all the connections. In pastoral-sized churches (50-150), the pastor takes on this role. In program-sized churches (150-350), staff members oversee more elaborate systems that spot newcomers and connect them to programs and people.
In any size church, the task of enfolding will be more effective and efficient if it is owned by the entire congregation. Beaumont says, “The culture of the congregation must encourage every member to feel responsible for the welcoming and acculturation of others.”

A Network of Care

The way congregants experience pastoral care varies with church size. In smaller churches, the pastor is able to know every face, every name, and every story very well. People expect the pastor to be their primary source of care.
As the church grows, the needs of the congregation will quickly outpace what any person or board can tend to. A solution is empowering laypeople who are gifted and called to serve. Pastors, elders, deacons, and staff members will still provide some care but will shift their primary focus to training, supporting, and overseeing this larger network of caregivers.

A Complex Vision-Creating System

Who gets to say what the church’s core identity is? What are the church’s core values? What is its mission and vision? The answer is not as easy as simply giving this task to the pastor, the staff, the council, or the membership. It is through a vision team that brings together all of the above systems.
Smaller churches can more easily unite everyone around a single compelling vision. As churches grow, consensus is harder to achieve. During seasons of visioning, it will be necessary for the vision team to call together focus groups, survey the congregation, and pray together as church leaders, as they engage in the process of strategy formulation.

Looking back on this entire series, which area needs the most attention at your church? Are some leadership systems out of sync with the rest? Which will be the easiest to change? Which will be the hardest? How can you give the gift of clear expectations to everyone in your church, knowing that this is a crucial part of any church renewal effort?