LEAVE COMMENTS FOR THIS POST AT BOTTOM OF PAGE
February 18, 2010
Recruiting the Called
Imagine a television commercial targeting youth and young adults with the slogan: The church needs you! Explore the call to ministry…
What emotions would such an idea conjure up with in you? Would it be a good thing or not?
A few weeks ago, Melissa Wiginton, Vice President of Ministry Programs and Planning at FTE, and I had a conversation about recruiting people to explore the possibility of ministry as a profession, even if they themselves have not identified their own call.
While this might be an unpopular idea in the church, the U.S. military used to advertise with a portrait of Uncle Sam with the following words: I Want You for the U.S. Army to potential recruits.
While churches tend to be squeamish about "recruitment" language, college and seminary admission offices, sport teams and the other three professions: Business, Law and Medicine get it and have no problem with the idea of recruiting talent. In some cases, their schools and organizations in their respective sectors are doing vocation (profession) care better than what the church will probably ever do as a whole for various reasons. They know the importance of recruiting and retaining the next generation of excellent and diverse leaders.
If capable, excellent leadership matters to the sustainability and thriving of the church’s triple bottom line: vital Christians, vital congregations and vital communities, then churches need to think about talent development and succession planning in leadership just as companies and other nonprofits do.
Calling the called is incarnational work through a community of people. The church cannot take good leadership for granted. It must as a body of believers lift up and support pathways to the profession of pastoral ministry.
What would happen if the church recruited the called people it needs for leadership?
Blog comments powered by Disqus