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May 3, 2013
Lay ministry is part of Christ’s Great Commission in Matthew 28:19. The commission is not just for paid staff, but is a call for all believers to preach and make disciples. However, lay ministry can only take place in a willing believer’s heart, in obedient apprenticeship to Christ, guided by and filled with the Holy Spirit.
My first and most important ministry field is to my husband and family. However, lay ministry also happens in my fellowship with other believers at church, in the homeschool community, in my writing contacts (editors, other writers, and readers) and in my day to day interaction with non-believers (at stores, doctor offices, and in church outreach programs).
As a lay minister, I am an apprentice to Christ. My relationship with Christ is strengthened as I spend time in personal prayer, devotionals, and Bible study. Lay ministry cannot be effective, if I don’t establish margin in my finances and time. I establish margin when I use my time, talents, physical strength, and intellect wisely. I also need to be sufficiently rested, in order to hear Christ’s voice and direction.
Smith states that: "The only way to nurture my relationship with Jesus is to set my heart and mind on the kingdom of God. The fundamental building block of an apprentice of Jesus is living closely to Jesus in our ordinary lives.” (p. 214) Lay ministry happens as we abide in the vine in our daily walk with Christ (John 15:5-8). I need to remember that Christ is within me, and focus on building my relationship with Him. As we abide in the vine, we begin to bear the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self control—and we can become fit Ambassadors for Christ, wherever the path may lead in our lives, today and in the future! Apart from Christ—the vine--we can do nothing!
Lay Ministry Matters, for the Family and the Church
Through abiding in Christ, lay ministry matters in my family, which is my primary responsibility. I have learned over the years that my family senses my mood—it really is true, that “If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!” For me, the “excellent wife” in Proverbs 31 provides the ultimate model for my lay ministry. Although I fall far short, it is a standard to work toward, with the help of the Holy Spirit. I love how the “excellent wife” takes care of her family, helps the poor, and is a successful businesswoman!
As Christian women take care of family needs, we can also extend a hand of love into the church and community. The family cannot exist in a vacuum. The family needs the church for Christian fellowship and spiritual growth. On the other hand, the church cannot exist without strong, loving families working in lay ministry both to believers and seekers. This essential synergy between the family and the church is viewed as strange outside the body of believers. As Smith notes in The Good and Beautiful Community, strong Christian families are considered peculiar in our society (1 Peter 2:9)—peculiar, but very desirable to those who are on the outside, looking in. I was first drawn to the church as I noticed the “peculiar-ness” of the students in the Campus Crusade for Christ group. These kids had something really different—a peculiar sense of purpose and direction. I wanted it!
Over the years, our family has been involved in a number of lay ministry programs, in various locations. Some programs have been church sponsored, but others have been para-church activities, meeting in family homes or outside the church. My husband and I both became born again Christians through lay ministers working in Bill Bright’s Campus Crusade for Christ. Students led and participated in the ministry, and we experienced first hand how the love of Christ can change lives. We both had attended traditional protestant churches, but had somehow missed the simple gospel of salvation. Later, my husband and I became involved in prolife ministry in Columbus, as well as Bible distribution work of the Gideons.
I especially enjoyed personally offering Bibles with a “camo” design (young people love this). I recall one eager young employee in a restaurant, who accepted one on the condition of promising to read it. Afterward, I overheard him in conversation with another employee, who was ribbing him a bit, asking, “Are you really going to read it?” He was adamant that he would read it!
We have also participated in local food bank ministries and the Victory Mission in Columbus. We have hosted several Child Evangelism Fellowship Five Day Clubs at our house, and our children really enjoyed spreading the gospel in our neighborhood. In addition, our children have participated in Operation Christmas Child (OCC) packing parties and our older daughter has taught at summer vacation Bible school activities.
As a Gideon Auxiliary, I was able to personally hand out a Gideon Bible, during a recent prayer walk for the new Vineyard church plant in Whitehall. With our pastor and his family, my family and I were going door to door, putting church invitations on doors. It was a beautiful day, and many people were out and about. I was able to engage a group of teenagers in short conversation, and offered a Gideon Bible and an invitation to church. Several of the boys accepted invitations, and one boy accepted a Bible, promising to read it. We were pleased to see a large turn-out at the Easter service. This is in our neighborhood, which is struggling, spiritually and economically.
