“Church leaders need to create ministry, not replicate it.” Center Church, Keller
Creating ministry, specific to your region, the people and the gifts of the congregation is a powerful force. Attending conferences, hearing about other ministries and churches and reading books, can all be helpful springboards, but in the end, each church is designed to extraordinarily impact the community around them in the name of Jesus.
I’m not against borrowing from others. But, I do think that there are times when we just take the idea from some other places and try to transplant it. How can we go about creating more than replicating?
Here are some questions we can ask to get started:
1) What are the needs of the community around us? How can we seek to fill that need?
2) What styles of people are living around the church – how can we meet them where they are? How can we offer them an opportunity to experience Jesus?
3) What kinds of passions and desires are placed in the individuals from our church? How can their gifts be used to reach people?
4) What specific gifts do the pastor and leaders possess that can be used to create new ways of doing ministry?
5) If our church closed it’s doors tomorrow, what aspects of the ministry would be missed by the community? What does your church do that no one else can do?
Don’t stop getting ideas. Don’t stop hearing from other church leaders. Don’t stop reading books about ministry and leadership. Don’t stop meeting with others at conferences and events. But use those ideas to create what is needed for your specific purpose. Then, with all the confidence and momentum you can muster, give it a try!
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