Just Normal People

If you were on a church leadership team and had to prioritize spending cuts, which would you cut: seminary trained pastoral staff or lawn and maintenance services? I am aware of lots of churches that are laying off “professional” ministers. Lawn and building services seem to be a higher priority. Why? Couldn’t these services be provided by volunteers? Evidently not, it seems that lawn and building maintenance requires the work of highly trained technicians. Ministerial services do not require as much training and can more easily be handled by volunteers. Do you find that to be the case where you are?

Volunteer Church Planters Wanted

You don’t have to quit your job to serve on a church planting team. In fact, intentionally entering the marketplace in order to develop an understanding of the culture, cultivate relationships, and foster a sense of legitimacy in the community is a sound missiological strategy. Phillip Connor in his book, Who is my Neighbor, explains:

How could we encourage these new disciples in Christ to live their lives as
witnesses in their work life, when we had little experience or knowledge as to
how that practically happened? And, as churches began to emerge, how could we
model newly appointed elders to lead the church while simultaneously meeting
their financial needs by working a full-time job outside of their ministry?
After our two-year commitment with the missionary agency was complete, we
continued on in a volunteer capacity. This permitted us to still be connected to
the greater work for reasons of accountability, encouragement, and prayer
support…. Not only did we now approximate better the lifestyle of those we were
trying to reach, but we also were now interacting with new groups of people,
many of whom were internationals. This provided us with even more contacts for
ministry.

We are looking for missional Christ-followers who will strategically stay in or enter the workforce in order to more effectively build relationships with people, serve their communities and provide for their families while starting indigenous churches. If this is you – get in touch with me at 407.293.0450 or mweible@goba.org.