Our Greatest Asset

A recent Wall Street Journal article, “The New Age of Entrepreneurship: 70-79,” points out that as more and more people are living longer, they are also working longer. More than that, more and more people in their 70s are starting businesses. Using their experience, training and education, they are beginning companies that solve problems and yes, make money. They have found traditional retirement to be boring and want to do something different. Only this time, they want to call the shots. They want to work with the people they want to work with and do the work they find meaningful. So, to be their own bosses, they start their own businesses.

Here’s why I find that interesting. A lot of these same people are in our churches. They’re healthy, educated, extremely well trained and talented and yet, most of them won’t be asked to do anything meaningful in their local churches. It’s just not senior adults who aren’t asked. Most of our members aren’t asked to do anything meaningful in the life of their local congregation.

On the other hand, every church leader I know is complaining about not being able to find enough “volunteers” to run the various ministries and programs of the church. Why is there such a disconnect between those who seem to be available and the unfilled positions?

There are several reasons. Here are a few I’ve run into as I’ve worked with more and more churches.

First, and this one is interesting, most members have been burned in the past by “volunteering.” They’ve been stuck in jobs they couldn’t get out of and working in places where they neither had the gifting or passion to do the work. They finally freed themselves from this manipulated commitment and made one promise – they’ll never volunteer again.

Second, a lot of churches are trying to find workers for ministries and programs that no longer work. If you know church history, you will know most of the times of our services were set to accommodate an agricultural society. We have worship at 11 am so farmers can get their chores done and make it to church. Wednesday nights were started to get ready for the circuit riding preacher to arrive on Sunday. Needless to say, our schedules are different these days. There’s no law that says church has to be at 11. There’s no law that says there has to be a children’s ministry or student ministry. They may be helpful, but they are not required. If your church finds these or other ministries helpful, fine. Do what works for your congregation. If it doesn’t work, let it go. Most of the time, our people have already made the decision not to support a ministry long before leaders decide to shut it down.

Third, and this one is important, most of us as pastors don’t know our congregations. We don’t know what matters to them. We don’t know their dreams and hopes or how God is dealing with them in their own lives. If we know what God was doing in the lives of our people, we might be able to see what God wants to do in the life of our church. As pastors, we need to understand and recognize the kind of people God is leading to be part of our congregations. As we understand the people who are making up our churches, we can begin to see how God wants our churches to engage our communities and neighborhoods. When I was a pastor, I learned to listen to those conversations when someone would say something like, “I wish our church would…” Some of our most creative and impactful ministries of our church came from the burdens of our people.

When God called Moses to build the tabernacle, He told Moses who to go get to do the work. God had already prepared the craftsman and workers to build the worship center. In the same way, God has already prepared the members of the church with the gifts, talents and passions to be able accomplish the kingdom mission to which the church is called. It’s our job to find these people and find a place to connect their callings and passions to the ministry of our churches.

On some wall in every corporate headquarters is a plaque that says, “Our people are our most important asset.” Every great leader knows it’s the team around them that makes the business successful. Likewise, every good pastor knows it’s the membership that makes the church successful in being faithful to their kingdom calling. The church is the people and the people are the church. They are also the best missionaries, counselors, leaders, pastors, group and worship leaders, ushers and choir members. Our leadership as pastors is only as successful as the ministries and missions of our people.

This essay was first posted in Scot McKnight’s newsletter.