“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.” —Ephesians 4:11–12 (emphasis added)
This is a verse that has inspired and focused us at Church Community Builder since our inception. From the very first Filemaker Pro database, to what exists today, we have always been driven to provide technology which "equips the saints"
...equipping people for the works of His services is one of our primary responsibilities as a church leader or staff member.
As a leader in the church, you have a lot of duties and responsibilities to fulfill. You may be responsible for providing biblical teaching every week. You may be responsible for making sure people are getting plugged into small groups or Sunday school classes. You may be responsible for making sure the church is running efficiently from an administrative aspect.
While all of these roles are critical, we can’t ignore the fact that equipping people for the works of His service is one of our primary responsibilities as a church leader or staff member.
Equipping the saints starts by valuing community.
Effectively equipping the saints for ministry starts by understanding that transformation can only happen in the context of community. Church members cannot be fully prepared to fulfill the good works God prepared in advance if they are seeking to do it all alone. Even Jesus understood this principle, gathering together a group of men who would support and expand His ministry and teaching.
Tim Keller once stated, "It’s impossible to know God, change deeply, or win the world apart from community.” Once we have an understanding that equipping the saints can only happen in the context of community, the logical next question becomes…
How do we build community in a way that equips the saints for ministry?
Building the type of community needed to equip the saints for ministry comes down to two words: knowing and valuing.
Achieving this goal means knowing who is sitting in the crowd week after week and knowing their interests and passions.
It also means valuing. Early church leaders believed that every single person was valuable in spreading the Good News. Valuing means inviting your members to be a part of your ministry by using what you know about them. Valuing means celebrating the sacrifice of those already plugged into serving roles. It means working to keep them engaged and growing over time.
Technology’s role in equipping the saints:
If equipping the saints for ministry essentially comes down to knowing and valuing, how do we do that? There are two options:
- We can try to gather, record, communicate, and act upon all of the information manually.
- We can leverage technology to do all that practically, systematically, and consistently.
As a church leader, you don’t have the time to sit down and type information into a spreadsheet and monitor when you need to follow up or challenge people to go deeper. If your church is growing at the rate you’re praying for, no one does.
Technology helps us equip the saints by helping us identify and act upon what we know about people.
That’s where technology comes into play. Technology helps us equip the saints by helping us identify and act upon what we know about people. It also guarantees that your church is doing everything it can to make sure people feel valued because their absence is not going unnoticed. Finally, technology helps us enhance the type of community that leads to transformation by equipping our leaders and connecting our members in new ways.
Whatever our role in the church may be, we can’t ignore our responsibility to equip the saints for God’s work. It’s the way He designed the church to operate.
How is your church leveraging technology to equip the saints for ministry?