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“We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us” (Romans 12:6). Read how three congregations encourage members to use their gifts to serve others.
Your life is your personal ministry to God
The member ministry program at St. Paul’s, New Ulm, Minn., began in the early 2000s. Finding people to volunteer for congregational programs defined the early philosophy.
Since then, our emphasis has changed to encouraging others in personal ministry. We help members discover and understand how God has gifted them and encourage them to serve with their gifts.
To do this, we have developed a Time of Discovery Bible class with six 1-hour lessons, using the Word and basic evaluation tools in a classroom setting. Our Member Ministry Team guides explorations and discussions of Scripture references that speak directly to living in God’s grace. An essential understanding of these classes is found by embracing 1 Corinthians 6:19,20. “You are not your own; you were bought at a price.” Hence, our foundational message: “Your life is not your own. Your life is your personal ministry to God.”
In the class, the Member Ministry Team seeks to strengthen the relationship of the believer to God by helping each participant recognize and understand that God has uniquely gifted every believer for a purpose in his kingdom. He has given every one of us a unique blend of spiritual gifts, personalities, styles, passions, and life experiences. All of these are according to his plan and good purpose for us and his kingdom.
The motivation for service is gifted by God (Philippians 2:13), and seeking to do his will is at the center of service. A growth in understanding the grace and knowledge of our Savior (2 Peter 3:18) produces a spiritual maturity. Together, this motivation and maturity results in fruits of service, as believers are eager to grasp opportunities to serve.
Personal invitations and encouragements are shared with members of St. Paul’s, inviting them to the classes with this promise: “You will be blessed by the Time of Discovery, because Scripture is the foundation for everything we do in these lessons.” The lessons use visual presentations, personal applications, and group discussions. Every participant receives a 50-page handbook to keep. We encourage a Discovery Guide Session where the participants meet one-on-one with a member from the Member Ministry Team to explore their personal ministry gifts, interests, and opportunities for service in the congregation, community, and within their families.
Mike and Shari are recent graduates of the Time of Discovery Bible class. “Time of Discovery helps us to better understand the gifts that God has given us,” says Mike. “When they are different than what you thought—that’s when you realize how to better utilize those said gifts.” Shari feels it completely changed her perspective on where she thought she could serve best, and she has been thrilled with the results.
Mike and Shari are actively involved in works of service at St. Paul’s and beyond. They facilitate and serve as activity coordinators, especially those requiring meals. Mike is an elder, and they both are on the assimilation team. Each winter they work with the WELS mission in Mahahual, Mexico.
Our Member Ministry Team is excited to witness the joy and love as participants seek to serve the Lord in their personal ministries.
Note: St. Paul’s Member Ministry Team will share Time of Discovery materials electronically and offer experiential advice. Everything is editable, so materials can be conformed to local needs. Contact Ron Wels at [email protected] for more information.
Learn more about St. Paul’s ministry at splnewulm.org.
Ron Wels, member at St. Paul’s, New Ulm, Minnesota
Volunteerism at a small congregation
Our membership at Ascension, Macomb, Mich., is still small (but growing). With a membership of 158 souls (115 communicants), it is important that we are good stewards of the volunteers, volunteer hours, and skills that God has brought together here.
Ascension’s annual Fall Fun Festival is a good example of how volunteerism works in our small congregation. Compared to other things we do in our “come and see” outreach efforts, this event brings the most people onto our campus. This year we had about four hundred people attend. They enjoyed trackless train rides, hayrides to our pumpkin patch, various games, two bounce houses, food, and trunk or treating. We needed to utilize countless volunteers to make the event a success.
Here are five things that help us accomplish so much under God’s blessing with what and whom he has given us.
- We keep our focus on our mission statement as our purpose. By highlighting the connection between our mission and what we are asking people to do, volunteers see the higher purpose of their investment of time and skills.
- We break the tasks into small pieces. At our Fall Fun Festival, some supervised a game. Others served food. Some decorated their vehicles for trunk or treating and handed out candy. Still others helped direct parking. There was a place for all the people to serve in a way that fit their gifts and the time they could volunteer. Even those who could not help at the event could support the effort by donating candy, food items, pumpkins, cornstalks, or mums.
- We invite and encourage repeat visitors and friends of members to be involved. We have found that good things happen when repeat visitors invest themselves in our congregation’s work and rub shoulders with members. When members invite friends to be part of our event, it both serves our outreach purpose and expands the amount of volunteer hours available to make it a success.
- Our leadership team (church council) facilitates good ideas that come from our planning teams. The council asks questions such as “Does this support our mission statement? Who and what does the planning team need to do this? How can we help provide that?” This encourages people to volunteer not only ideas but also themselves.
- We use a cleaning service to keep our building bright and clean. Whenever people come into God’s house, they find it clean, orderly, and welcoming. By spending some dollars on a cleaning service, we don’t have to spend valuable volunteer skills and time on that and instead can use our volunteers for more outreach-minded tasks.
Learn more about Ascension’s ministry at ascensionmacomb.com.
Daniel Simons, pastor at Ascension, Macomb, Michigan
Using hobbies to form new relationships
A recent trend among outreach-focused Protestant churches is pastors and other congregational staff taking on part-time jobs entirely distinct from their church roles. This is often referred to as “co-vocational ministry.” It differs from a “bi-vocational” arrangement in that it’s not entered out of financial necessity. Rather, the desired goal is better personal interaction within the community.
Even more widespread is the trend for both clergy and laity to use personal skills or hobbies to form new relationships. Finding common ground with others can, hopefully, lead to an opportunity for discussions of a spiritual nature.
Examples are numerous and varied. Interaction might take place on or apart from the church campus. As a mission counselor, I have witnessed many examples in both mission and established congregational settings, including the following:
- Four outreach-focused seniors offer free baking lessons at their industrial grade church kitchen. Free on-site childcare is also available. This goes over well in a community populated by numerous families with stay-at-home moms (or dads) who have recently relocated to the area.
- A pastor uses his above average golf game to interact with 39 other community leaders in a summer only, evening golf league. Teams of four golfers. Different teams each week. Nine holes only. Important sunset fellowship is mandatory.
- A group of younger men, women, and teens use their gardening and lawn care talents on Saturday mornings to help senior citizens who are still capable of living independently but welcome a bit of help with their outdoor property. As a sidenote, this plays into the reality that while baby boomers are aging rapidly, many are still interested in exploring new relationships and discussing spiritual matters.
- Two lay leaders and their pastor enjoy the hobby of home brewing. They go a step further than merely sharing insights with one another by joining a once-per-month brew club that shares samples and then shifts the group discussion to community affairs.
- A retired husband and wife take their storytelling skills into the settings of public school classrooms and community center teen events.
We need not necessarily limit the 21st-century application of “[using] whatever gift you have received to serve others” (1 Peter 4:10) and “[becoming] all things to all people” (1 Corinthians 9:22) to identify the next stewardship committee member or Sunday school teacher. Compiling and employing the various hobbies within a congregation can be an initial step in what might be depicted as forming “pre-evangelism relationships.” In a larger community setting, this often becomes an inexpensive and nonthreatening opportunity to share the truth with both the lonely and the spiritually searching.
Mark Birkholz, member at Sure Foundation, Brandon, South Dakota
Author: Multiple authors
Volume 112, Number 01
Issue: January 2025
