Ephesians 4:11–13 are foundational and inspirational verses for us at Church Community Builder. They form the basis of why we even exist. We believe that equipping the saints for ministry is not only Biblical, it is absolutely essential to growing our ministries and multiplying our impact. Multiplication and growth requires us to empower and release leaders to ‘be the ministry’. However, empowering people and giving them freedom doesn’t mean we ignore processes and systems for accountability. There must be a careful balance between the two. If not, chaos will ensue!
Equipping the saints does mean giving volunteers freedom to make decisions, but any healthy freedom lives within processes and systems of accountability. Here are few patterns we’ve observed when there is too much freedom in the context of leading a church.
"Multiplication and growth requires us to empower and release leaders to 'be the ministry'"
Here are few patterns we’ve observed when there is too much freedom in the context of leading a church.
Process and leadership silos.
Every ministry, team, campus, and leader does things their own way and has little or no connection or alignment to common vision, purpose, or goals.
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No data to point to.
We end up having to trust relationships too much. No hard data exists to help us understand what is working and what is not.
Unhealthy culture.
Unlimited freddom tends to result in a lot of finger pointing and blaming, and a lack of takin responsibility.
Bad communication.
- No one really knows what is going on because all of the communication happens in silos. Something is almost always left out of the story.
People churn.
- All the silos and dysfunction create an environment where staff and volunteers burn out or feel devalued. Church members also fall through the cracks or simply get frustrated and leave.
Growth ceilings.
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- Regardless of the strengths a church may have (dynamic lead pastor, great location, cool facilities, amazing worship, etc.), too much independence will create a ceiling that will eventually stop the growth of the church.
Empowerment is a good thing. We want a team of people who feel empowered to take initiative. Download your free copy of "The Ephesians 4 Church" Leading people who are independent thinkers is far better than leading a bunch of people who need to be micromanaged. However, freedom without boundaries is not how the Church was designed. Appropriate boundaries and processes are still necessary for distributive ministry to work to its full potential.
There's always a next step:
The key to making an impact is investing deeply in the lives of people, equipping them with the tools they need to lead and empowering them to engage in ministry. This is the heart of an Ephesians 4 church. Find out how to effectively equip the saints for the work of the ministry in "The Ephesians 4 Church." Download your copy now!
