I love to help launch a new ministry in our church. The entrepreneurial church planter in me gets excited when an opportunity arises.
I once worked with someone who said, ”Ron, I don’t think you’ve heard an idea you didn’t like.” That could be partially true.
A verse comes to mind. “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin”. (Zechariah 4:10 NLT)
I have found, however, that launching a new ministry is often easier than we think.
Here are 4 steps to launch a new ministry in your church:
Discover specific needs people are passionate about.
Discover what people get excited about doing for others. Make sure it can point people towards the Gospel, but many times we only get excited about what we want to see accomplished or the church is already doing. God often births ministry in the hearts of people in the pews. Go looking for them. Be listening for them.
Fuel their interest.
Encourage people to follow the vision God gives them. I often get the pushback here. If we fuel ”their” interest what about the ministries already established by the church? And I get that. It is fair.
But remember the church is made of unique talents, interests and abilities. If God brought them to you, perhaps He wants to use them among you. What if “their” ministry interest wasn’t seen as competition but rather complementing the overall mission of the church?
Granted this takes work and often a change of philosophy but I have witnessed the value in it.
Resource them as much as you can.
Yes, you have to support the ministries of the church but I have always believed in supporting individual ministries of the people in the church as much as we can.
Of course, there will be times you simply can’t or it isn’t a good fit for the church. Yet, when you can, make these ministries a part of the ministry offerings of the church. I have found it encourages new people to get involved and expands our overall number of people participating in outreach ministry of the church.
Celebrate their success.
To sustain momentum in any new work you have to publicly celebrate their success. I have been known to use these individual ministries as sermon illustrations. When possible, I attend their events and Cheryl and I personally and financially support their work.
Again, you can’t do everything as a church. I am not suggesting you assign staff or resources to every ministry idea someone has. The key idea here is to empower people to live out their mission. That may or may not mean it becomes an official ministry of the church. But it doesn’t have to be for you to help launch a new ministry.
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