Newsletter Articles
Equipping in the Larger Church
I was at the hospital and a MRI tech was trying to stick a needle in my arm to inject contrast dye. Apparently that's how you get a better picture. Well, it's also how you get a monster bruise if the tech doesn't know what he's doing. After several pokes and jabs, he said: "This doesn't seem to be working." I thought – what do you mean "seem"?! Either its working or it isn't. And if you don't know, who does? So he moved from my arm to my hand, and that didn't work. Then he tried my other arm. I felt like a pin cushion! And no, it wasn't my veins, they were popping up fine! In fact he went through one of them, that's why it bruised so much. It was clear to me that this person was not equipped to do this part of his job.
Equipping is essentially training. It's easy to tell when someone has not been equipped. You will not be sticking needles in the arms of people who attend your church, but without proper training you might as well be. (Not really.) Because their experience is a painful one if staff and volunteers don't know what they are doing. The lesser equipped the greater the pain.
If your parking lot team directs people into gridlock, your ushers point without smile, and children's leaders send kids off to the restroom by themselves – these are all signs of a lack of equipping. They are not "bad volunteers", they are people who have not been trained to do the job.
The last Pastor's Coach article was titled: Equipping in the Smaller Church. When it comes to equipping, there are things that are similar and things that overlap in smaller and larger churches. But there are also some significant differences in the nature of smaller and larger churches that have a big impact on your approach to equipping.
We must first acknowledge that there's a reason that your church is larger. There are many possibilities -- from location to leadership. And because it's larger, the expectations are greater and ministry is more complex. That immediately changes the playing field for equipping. Candidly, there is less grace. It's like comparing a small town Urgent Care Clinic with the Mayo Clinic. The expectations of training (and performance) are different. They just are. You can wax on about the fact that spiritually speaking all churches are the same before God, and that's true. But a church of 50 and a church of 500 function differently, and people walk through the doors intuitively understanding that.
OK, none of us lead a perfect church. If you do, please let me know because I want to write an article about you guys!! Ultimately we're all about grace, and if learning is taking place mistakes are good. But let me be blunt, there may be some grace for lack of training in volunteers for a smaller church, but there is little grace for lack of training in a larger church. By the time a church passes 1,000 you need to know what you are doing, and when you pass 2,000 – 3,000 you should be able to train other churches in how to train volunteers!
Here are some helpful guidelines in the process of equipping.
• An informal atmosphere or culture doesn't equal informal equipping.
We have a 10 page training manual for serving as an usher at 12Stone Church where I serve as Executive Pastor. I remember not long ago handing one of those manuals to a new usher and his response was amazement. He said: "How many pages does it take to show me how to pass out baskets?!" By the time he finished reading the material and going through on-the-job training, he knew there was more to being a great usher than meets the eye. After each new usher has reviewed the training material and served at least one Sunday they also receive an excellent little book titled: 5 Things You Can Do to Lead Effectively, by Phil Stevenson. If this is what is done to train an usher, what then will you do to equip your children's leaders, small group leaders, and the rest of your great volunteer teams? Informal is good in relationships, but keep the training at a world-class level.
• Establish an environment where equipping works.
I've learned so much in large churches that equip their people brilliantly. It's so encouraging to be in those environments. A breath of fresh air! But I've also consulted for several larger churches where equipping doesn't work well. In each case it was either because it wasn't valued or seen with the right perspective.
In one situation it was in a very large church where the pastor was an outstanding communicator and a charismatic leader. Everything of value in that church happened inside the worship auditorium. There was no equipping or training because if the pastor wasn't doing it was not considered important enough to attend. Another very different experience was a church hungry for training but when it happened it was done poorly. It was last minute and not well prepared. A third church I consulted did a good job with equipping but they were completely mechanical in their approach. It was a like a seminar with a factory feel. It seemed like "Just get the training done so they can do their job right." They completely missed the heart of the matter.
Good equipping is always people first. If you focus on helping the volunteer enjoy their ministry and find meaning in it, they will get their "job" (ministry) done well. In fact, equipping in the original text (Ephesians 4) refers to "mending and making whole." That's ultimately what equipping toward maturity and serving is all about!
• Understand the difference between equipping and developing.
There is a certain amount of blend and blur with equipping and developing, but if you don't know what is distinctive to each one you are likely to miss important factors for one or the other.
Equipping is training someone for a specific ministry task. It is as clear cut as preparing a Children's Ministry Volunteer to lead a child to Christ, or tell a story in a captivating way, or how to communicate love to each child. Equipping is showing a Greeter how to welcome someone to the church. Equipping is coaching a Small Group Leader in group dynamics. Equipping is specific and is largely based on your church's agenda. That's a good thing. If it's a Great Commission Church, it's God's agenda too!
Developing dives into another dimension. If equipping is training for a specific ministry function, development is about helping the person become a "bigger, better, stronger" person in general. Developing someone invests spiritual leadership training in such a way that they do life better, not just church ministries better. They lead in their homes better, they advance at work more quickly, and they make a greater contribution to the community at large. Development is not based on the church's agenda, but more so an individual's personal growth. The church benefits, but that isn't the primary goal as it is with equipping for ministry.
• Treat equipping as an on-going process.
1. Communicate quickly and clearly about the desired results. (Never lower your standards.)
2. Give generous amounts of praise and appreciation.
3. Ask for their point of view and input in general. You get greater results when you invest in great teamwork.
4. Provide continued training, but don't make it complicated.
• A review of the initial components of equipping.
1. Make sure that the person is serving in the right ministry for them.
2. Determine the specific desired results for each ministry.
3. Indentify the required skills and core competencies for each ministry.
4. Take into consideration the cultural and philosophical biases of your church.
5. Provide the appropriate training material.
6. Use the most qualified people to do the training.
7. Provide the necessary tools and resources to volunteers so they can do their job.
There is so much more to the art and skill of equipping, but this is more than enough to get you going and launch further conversation on the topic at your church. Keep equipping, it's worth it. . . and candidly, it's non-negotiable for your continued health and growth.
“This article is used by permission from Dr. Dan Reiland’s free bi-monthly e-newsletter, “The Pastor’s Coach,” July 15, 2010, available at www.INJOY.com.”
More like this one in | Newsletter Articles
Comments on this Entry:
Post a comment