EDITORIAL
Forward Leading | Mark DeYmaz
Imagine a former high school football player arriving as a freshman to open tryouts for the college football team. The coach asks, “What position did you play in high school?” to which the young man responds, “I was a quarterback.”
Now imagine that upon hearing this, the coach sends the hopeful walk-on to the defensive coordinator as a potential linebacker or to the special teams coordinator as a new field goal kicker, simply because the team needs more depth or players in those positions.
How might the young man respond? He could give one position or another a try in order to prove he is a good team player or out of respect for the coach. Even so, it’s not hard to imagine that he would soon abandon his dream of becoming a vital part of the team.
According to the apostle Paul, ministry leaders are “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:12). Intrinsic to this instruction is a working knowledge of the saints. As a football team cannot win with players placed in the wrong positions, so a church cannot grow in breadth or depth when volunteers are wrongly placed to serve in areas of need for which they do not have passion, gifting or preference. While they may serve to meet needs for a while, they will not likely do so forever. Indeed, a ministry leader’s misplacement of people leads to an ever-revolving door of volunteers that, in turn, creates ministry instability and stagnation.
To know and place volunteers for church and kingdom advance, ministry leaders would do well to ask new or existing members the following three questions:
1. What’s your passion?
People thrive when what they do connects with recurring thoughts or feelings of the heart. For example, if a new church member says, “I have such a heart for unhoused people in our community,” don’t steer them to the children’s ministry. Rather, direct them to serve in areas of the church that advance justice, compassion and mercy.
2. What’s your gifting?
People thrive when they do things that bring them joy. To understand a person’s spiritual gifting, ask:
• What’s something you do that excites, inspires or gives you joy in service to God? (God does not gift us to do things we don’t like doing.)
• What’s something you do that works or proves in time to be successful? (God does not gift us in ways that lead us to failure.)
• What do people consistently affirm about God’s work in you? (God gifts us in ways that will be evident to others.)
3. What’s your preference?
People thrive when they do things that match their preferences. While there are any number of roles we can or will at times need to play, positioning volunteers in roles they prefer is critical for team building and success, and in turn, building a strong church.
Like a good coach who knows his players, ministry leaders must understand their members to correctly place volunteers for service in order to build a church that works.