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Table of Contents
Empowering a New Culture of Service in Your Church
By Gary L. Mcintosh
The concept of empowerment is not new to our communities of faith. God empowered His people to minister to the world. Christ’s final words to His disciples declared, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8*). After the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit’s indwelling power allowed the disciples to effectively serve their world and each other (Acts 2:41–47).
We are an empowered people. The same Holy Spirit who empowered the early disciples for service empowers us to service and ministry. However, the idea of empowerment goes beyond just the availability of power. Empowerment is an active term giving authority and responsibility from one in charge to a subordinate. Empowerment in the church takes place when pastors and church leaders delegate responsibility for ministry to laypeople and actually allow them to do ministry. It means that pastors and church leaders allow laypeople to participate or act on the power they already have through the Holy Spirit. As church leaders our role is not to control those under us but to empower them by granting them permission to become engaged in ministry (see Ephesians 4:11,12). If the apostle Paul were writing to believers today, he might write: “to empower God’s people for works of service.” Paul tells us that the prime reason leaders exist in our churches is to give away ministry, not control ministry.
Of course, in practice it has been unusually hard for pastors and church leaders to give up control and trust their people with ministry. From the church members’ point of view, receiving empowerment for ministry is also a little fearful because they are given more responsibility for ministry than they have ever had before. But we will never advance the kingdom of God as we have been commanded to do without empowered people. And we cannot empower people to serve unless both clergy and laity are willing to take the risks involved to do so.
God sent Moses and his brother Aaron to Pharaoh with a simple message, “Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the desert” (Exodus 5:1). God’s people were in bondage and needed to be empowered—given freedom—to serve and worship the Lord. After much struggle they eventually were released but found they were caught in a different type of bondage. Moses, trained in God’s laws, felt he had to do everything. He judged the people from morning to night, wearing himself out and frustrating the people who could not get their disputes resolved. Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, pointed out the obvious: “You cannot handle it alone” (Exodus 18:18).
People in our churches often find themselves in a similar situation. They have been called out of the bondage of sin and empowered by the Holy Spirit for ministry. But when they attempt to become involved in ministry, they find they are in bondage to a church cultural system that prevents them from doing so. As church leaders we need to hear over and over again God’s words to Pharaoh and Jethro’s words to Moses: “Let my people go.… You cannot do it alone.” Our goal is to empower every member and regular attender to take ownership of their God-given ministry. But empowering people means we must engineer a new ministry culture of service in our churches.
A major part of a church leader’s role is to build a church culture where laypeople are empowered to serve and minister. There are no magical formulas. In many cases it will take some trial and error to arrive at a strong church culture that empowers people to be all that God wants them to be. While it is the Holy Spirit who ultimately brings about needed change, it is also important to develop a strategy (see 1 Corinthians 3:6). Here are 10 steps to building a new church culture of service.
STEP 1: COMMIT TO THE LONG HAUL
Church cultures are notoriously slow to build and hard to change. Culture involves a shared set of attitudes, values, and goals that takes at least 5 to 7 years to change and build up. It takes a lot of coaching, leadership, and example setting to see it become reality. Part of the difficulty lies in the fact that culture is a “soft” subject. Budgets, plans, buildings are all “hard” subjects that can be touched, read, and reviewed. Aspects of culture—attitudes, feelings, and perceptions—are more difficult to get a handle on.
STEP 2: ASSIST LAYPEOPLE IN UNDERSTANDING THE NEW CULTURE OF SERVICE
Acquaint all church leaders with a general understanding of church culture and specifically what their church’s culture currently is like. Church leaders may ignore the soft aspects of culture and be much more adept at dealing with hard items such as budgets, plans, and buildings. Part of the reason it takes 5 to 7 years to engineer a new church culture is that leaders must be educated to understand and see it.
STEP 3: TAP INTO KNOWLEDGE PEOPLE
Spend a lot of time formally and informally asking questions and identifying values and your way of doing things. Search below the surface to identify the unwritten values and rules that presently drive your church. What do your behaviors, values, rules, and atmosphere say about your church? How do members and nonmembers see your church? Be ruthlessly honest in your description. This is no time to fool yourself. Write a picture of the present church culture and identify what needs to be held onto and what new cultural values people would like to see come into existence.
STEP 4: MOLD A CULTURE OF SERVICE
Spend a lot of time with people dreaming as a group. Read passages in the Bible that describe what a church should be, and then verbalize a new cultural vision for your church based on what you learned. What type of atmosphere do you want newcomers to feel when they visit your church? What do you want people to say about your church when they talk to others? What are the values your people naturally buy into? What do you want the new culture to be like in the future? You should also take time to visit churches that are doing a superb job. Nothing will help you more than experiencing what others are doing. Call 100 people in your community and ask them which churches are the best ones. Then visit each church that is mentioned. Take notes, talk to people, and sense the atmosphere. Borrow some ideas, adapt some, and even reject others. This experience will help you enlarge your people’s vision of what can be done at your church.
STEP 5: FORMALIZE THE CULTURE
This begins by creating an official mission statement and set of philosophies and values. Calling laity to a new culture of service will only take place when people understand and feel a sense of passion for the mission and purpose of their church. A specific challenge or project in your church that reflects the new cultural values will cause laypeople to feel committed again, to feel good about being involved in something worthwhile. It will call them to new possibilities and hope for a new direction for their church. Laity will only give its total energy to something when people know, understand, and believe in their mission. You may even want to give the new culture a new name. Strong cultures have slogans that mean something. But don’t be fooled into thinking that a new slogan will change things. Slogans mean nothing without actions that support them.
STEP 6: MODEL THE NEW CULTURE OF SERVICE
Leaders are crucial to culture. Their words and deeds are the touchstones of a church’s culture. Little things will make a big difference in a leader’s ability to convince others of the seriousness of the new culture. For example, if church leaders ask members to park farther away from the church in order to leave space for newcomers but then keep their own official parking spaces near the church, they should not be surprised that members will not buy into the new culture of service.
STEP 7: COMMUNICATE THE CULTURE
Never force the elements of the new culture on people. Rather, concentrate on making steady progress by communicating in a regular manner the new culture of service. This can be done in several ways.
• Introduce the new culture in a formal manner by kicking it off with a churchwide meeting.
• Rename key people or aspects of your church to communicate a new status and value to them.
• Require all new members to take an orientation class on your church.
• Train a team of at least five people to help train others in the new culture of service.
• Distribute display and wallet cards that communicate the values of the new culture of service.
STEP 8: REINFORCE THE NEW CULTURE OF SERVICE
Use your church’s newsletter to reinforce the new culture of service by sharing stories of how members illustrate the new values and goals. During church services, interview people who can give testimonials supporting the values of the new culture. Send out letters to key laypeople, enlarging upon the importance of the new cultural values.
STEP 9: RECOGNIZE PEOPLE WHO EMBODY THE NEW CULTURAL VALUES
Recognize those who demonstrate commitment to the cultural values of service by giving them an award, flowers, or a specially designed pin. Recognition needs to take place whenever someone goes above and beyond to serve another person. Call the office staff together to recognize office personnel. Go into a Sunday school class to award a class member. Write personal notes of thanks. Recognition in a public manner lets others see that you believe in the cultural values.
STEP 10: HIGHLIGHT THE NEW CULTURE
Host an annual churchwide event to highlight the new culture of service. Bringing everyone together creates an atmosphere that builds morale and reinforces the new church culture. Take the opportunity to highlight your mission and values to everyone present. In my limited experience of house painting, I’ve found it difficult to paint over dark colors. The true color underneath keeps bleeding through.
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