tVB 54 CHURCH WORK TRAINING: 101 SERIES: BUILDING YOUR CHURCH WORKERS

tVB 54

CHURCH WORK TRAINING:

THE MINISTRY 101 SERIES:

BUILDING YOUR CHURCH WORKERS

Adapted from ‘BUILDING YOUR CHURCH / MINISTRY WORKERS’ Training Programme, designed especially for new founding Pastors and Pastors of young and small congregations and their Associates / Assistants. This edition answers the question, “How do I begin building and developing my church/ministry workers?” Please enjoy. We also look forward to your questions and comments - Ed.

Answering the call to the pastoral ministry is no joke, especially where handling and managing Worker’s issues are concerned. The matter of workers is one that has created untold trouble for many. Nevertheless, no pastor or minister can operate without workers. The wrong workers or the right but wrongly cultivated worker could become as a barrier to the fulfillment of your ministry. A right worker or a properly cultivated worker could be bridge that connects your vision with its manifestation. The truth is, God makes cows, but man has to make sausages. God provides raw material workers, but it is the minister’s job to cultivate and develop them into ministry vision builders for his God-given vision.

Dealing with workers’ issues make leaders ask such questions as:

· How do I get reliable workers?

· Where do I get them from?

· Why can’t these people just support me and do this work?

· Why are these people behaving like this? Why can’t they just follow simple

instructions?

…And very many more.

You might have asked yourself similar questions. Questions like these above are usually borne out of frustration from grappling with worker’s issues. And that is the point when the minister realizes that he does not have certain vital information required to put things in order.

God told me in 1991 that until leaders know how to fire up or build their people (workers), the work will never get done. He gave me a mandate to help leaders know how to raise, build and manage their church/ministry workers.

Workers, the right workers, are vital to any work, be it ministry or enterprise. For young and new ministers especially, finding them can be an uphill task. Many discover that doing church or ministry with volunteer workers is not as straight-forward and simple as they felt it would be the day they received the call from God. To circumvent this problem, many employ key manpower with a view that if I am paying them, they will be committed. That may be business-sense, but in the reality of ministry, it does not always work as planned. Often the minister concerned gets caught in the cycle of struggling to make up the budget to pay his staff, a burden bigger than the size of the ministry on the ground.

The type of workers you end up with in the long term, depends on how you start mining for your ministry human resource field today. So, how do you begin to build and develop your church or ministry workers to eventually have a crop of reliable, bible-based workers for your ministry?

Share your Vision

Once, when I was invited to minister at a friend’s church, the Lord told me, “Talk about Vision, the vision of that church. Ask them what the vision is.” I was made to understand that everything starts from the knowledge or awareness of the vision behind that assembly. Vision has been defined as ‘A vivid mental image’. I like to define it in relation to worker’s development as ‘where the pastor is going’. As the pastor, God has told you something. He has given you a task that has culminated or produced a church assembly. If your workers have no idea where you are going, how can they focus energy or seize related opportunities when such come their ways.

At this particular church I visited (it was a small church), we had quite a wonderful time of fellowship around the question, “What is the vision of your church?” All shades of ideas as to what the vision was were given, and when everyone who had an idea was done, I decided to settle all controversy by asking the pastor to tell us his vision from God for the church. He did, and a short while later we closed our ministration. The following year I was invited back, and the Lord told me, “Pick up from where you left off last year”, so I did. I asked what the vision of the church was, and got quite a lot of encouraging answers. I felt released to share further on what to do with vision once it was known.

Two weeks later, one of the elders of that assembly said to me, “Something happened after you came. You’ll remember that you met our church building project at the same point as last year. We’ve been struggling to move it on. But in just two weeks, since the day you ministered, we have raised the walls to half height, completed roofing and completed the pastor’s office.” I was quite glad, but was even more amazed at the impact of the power that can be released when workers catch a vision. For that assembly, it was so powerful as to produce in two weeks what had been a struggle for two years! I don’t know what results you seek in your work, but a good place to start is to share your vision with the available hands you have.

Any Questions on Church Work?

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TOPE A. BANJO

Church Work Teacher,

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