The laity are the heart and soul of the Church (note big “C” church), and the development of leaders has existed from day one of the Christian church’s existence. The early disciples—both named and unnamed, both female and male—led based on their faith, independent of whether or not Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit on them. The breath of the Holy Spirit offered a tangible reminder of their commissioning; however, formal commissioning was not involved. Yet, no one doubts that Jesus had 12 brave named male disciples and countless other named and unnamed disciples as well.
Over the past 2000-plus years, the number of Christian disciples has grown. Some are called to the more restrictive ministry of the ordained, with the bulk being called to lay service and ministry. Despite the fact that ordination restricts a person’s life and ministry (and subjects the person to greater scrutiny—just ask any cleric), there remains a hierarchy of lay and ordained in the minds of people and churches across the globe that is reverse of reality.
By and large, ministry development is the revolutionary work of developing the laity to eliminate this disconnect between the apparent and true hierarchical composition of our church communities. It also involves the revolutionary work of assisting the people in identifying accurately the gifts within its “membership” and particularly each person self-identifying his or her own gifts. Frankly, accurate identification is not easy. Our judgments are clouded by long-held perceptions, fears, and even rumor; consequently, the involvement of a fearless, objective ministry developer is critical to success.
Yes, fearless and objective, for most effective ministry developers are “outsiders.” Being an “outsider” in the isolated villages and hamlets within which many rural ministry developers live and work is in many ways a plus and a minus. Being an “outsider” offers the objective approach necessary to this task yet also means that the gifted developer must develop a level of trust before beginning to share his or her “revolutionary” insights. The developer also must be fearless in suggesting novel and often revolutionary ideas.
Authenticity, persistence, and humor also are important. I reflect on my sharing recently at a retreat that one of my spiritual gifts is my not taking myself too seriously. People chuckled, which I admit I found quite odd. Perhaps they really do not understand ministry development? Or perhaps the concept of ministry development is still too revolutionary for its evolution to be detected? I guess that remains to evolve. In the meantime, I will just continue to be the revolutionary in Western Maryland.
Theresa
