Getting people involved in ministry can be a daunting challenge for church leaders, but Jesus promised that He would build a vibrant church that would be well equipped not just with volunteers and ministers but with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Churches can lack many resources, but one of the biggest challenges is the lack of manpower. We can run churches with limited finances and equipment, but a church that lacks leaders who will do the work of ministry and discipling members of the congregation can accomplish little to nothing.
We need more leaders, and not just any leaders but leaders with calling, gifts and a passion to see God's kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Looking at how Jesus called His leaders, we can learn a thing or two about recruiting people into the works of ministry. Looking at how He called the disciples in Matthew 4:19 saying, "And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men," we catch some amazing principles about empowering spectators to get involved.
Call Jesus followers
Many churches are filled with people who follow programmes, personalities, systems and experiences, but until a ministry is empowered with volunteers and ministers who follow Christ, we are barely scratching the surface. God calls Jesus followers who will be equipped by His Spirit with power and gifts to build a church that will be so vibrant that even hell itself will not be able to defeat it (Matthew 16:18).
Are we calling people to follow us, follow a brand or follow a doctrine? It's time that we called people to follow Jesus first and foremost and let everything else be added unto them.
Give people an identity, not a task
Notice that Jesus did not just give his disciples tasks. He didn't tell them, "Hey, why don't you follow me and I'll let you distribute bread, cross storms, cast out demons and a lot of other weird but amazing things." He called them into an identity - to become fishers of men.
When we call ministers - both volunteer and vocational - do we simply give them a job description or do we empower them with a new way of living? While job descriptions are important and should be clear, people need more than just tasks. They need direction and vision, and as leaders we must offer that to them.
And it's not our job to transform our people into their new identities. We don't make people fishers of men. At the end of the day that is a job that only God can do. He simply calls us to identify those who are called and be faithful in pointing them to Christ. At the end of the day, God does the empowering of leaders, not us.
