Why do 20 percent of lay people always end up doing 80 percent of the work?
Because, says lay mobilization consultant Paul Ford, the 20 percent may not be letting the 80 percent do the work of the ministry.
Some of the 80 percent may even know their spiritual gifts. But there’s a big difference between knowing and doing.
“People need more than knowledge,” says Brad Smith, director of project development for Leadership Network, a private foundation that assists congregations and their leaders. “They need help–a lot of help–to get into ministry.”
That philosophy is behind a new trend in the way churches mobilize people for ministry.
WHAT’S SO SPECIAL?
So how does this trend differ from the body-life and spiritual-gifts movements of the past? In three ways:
Systems Thinking. Instead of focusing on one area, such as helping people find their spiritual gifts, many churches are developing an entire process. Leadership Network studied churches successful at mobilizing lay people for ministry and found seven common components:
- Assimilation: Through programs such as new-members’ classes and cell groups.
- Context: Through teaching what Scripture says about spiritual gifts and a believer’s responsibility to serve.
- Discovery: Through assessments and interviews to guide members into an awareness of their unique gifts, temperaments, and experiences.
- Matching: Through leaders informing people of ministry opportunities within the church or community.
- Placement: Through introducing people to ministry leaders, reviewing the ministry description, and training them for service. (Smith says this is where most churches drop the ball.)
- Coaching: Through ongoing training, support, supervision, additional gift discovery, and if necessary, new placement.
- Recognition: Through celebrating people’s service and reflecting on the meaning of ministry.
Motivation. Much of the new lay mobilization movement is fueled by the internal needs of volunteers.
“Issue one in our culture, Christian or nonChristian,” Ford says, “is the search for significance, which has grown exponentially in the last fifteen years.”
Context. Because of new pressures, such as the rise in dual careers and single parenting, two-thirds of today’s volunteers work outside the home.
“Today’s volunteers say, ‘I have more limited time, but I care very much,'” says Marlene Wilson, director of Volunteer Management Associates in Boulder, Colorado. “Even though people’s lives are more complex, they care as passionately about what’s happening as they ever did.”
One result is that volunteers like short-term projects with a definite beginning and end.
80 PERCENT IMPETUS
So how to motivate the 80 percent?
One way is to get the 20 percent to stop doing and start leading.
“We need to redefine ‘leadership,'” says Wilson, “from ‘how much have you done’ to ‘how many others have you involved.’ When people are doing it all, they’re not leading.” Turning the 20 percent into leaders, for example, may mean helping them recruit many people to do what one person used to do.
Another way is by asking the 80 percent to use their work skills at church. Wilson recommends, for example, that if a church’s youth program is in trouble, to ask a middle manager or someone with organizational skills to analyze the program and come back with recommendations.
Today’s new volunteer requires new approaches, which the emerging lay mobilization movement is seeking to provide.
—Craig Brian Larson
WHAT LEADERS ARE SAYING ABOUT LAY MOBILIZATION
“The old mentality was, ‘We have jobs to fill. You’re church people. Now fill these jobs.’ Now we’re taking time to organize, assess people, and then interview them individually. As a result, people take ownership of what the tests show they’re capable of doing.”
—Mark MarfisiHillcrest ChurchDallas, Texas
“The stalwarts and pillars of the church who would fill all the roles in days past–they’re gone. Among our people there is a sense that just about anybody can do just about anything.”
—Daniel BrownThe CoastlandsAptos, California
(To contact people mentioned in this article, click on the Contributors’ list.)
1996 Christianity Today/LEADERSHIP Journal
