Church Work or Ministry?

When I started in ministry in the early 70's leadership recruitment in the UMC was basically the task of finding anyone who had some talents and putting them in a job in the church where they could serve.  The "Nominating Committee (usually primarily the pastor)" had the unwelcome task of filling elected offices that neither functioned in the local church or had any use in the Kingdom. But our Charge Conference forms had a space for a name beside every job and we had to fill that space. If you were breathing you were a likely candidate for just about any job in the church.  We just had to talk you into it either by saying, "I am asking you to take an office that really has no function/purpose, but it does put you on the Administrative Council." Or, conversely, "This is a big job, but I am sure you can do it. It will not require much time." 

Either produced unsatisfactory results.  The first left people, often gifted people, feeling guilty about not doing what the Job Description from the UMC said they ought to be doing and putting them in the decision-making/permission giving loop wothout sufficient "skin in the game." The other outcome was burned out church workers who disappeared every year around Charge Conference time. "I have already served my time. Get someone else to do it.  I'm tired.  I just can't take on anything else."  This often resulted on recruiting second tier leadership instead of having the best players on the field.

Thankfully someone taught me about gifts based ministry - spiritual gifts. What I discovered was if I could help a leader discover his or her spiritual gifts, discern their passion and calling and then help them find a way to serve in the Kingdom which fully exercised those gifts, passion and calling, they soared! Avoidance and burnout ceased to be a problem.  They served joyfully and sacrificially.  The complaint department almost closed (although in the church it is ALWAYS open).

This discovery and experience led me to coin this phrase to capture this great truth:

Church Work Kills


Ministry Thrills

What does that mean?  How many good enthusiastic church members have been beaten to death by work in the church that does not fit their spiritual gifts nor passion nor calling? Just because one is a Certified Public Accountant does not mean that she should be on the Finance Committee.  She may work in that field all week but her primary spiritual gift is the gift of teaching. Therefore if she can be helped to discover that gift and employ it in the Kingdom, she will serve in effective and sacrificial and joyful ways that would never be possible on Finance.  Sure, she can do the work of the Finance Committee, but it is just that for her:  work.  It (Church Work) saps one's energy and diminishes one's joy.

Larry was a computer programmer and typical of the sterotype.  But Larry discoverd he had the Spiritual Gift of Teaching.  He began to teach Disciple Bible Study (a brutally long year-long process requiring a great amount of work and perserverance by the participants). Frankly, I was not optimistic. He was a computer programmer and more comfortable with bits and bytes than Scripture and people.  Now over 15 years later he is still teaching and talks about it with excitement and joy in his face.

Glenn came to me one day to tell me she felt her spiritual gifts, passion and call were leading her into prison ministry.  Being the sensitive and perceptive person I am, I thought, "This is crazy.  They will eat you alive in the prisons of Georgia."  Fortunately I did not say exactly that, but I am not sure how encouraging I was.  However, she did not need my permission and just immersed herself in that ministry.  She became a part of a team that developed a model program for the families of prisoners in Georgia and it has been duplicated in other states at the request of state governments.

Church Work Kills - Ministry Thrills. These are two examples of the thrill of serving in one's area of gifts, verses filling a job in the church. Unfortunately, in my work as a District Superintendent and a church consultant, I more often saw the old way I did leadership recruitment.  And resentment, fatigue, "it will never work here." and "I'm not going to do it" attitudes are the result.  Joyless duty and meaningless work is the description of most leaders in most ineffective churches.

Thankfully years ago my friend John Ed Mathison taught me that just because someone said we needed a job filled in the church did not mean God wanted that job filled.  If no one with the right spiritual gift came forward to serve, the church was better off not doing the task and waiting until or if God did call someone.  That was a freeing realization. Of course, being a pastor meant putting names on the charge conference forms (before the Discipline was changed), but we all knew in the local church that was just a show for the DS.  We found ministry occurring when lay leaders discovered their spiritual gifts, passion and calling and were given permission to pursue that. Some things did not get done. But that made no difference to the Kingdom, just like forcing people into church work makes no difference to the Kingdom - except to take away from its power and resources.

An effective process for helping both lay and clergy leaders discover their spiritual gifts, passion and calling is time consuming, but well worth the effort. Death or joy is the the difference. Kingdom work is the difference.  Transformed lives is the difference.