Raise your hand if you are in a church where everyone is active in some sort of ministry position. If your hand is raised, lucky you! If it’s not, join the club of those of us in ministry who put our all into what we do and want to see our churches active and growing. My push at our corps lately has been that everyone has a purpose, we’re all a part of the Body of Christ, as a part of that body we have a job to do. Coming up in a few weeks I’ll be writing and preaching a sermon to go along with this idea called, “It’s not much, but it’s all I have to give.” This will focus on the things that people can see as small offerings to the church, such as passing out programs or picking up said programs from the floor after church, and using the gifts God gave you for the benefit of His people.
While at Youth Councils a couple of weeks ago, my husband and I were looking through the Lifeway book store on campus and noticed a book called “I am a Church Member”. What was even better was they were running a deal where you could get a box of 20 books for $100. It’s hard for me to pass up a deal like that AND with something that could benefit the church. So we grabbed a box and brought them home. These books are short and just about anyone can read them and identify with it. At less than 100 pages broken up into 7 manageable sections, this book is an “easy read.” The only part that’s not easy about it is dealing with the convictions it may place on some people’s lives. This book challenges people to stop viewing their church with “country club membership” and the perks that come along with it, but serving. And in The Salvation Army isn’t that what we claim the S’s on our uniform stand for: “Saved to Serve”? So often I feel like they mean “Saved to Sit”. But no more! We are using this book in conjunction with our new job board to get people plugged into ministry that they may never have thought about before. We don’t want a church full of Church Go-ers, we want active members!
So – how do you make a job board for your church?
1. Identify the needs of your congregation. – What does your church need more of? Maybe it is Sunday School teachers, youth helpers, bus drivers, clean up crew, greeters, ushers, sound guys, etc. (or all of the above!)
2. Identify the giftings of your congregation. – Once you have identified the available “positions” (and I’m sure you’ve already started plugging people into these mentally as you go) then you need to think about the members of your congregation. God has given everybody gifts, and these gifts are as different as the people He has given them to (can I get an “Amen”?) Think about those who may have “obscure” gifts and how they can be used. Ok, so not everyone can be a Sunday School teacher, but maybe there is a person who loves to talk on the phone (you can identify these people because sometimes they do it during the service!) – they can use that! Or maybe you have that OCD person in your corps (it’s always me) that has to make sure everything is straight and perfect – boom, they are your row straightener, platform designer, etc. Everyone in your corps can do something, even the little ones and the ones in walkers and wheelchairs. Tailor some “positions” to these people as well. For ours I’m also providing a Spiritual Gift Analysis quiz for those who may not know what their gifts are yet. I’m having members fill these out and return them to me for scoring so that I can be aware of what their gifts are as well. If they never tell anyone, they can’t be held accountable to use them! You can download a free test here for adults and children in your church.
3. Publicize! – Let people know what you are looking for. For this we designed a bulletin board style “Job Board” for people to see available “positions”, their descriptions, and requirements. Members will then be able to sign up for jobs they feel like they can do. This gives people ownership of their job instead of just being appointed to a job they may have no calling for or desire to do. Make sure they know who to talk to and make sure someone is in place to provide them with the proper tools (training, supplies, etc.) that they may need to be successful at their new ministry position.
job description flyers – These are the flyers I created for our open ministry positions. They very clearly state what the person will be doing and the requirements for each position (note that the very first requirement for all positions is: Evidence of a personal relationship with God – this is the foundation on which we build!) You can use these exact flyers or tailor them to fit your needs.
This bulletin board will be placed in the chapel where everyone has access to it. Due to the size of the board I grouped like ministry positions together and stapled them to the board so they can be accessed by lifting the other pages. The Scripture used is to urge people to pray for the ministry positions to be filled as well as encourage them to be the workers in the harvest field. Keeping with the harvest field theme – the green is grass! Instead of “Ministry Opportunities” you could call it “Our Harvest Field” (something I came up with after I had already cut out the letters for the other and got to work!).
4. Support – One of the biggest killers of new ministry is the lack of support. People want to know they are appreciated. Train them well to do their new job well, and recognize accomplishments along the way. Do ongoing training with those in ministry positions, keep track of how they are doing, and give them feedback. Pray for them! They will face attacks of spiritual warfare once they step up and start actively working for the Kingdom of God. Make sure they, and you, are equipped with the proper tools (Armor of God) to be able to stand firm in their work.
I hope this will encourage your congregation to be active church members instead of passive church go-ers. I’ll let you know how it goes here!
Hallelujah Breakdown 