I came across an interesting statement this morning from Northland: A Church Distributed in Orlando. See what you think:
Congregants take leadership of nearly every ministry effort inside the church, out in the community and around the world. Elders, pastors and paid staff don’t try to control the initiatives of congregants or the connections they make, and they don’t watch over their shoulders unnecessarily. Dr. Joel Hunter encourages Northlanders: “Do what you can, where you are, with what you’ve got.”
I really like that last line:
Do what you can, where you are, with what you’ve got.
Does your church empower your people that much?
Does the statement that ‘Elders, pastors, and paid staff don’t try to control the initiatives of congregants or the connections they make, and they don’t watch over their shoulders unnecessarily” bother you?
It seems to me that that flies in the face of what most churches (and church leaders) attempt to do on a daily and weekly basis?
What do YOU think?
Todd
The “do what you can, where you are, with what you got” is a good thing for Pastors to remember themselves, too.
This philosophy on ministry is exactly what is needed in most churches. Rather than stifling ministry, it enables ministry. This takes us away from the damaging mentality that it is better to ask forgiveness than permission. But I also think it is a bit simplistic. Developing questions about each ministry is important. After all, would Northland, or any other church want one of their congregants doing something under the guise of that church that contradicts the vision and mission of the church?
I heartily concur with the ministry philosophy promoted by Dr. Hunter and Northland. It seems throughly consistent with Ephesians 4, which has the PEOPLE doing the actual work of ministry, with the leaders resourcing and equipping them to do it.
Dr. Hunter’s motto, “Do what you can, where you are, with what you got”,” recalls the rather famous and poignant declaration from a 12-year-old South African boy named Nkosi Johnson who, in July 2000, was dying of AIDS when he closed his keynote speech to the 13th International AIDS Conference with the charge, “Do all you can with what you have in the time you have in the place you are.”
Every time I read that, I am reminded of the incredible power that, by God’s ordained purposes, resides in each of us—even a 12-year-old boy dying of AIDS. And then I feel the Lord asking me: “So what are you doing RIGHT NOW, today, in my power, and to the Father’s glory?”
This sort of reminds me of another philosophy I have heard “Find a need and fill it.”
It’s a nice thought, but it leaves out one very important element. The gifts that people have. If someone asked me to teach the pre-school class? I would have to decline.
On the other hand, everyone has a gift. If no one has the gift for a particular ministry, then we don’t do the ministry. That is called ministry for ministry’s sake.
Peter, if everyone understood what you so clearly articulated—that we need to (a) know that we have a gift (and know what that gift is), (b) say yes to things that fit our gift, and (c) say no to things that don’t fit our gift—the church, to say nothing of the world, world would be transformed! Thank you so much for your insight.