Top Scripture Verses for Parish Renewal - Part 3

All Scripture is inspired or God breathed but some verses inspire us more than others. When it comes to parish renewal and revival, however, I think there are some verses that are absolutely more important than others. These are some verses and passages of Scripture we must internalize in our leadership. So far in this series we have looked at Matthew 28:18-19 and Acts 6:1-7. You can read them in my previous blogs.

Through these passages, you will see the theme of involving others in the work of ministry and that theme continues in this blog. Ephesians 4:11-12 says:

“And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ.”

The work of parish renewal will not happen if pastors, priests, deacons, and church staff do the work of ministry. That’s not our role. Our role is to inspire, encourage and equip the saints, the holy ones, the people in the pews to do the work of ministry.

St. Paul says equip, but I add the actions of inspire and encourage because we have found you must first motivate people to want to serve in ministry before you can equip or give them the tools they need to serve. We inspire people in the pews to want to serve and connect the dots between serving in ministry and spiritual growth. We encourage the saints to see themselves as disciples and tell them that disciples naturally serve. We encourage them to know they have a gift to offer and to carve out time to serve for the building up of the body. Then we equip them for the work of ministry. That’s our primary role. One pastor jokes that when he was ordained, he left the ministry. Another way to put it is this: our primary ministry is to invite others into ministry. We are to ask people to serve.

I started out in youth ministry. Pretty early on I realized I couldn’t do all the youth ministry in the parish. I needed volunteers but struggled to ask others for help. In a conversation with my mentor Mark Pacione, I mentioned this struggle. He then asked me, “Do you like your job?” I responded, “Yes, most days.” He replied, “Then why wouldn’t you want to invite others into that work?” He helped me to see that if I had been blessed and had come to know God through serving in the parish, I ought to invite and share that blessing with others.

Notice that St. Paul says it our role to equip the saints for the building up of the body. In other words, when more and more people start serving in a parish, the body of Christ grows; it gets built up. When only a handful of people serve in ministry, a parish’s growth gets stunted. This is why it’s incredibly necessary for the leaders of a parish to grab hold of these verses from Ephesians. We need to see our role as constantly making space for others to come and do the work of ministry. If we want to grow our parish, we will shift from doing ministry to finding ways to build systems and structures that welcome new volunteers into the work of the parish. Healthy, growing parishes have leaders who have a mindset that growing volunteer ministry in their parish is not just an add on, but is absolutely essential to their work.

St. Paul goes on to say:

“Until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, mature manhood; to the extent of the full stature of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13)

When church leaders take St. Paul’s words to heart, the church becomes more unified. When more and more people get up out of the pews and serve, they move from consumers to contributors. They get on board with the mission of making disciples; as a result, there is less fighting and squabbles over resources. Parishioners come to recognize they are on the same team. The people in the pews mature and grow in their knowledge of Jesus.

If you need some help changing your mindset and would like to know how you can create systems and structures that make it easier for people to volunteer in your church, check out our “Every Member a Minister” equip course. This equip course will give you tools that will motivate people to get out of the pews and start serving. (You can find it at rebuiltparish.com/courses)

Rooting for you,
Tom