By CTA - Christ to All
Every church wants more of them.
Potlucks? Nope. Rummage sales? Nope. Donuts and coffee during fellowship time? Nope.
Every church needs to be making more disciples with a common purpose. Making ministries and volunteers is more important than all the potlucks, rummage sales, and donuts and coffee during fellowship time. Why is that? Without ministries and volunteers there would be no potlucks, rummage sales, or refreshments during fellowship time. Developing disciples with a common purpose is the heartbeat of a thriving and successful congregation.
How can a church go about developing disciples with a common purpose? How can a church make more ministries and volunteers? Here are three key questions that every congregation should ask when it comes to making ministries and volunteers:
Why Should Churches Create Disciples with a Common Purpose?
It is very easy to skip over this question entirely when it comes to making ministries and volunteers. We much prefer to go straight to asking, “What are we going to do?” However, asking “Why?” is the key to forming disciples with a common purpose. Why does your women’s ministry exist? Why are you putting together a men’s ministry event? Why do we have potlucks? Answers to these questions may include the following: discipleship, fellowship, evangelism, encouraging one another, growing in God’s Word, or opportunities to worship together.
Jesus had a firm sense of the “why” behind his ministry. For example, Jesus said things like, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10 ESV) and “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32 ESV). Notice how Jesus knew exactly why he had come into this world. This “why” guided how Jesus went about ministry and what he did on a daily basis.
How Can Churches Create These Disciples?
After considering the “why” behind your ministry or need for volunteers, it is time to ask some “how” questions. This takes your “why” answer and puts it into a simple formula: “How can we help (insert group within congregation) to (insert your goal)?” For example, “How can we help men in the congregation to grow in God’s Word?” Another possibility: “How can we help women in the congregation to encourage one another?”
It is important to note that a single “why” question may result in several different responses to the “how” question. For example, you may find that there are many different ways to help women in the congregation encourage one another. That’s okay! That gives you several different options to choose from when developing ministries. You are able to choose one or several different ways for women in the congregation to encourage one another. Yet, they will all be unified by a common purpose and goal because you’ve taken the time to understand why you are doing it. This allows your ministry to be focused and it gives your volunteers a strong sense as to why they are serving.
What Will This Ministry Look Like?
This is the question that everyone loves to answer—what are we going to do? Once you’ve discerned the common purpose (why) behind your ministries and the ways that you might turn that into action (how), it is time to explore what ministry will look like and what sort of volunteers you need. CTA offers all kinds of great resources for women’s ministry and men’s ministry that you might use to support these ministries. There are even free, downloadable resources available to help you make ministry events even more meaningful and memorable.
It is at this point that you will need to recruit volunteers to help you make the ministry happen. However, since you’ve taken the time first for “why” and “how,” you will be prepared to help your volunteers capture the common purpose driving this ministry. Be sure always to take time to train, encourage, and appreciate your volunteers.
Every church wants more disciples ministering and volunteering with a common purpose. But not every church has figured out the way to do it. While it may seem like an impossible task, it’s really not all that hard. Just ask three important questions: Why? How? What? These three questions are the key to making ministries and volunteers into disciples with a common purpose!
