Celebrate, equip lay leaders in ministry

By Cameron Crabtree
May 7, 2010

A story from my father-in-law’s life made me laugh a little and think a lot about all the ways God works through ordinary folks doing everyday kinds of things to accomplish his work in the world.

Don is a retired iron worker who for years was occasionally involved at an established church. Several years ago, a group of his friends sensed God leading them to start a new work in their growing city. The adventure intrigued Don and he eventually became part of the effort’s setup team, loading and unloading a trailer each week with all the supplies that go with a portable church situation.

The woman in charge of the hospitality table dutifully keeps the coffee she makes off limits from them since it’s for visitors. So, Don arrives a little earlier than the rest to brew his own special blend for the set up team. When the weekly setup labors are complete, the crew spends a few minutes around Don’s pickup truck enjoying a cup waiting for services to begin.

Vignettes like that are repeated each and every week in thousands of churches across the country. And all of them point to the important contributions of lay leaders, church members and attenders make in keeping ministries going and growing in their respective communities.

Throughout the Northwest, many churches have capable leaders who carry the day-to-day burden of helping their churches reach people and growing the ministry. They deserve prayer, encouragement and support. Many Northwest Baptist Convention resources and training efforts aim to do just that. But let’s never forget the biblical admonition about the leadership task — “equip the saints” for ministry.

Church leaders often can forget amid the urgent evangelistic and ministry needs around them that the church can rightly be viewed as a band of missionaries possessing extensive relationship connections within the church and across their communities.

Preachers routinely urge church members to “get outside the four walls,” sometimes forgetting the people already spend more time away from church buildings than in them. Thus, one key to more effective ministry may lie in finding a way to empower church attenders for faithful service among than people they already know.

Whether it’s reaching out to children through a Vacation Bible School or sports camp, serving the community through clean-up days or food distributions, sharing God’s good news through special evangelistic events, educating families about positive ways to build relationships or starting a church, lay people are critical for carrying out the Great Commission in the Northwest and throughout the world.

I’m looking forward to our next vacation to my home state. It’d be fun to accompany Don early one Sunday morning to the site of the church plant to help set up. Surely, we’ll get done early enough to hang out at the back of truck enjoying a cup of dark coffee. And I’ll just sit next to Don on the tailgate, quietly celebrating all God does in the world through the lives of ordinary folks like him.