How to start a ministry at Grace

I’ve shared some of the past, present and future shifts I’ve identified at Grace in some of my posts and here’s another to add to the list. For most of my time here, the ministries of the church have been staff-dictated. Most ministries may have included volunteer ministry leaders, but they were handed little authority and ownership over the ministry. Gradually, there a shift taking place in that regard. There are key ministry leaders bubbling to the top of several ministries whom we are preparing to utilize extensively as volunteer leaders. Individuals whom we want to give authority to lead the ministry. I’m excited about this shift. I see paid staff as trainers, equippers, and overseers with volunteers performing most of the doing. Being a body of believers, the ministries of a local church need to be aligned with the passions of the local body. That can only happen when those who are a part of the local body are involved in the planning, leading and execution of the ministries. As people have ideas for new ministries or passions for existing ones we want to, as God enables, pursue them. In the coming days I want to lay out a multi-step process as to how we’ll do that to keep things organized.

Step 1 – The Purpose

Any ministry at Grace has to have a specific purpose that answers this question, why does the ministry exist? The purpose of each ministry needs to fit into the purpose of Grace Church,

Depending on the Lord Jesus Christ, we will build a church that honors Him through preaching the Word, sharing the faith and walking together in love.

It’s important that everything fits within the purpose of Grace Church, because otherwise, our ministries won’t be helping us accomplish our main reason for existence. Each ministry should be either helping to build the church, preach the Word, share the faith or walk together in love.

If you have a passion for a ministry area that we aren’t targeting/reaching currently, pray about and think about what the purpose of that ministry would be and boil it down to a sentence or two.

If you are in an existing ministry, pray about and think about why the ministry exists and quantify it in a sentence or two.

On the other hand, maybe, your ministry already has a purpose statement, take some time to review it. Is there still a need for it to exist or has it changed? Ministries come and go as part of a natural ministry life cycle. Likewise, as changes occur in our culture, ministries need to adapt. If your ministry has a purpose statement, take time to evaluate it.

The purpose statement identifies the reason for existence. Next, are the core values.