Most of all, I love ministering to my own family, and I have grown spiritually along with my children. My primary service is homeschooling my youngest child, who is medically fragile. I spend six hours every weekday with Susie. She is studying at a seventh and eighth grade level this semester, depending on the subject. In February, she received an assistance dog, and I have been serving as trainer. Susie and I start each day with a devotional, and it always encourages me spiritually. I feel that God is helping me to grow in patience, also, learning basic and advanced dog training.
As always during the school year, I worked as an assistant teacher in our local homeschool co-op (Learning Tree), which meets for enrichment classes at the Reynoldsburg Nazarene church. I continued to help out in a small class called “Girls Can.” I also was an observer in two other classes, “Chronicles of Narnia” and “Nature Enrichment.” My favorite class so far dealt with kids being bullied. Several children shared about their experiences, and the teacher and I encouraged the children, that God has made them unique individuals.
Lay Ministry Writing Projects
My recent column for Practical Homeschooling magazine was on reading readiness, from a biblical perspective. Although I do get paid for my columns, I also consider it a ministry of encouragement to parents. Here’s a sample from my February column:
“Understanding reading as a long term process can give parents perspective to patiently and playfully guide our children to readiness. Every person has their own unique learning schedule, and the range of "normal" development is highly variable. Your preschooler’s long journey has just begun--for now; letters are friends and words are fun!”
I am finishing up an eBook writing project, The ABCs of Survival Skills for Kids and People with Special Needs. (This project began as an assignment in one of Mrs. Bird’s classes.) I hope to offer it to sale on Amazon, at a minimal price of a few dollars. Here’s a sample, from the Introduction:
“Many survival manuals offer information for advanced survival skills, and even adults can suffer information overload. Sometimes, less is more. Use this book to present basic information first, without too many details. Act out survival situations, and practice often. After children and people with special needs know the basics, consider teaching more advanced survival skills in the Bonus and Advanced Resources…Proverbs 6:6 reminds us to be wise like the ant, and prepare for difficult times. In Matthew 25, Jesus called the unprepared foolish, for they had let their lamps go out. Do we have oil in our lamps—do we even have lamps?”
I feel that I am growing spiritually, through ministry activities. I am thankful for all the opportunities God gives me to make a difference (however small) in His world, but especially activities in my own family. Yes, I admit it—I am a “homebody!” I am a happy homebody, too! Whatever the future may bring, I feel that the time is short; I just want to be in His will in all this, and be part of His plans.
Future Lay Ministry Teaching Program and Evaluation
Lay ministry is not limited to preaching and witnessing to those who don’t know Christ. Lay ministry also involves discipleship training--guiding children and adults to use their gifts and talents for Christ. I am a published author, and also the co-founder of the former Pataskala Christian Writer's Group, and I would love to be involved in starting a group to help develop writing skills in our local homeschool educational co-op, called Learning Tree.
Here is a proposal, which I recently wrote up for evaluation of the
Learning Tree Board:
The goal of the Learning Tree writer's group,
in the tradition of C.S. Lewis and Tolkien of The Inklings, would be
to discuss and improve unfinished works, from a biblical worldview.
The only requirement for membership in the writer's group would be
the desire to write, and help one another improve in writing. It
would be open to writers of grade 4 all the way up to adults. We
would be sharing and discussing the concepts and elements of style,
story, blog or journal excerpts (fiction or non-fiction).
We will learn brainstorming techniques and use story starters, to generate ideas. (A major starting point tip: write what you know and love!) We’ll share ideas for marketing and publishing, including print on demand and eBooks. We'd also be studying The Elements of Style Together, to help in improving our skills. (A free copy is available at http://www.bartleby.com/141 , but I recommend every student own a print copy of it. It is inexpensive.) The critiquing would be in love, using careful guidelines so that we would be encouraging and building each other up in writing skills. The goal is to help one another develop to the next level, regardless of our current skills. If we have a lot of interest or a large group we may need to split the groups into two ability levels, in which case we would need two leaders.
