Carla couldn't find enough workers. With a growing Sunday school, children's church, and full-scale Wednesday night program, Carla struggled constantly to staff the children's ministries at Stillmeadow Church.

Carla needed 91 workers for the three major ministries. Or she would have, if she had found 91 people able and willing to work every week. She didn't. So Carla divided some of the jobs into once-a-month obligations. Now she needed 187 workers.

At First Presbyterian Church in a north Indiana town, Gus felt stymied in his attempt to grow the adult Sunday school. As education director, he wanted most of the congregation's adults to be active in a Sunday school class. That would mean increasing the number of adult classes from four to nine. Gus was finding little enthusiasm among potential attenders, and he was having trouble finding teachers to start new classes.

At the same time the associate pastor, Ron, was finding it harder than expected to grow the church's small group ministry. He ...