Shepherding God's People by Siang-Yang Tan

Author:Siang-Yang Tan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Pastoral Ministry;Pastoral theology;REL074000;REL108030
ISBN: 9781493418282
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2019-05-28T00:00:00+00:00

Mentoring of Lay Volunteer Coworkers

A church cannot and should not function only under the leadership of paid pastoral staff. Doing so is not only too costly but also not a biblical approach to church leadership and church ministries. Lay volunteers who serve alongside the paid pastoral staff are equally important in church leadership and church ministries. The Bible teaches that every Christian belongs to the universal priesthood of believers (1 Pet. 2:5, 9), and we are all called to minister to one another, using whatever spiritual gifts God has given us, so that we can all grow into maturity in Christ (Eph. 4:1–16). The professionalization of the clergy and how dangerous and unbiblical this can be have already been mentioned earlier in this book. Greg Ogden and Paul Stevens, among others, have issued a clarion call to return the ministry to the people of God and not limit ministry just to professional pastors or ordained pastors.28 Leith Anderson and Jill Fox, in The Volunteer Church and Volunteering, have similarly emphasized the need to mobilize the congregation for growth and effectiveness.29 Nelson Searcy has written Connect, with Jennifer Dykes Henson, on how to double the number of volunteers in a church.30

As pastors, we need to recruit, train, supervise, and mentor our lay volunteer coworkers well. Other pastors in our church help me with this important work. However, I spend some of my time mentoring some key volunteer coworkers in our church, ranging from younger millennials to older church leaders who have served for many years. I usually meet with them for breakfast or lunch or in church every six weeks or so. I express much appreciation and affirmation for them and provide guidance, pastoral care, and some informal spiritual direction. The focus is on growing in Christ and becoming more like him and becoming a more Christlike leader (i.e., spiritual formation). I also learn from them. The younger volunteers, especially the millennials, have much to teach me about the younger generations, especially as I get older and older! We enjoy our mentoring times together, and a certain degree of reverse mentoring often takes place.

One of my deepest joys in mentoring others is to see some of them respond in obedience to God’s call in their lives to go into full-time pastoral ministry or missionary work. I spent over a year in a mentoring relationship with a young adult volunteer in the young adults ministry at our church. He was devoted to meeting with me every six to eight weeks. He even read my book Full Service and took notes to discuss with me whenever we met. These were wonderful times of mentoring, sharing, and prayer together. He eventually felt called by God to go to seminary to prepare for full-time pastoral ministry, and I rejoiced with him. He is now attending seminary on the East Coast, but we still keep in touch. Another young adult leader in our church’s youth ministry met regularly with me for mentoring over a three-year period. He also recently felt a call from God to go to seminary to prepare for full-time pastoral ministry.

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