I would evaluate the program, based upon a written self-evaluation for each student. Each student would be given a writing skills and goals pre-evaluation, to fill out before the first day of the semester. A follow-up evaluation would be given out before the day of the last class. On the last day of class, participants would have the option of sharing their self-evaluations, as well as sharing any details about completion, publication, and impact of any writing projects. I would send out a post class evaluation, with at least ten questions to help evaluate and improve the writing group before the next semester. This evaluation would be focused on the group format and focus, not the individual’s progress, and I would use these comments, to help focus and improve my ministry.
Serving Effectively in Christian Apprenticeship
In all our lay ministry work, we need to serve effectively, as apprentices to Christ. I can be most effective in lay ministry when I seek to be like Jesus, and to give Him the glory for my ministry. In order to serve effectively, I need to balance my own needs, with the needs of others. To serve, a believer must first find out what others really need. In The Good and Beautiful Community, Chapter 3, "The Serving Community," Smith gave real world examples of two churches who were developing ministries. Smith evaluated the two churches and discovered that while one church asked “What can we do to improve our church?” The second church was asking, “How can we serve others?”
Smith notes that “The first church cared only about its own image and its own preservation; having college students attend their church was a sign of success. The second church cared only about the well-being of the students; having college students in their midst was an opportunity to serve."
I really liked how the second church humbly sought advice about what the young people needed--food and hugs! As I seek to minister to young people in homeschool co-ops and in church, I can readily meet the first need--food. The second, hugs, is more difficult, in this day and age. One has to be careful about touch, when it comes to minors. I can still give out "free" smiles and encouragement, however; this is a good reminder of the importance of showing approval, when I catch kids in the act of doing something well.
As a writer, I use "working titles" as a way to keep in my mind on the main purpose of my piece. It helps me to keep focus, and stay away from tangents (although sometimes I still go down rabbit holes.) Eventually, I refine the working title, to make it more clear, catchy, and memorable. This process of refining a working title is perhaps something like being discipled by Christ. As God begins to teach me something new, I put a working title on my current understanding of a new narrative, such as "Consider Other People's Needs in Ministry." Later, I might make that more specific, or add a subtitle--"Consider Other People's Needs Before my Own: Give Encouragement and Food!"
The author of The Good and Beautiful Community states, on page 128, that “The God Jesus reveals runs counter to the way we are wired to think. Brennan Manning put it succinctly: “Jesus reveals a God who does not demand but who gives; who does not oppress but who raises up; who does not wound but heals; who does not condemn but forgives.”
We need to change our narratives to think with the mind of Christ—although this is counter-cultural. As a writer and a teacher, I stress a lot about how my writing material and teaching will be received--and the results of it--when I should just be obedient to Christ. I should not be concerned about what others think of me; only what my Savior thinks of me!
On
pages 128-130 of The
Good and Beautiful Community
Smith
states:
“If we asked Jesus, What does God want from me? I
believe he would answer, God
wants you to know and to love him. This
narrative tells of a God who is loving and merciful, whose desire is
to love and to be loved. This in no way negates the fact that God is
unflinchingly against sin. God hates sin because it hurts his
children. But God is crazy about his children.”
As we become more like Christ, we can reflect Christ as lay ministers in the Christian community. Proverbs 3:27-29 (NLT) speaks to me about a simple way to show Christ’s love, and minister to others through lay ministry:
“Do not withhold good from
those who deserve it
when
it's in your power to help them.
If you can help your neighbor
now, don't say,
“Come
back tomorrow, and then I'll help you.”
As we help others, we should take care, lest we neglect our own souls. We need an accountability partner, to encourage and admonish us to develop spiritually, so that we do not get burned out in a vain attempt to "do it all." Although we need to focus on other people’s needs, in order to serve, we can’t give to others if our own cup is empty. As lay ministers, we need to take time for renewal, partake of the Lord's Table, and be accountable to the Christian community. Psalm 23 beautifully illustrates that The Lord prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies. On this earth, we are living in a strange land, in enemy occupied territory. Yet, Christ has prepared a banquet, for our pleasure, within our Christian community! What a privilege, to be a lay minister, and help serve at Christ's banquet!
Resources:
Morgan, Melissa L., The ABCs of Survival Skills for Kids and People with Special Needs, Unpublished.
Smith, James Bryan, The Good and Beautiful Community (2009). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.