In the first years of Christianity following the Pentecost experience, the church was organized around the spiritual gifts of persons, as reported in Paul’s letters to the Corinthians and Romans.  The church was not so highly organized at that point, depending on key local leaders and the ministry of all believers being carried out as the Spirit led.  Make no mistake, it wasn’t perfect, because some people felt that their gifts were more important than others, but that is not the fault of the Holy Spirit but of human ego.  Within a generation, as we see in the letters to Timothy and Titus, the church began organizing around offices – some were bishops, some pastors, some deacons, etc.  Through the centuries, the organization around offices took on an even more highly structured look, and the gifts of the Spirit were shoehorned into systematic offices.  In church-speak, it meant that if someone received the gift of administration, they were put on the church council, finance committee, or trustees.  If his or her gift was teaching – the Sunday School staff.   For many years, it was a system that seemed to work well, but as the world changed, and the church didn’t, the system produced the results it was designed to produce: laity who saw themselves as volunteers for Jesus who assisted the “ministers” in getting certain tasks done. 

As we move into the 21st century, there is a move to return back to our root, to reorganize ministry based on the gifts of the Spirit rather than on specific offices.  Committees are not most people’s ideas of ministry – what works is a person passionate about fulfilling his or her God-given call to serve in the world, to claim the ministry of all believers.  The shift is dramatic.  For a person with a gift of administration, he or she may be feeling led to organize a mission team to go to Haiti or the Gulf Coast to help with on-going relief.  A person with a gift for teaching may want to develop an on-line Bible study blog to engage persons in faith dialogue in new ways.  Another with the gift of generosity may desire to share that gift of radical hospitality by coordinating persons to communicate personally with visitors to the congregation. 

But don’t you need permission?  Jesus said that wherever two or more are gathered together in his name, there he will be also.  Get a few folks together that you know, people who share your passion, and get to work.  The guidelines are quite simple:

1. Don’t do it alone:  with a few people working together, good ideas become great, and the Spirit works in amazing ways when two or more work together. 
2. Practice invitation and multiplication:  invite new persons to join you in your ministry, and if too many get involved, break off and create two groups, three groups or more.
3. Plan for your own exit:  from day one, plan for someone to take over at the time when you’re no longer able to do this.  Train your successor, and that will mean that the ministry won’t fall apart if you are suddenly not able to continue, plus it shares leadership and helps others to become leaders themselves.
4. Communicate your plan to the pastor, and then to the congregation.  This is not so much for permission, but for coordination.  With the multiple levels of ministry that we have in our church, we want to make sure that conflicts in schedules, etc., can be negotiated so that everyone’s gifts can be utilized.
5. Make regular attendance in worship, as well as other spiritual disciplines such as prayer and study a regular part of your life so that you can stay connected with God as you continue to serve in the name of Jesus Christ.

The future of the church is not in how many programs we can plan, how many sermons can be preached, or how many events we can organize.  The future of the church lies in how persons called by God through their baptism can fulfill the ministry that God has gifted them to do.  Through this Lenten Season, I encourage you all to be faithfully in prayer, discerning God’s call on your life.  I would love to have an opportunity to sit and talk with you about your spiritual gifts.  Give me a call, or e-mail me (sgbechtold@yahoo.com) so we can set up a mutually convenient time – morning, afternoon or night – to be in conversation about the gifts that God is calling you to use. 

In Christ,
Steve

Click here to view the archived Lenten Sermon Series.