Leaders in a Model mobilyzr Church implement an intentional, complete, integrated process to connect God’s people to meaningful ministry. They endorse and support members in their service, whether in settings inside the church and/or out in the community. This is part of embodying the larger purpose of the Church, which is to live a balanced lifestyle of discipleship, evangelism, fellowship, ministry, and worship. The following core values direct the church’s development of ministry structures and congregational practices:

• People first – programs second.
• Every member is a minister.
• Pastors and other paid staff are not expected or required to “do it all.”
• Qualified volunteers are as capable as paid staff in training other members to fulfill ministry tasks and to train other members for ministry.
• The primary role of leaders is to equip members of the Body so all can do the work of ministry for which they were created, and to which they are called and accountable.
• Since we minister out of who we are, “equipping” integrates spiritual formation of character, biblical worldview, and ministry skill development.
• Spiritual formation and leadership development require us to apply both strategic foresight in our thinking and intentionality in our actions.
• Apprenticeship in ministry is a critical component for growing leaders and for sustaining ministries long term.
• Involvement in ministry is valued at the same level as involvement in the four other aspects of Body life: discipleship, evangelism, fellowship, and worship.
• Ministry in the community is valued at the same level as ministry inside the church.
• The potential and actual contributions of all disciples are valued as critical to the overall success of the Body in carrying out its purpose. Using the analogy of the Parable of the Talents, this principle applies, regardless of whether a particular disciple has the equivalent of one, two, or five talents to work with.
• When everyone participates, the impact is amplified. The investments of work by five-talent ministers only work as providentially planned when the investments of one-talent and two-talent people are included.

Those in leadership do the following activities periodically to role-model and promote these core values, and maintain them in the forefront of congregational life:

• Connecting to Meaningful Ministry. Teach/preach at least once a year about how and why members should connect themselves with meaningful ministry. Also, throughout the year, leaders promote serving in ministry.
• Serve in Church and/or Community. Promote ministry involvement both within the church and apart from the church’s organized ministries. This includes encouraging members to identify ministries outside the church that are in line with their passions for service, and graciously supporting those who find other churches or organizations in the area whose ministry opportunities “match” when our church has none.
• Equipping for Those Who Serve. Promote all members being trained for ministry, encourage those interested to participate, and provide funding and/or create opportunities to be trained.
• Appreciating Those Who Serve. Use various communication tools to highlight those who serve in ministry. Show appreciation for those who step down from ministry positions.

Ministry is about more than just service; it is about being forged as a community on mission together for the long-term.

• Connecting. Leaders encourage staff and volunteers to get together for fellowship – not just for ministry tasks or training.
• Mentoring. New Christians are paired with more mature Christians who are committed to helping him or her grow in his/her faith.
• Multiplication. Every member is a minister, every disciple is a discipler, and every follower of Christ is a leader. This is how our faith and practice are passed on to next generations.

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Sustaining Integrity in Ministry Processes, Systems, and Structures

 

Leaders in a Model mobilyzr Church work within the following principles to guide their actions in systems and structures:

• Strength-Based Service. People serve better and longer in ministry when they are well matched with the jobs they do. This involves identifying their spiritual gifts and areas of ministry passion first, so they can serve based on strengths and not on guilt. Then, they need to receive ongoing equipping that develops their gifts, and to spend the majority of their service time in areas of passion.
• Clear Job Requirements/Parameters. All expectations with regard to serving are clear, and they are communicated “up front,” both in writing and in person to those new to the church or to that ministry team/position.
• Growth Environment. Those involved in the spiritual and leadership formation of others are responsible to create a constructive environment that promotes development through equipping, empowering, and encouraging.
• Team-Based Ministry. Teamwork creates ministry systems that are stronger and more sustainable, in large part because each member’s gifts, strengths, and abilities complement what another member lacks. Leaders intentionally seek to create strength-based and gift-balanced teams so the comprehensive needs of the unit are covered through the total composite of contributions from all participants.
• Mentoring for Sustainability and Succession. Every leader intentionally mentors/apprentices other people. This is part of an overall system that multiplies the total number of volunteers, strengthens the spiritual depth in each volunteer, and prepares some volunteers to take over advanced leadership roles when appropriate.
• Intentional Improvement to Systems. Leaders listen to suggestions for creating new ministries and for improving existing ones. They seek to make those who make suggestions feel valued, they implement what helps improve the systems for both the short run and long run, and they let those who made suggestions know the outcomes.

Leaders in a Model mobilyzr Church show wisdom and integrity in implementing ministry infrastructures, accountability, and sustainability.

• Ministry Development. Leaders make intentional efforts to create multiple points of entry into ministry for those at various levels of spiritual interest and maturity. A clear and complete job description is developed for every service position before it is advertised, before people are interviewed, and before appropriate candidates are recommended for the opportunity. The church also has written guidelines available for volunteers who wish to be given consideration for starting a new ministry or partnership, inside or outside of the church.
• Missional Development. It is impossible for all church members to be involved in ministry only in the church setting. So, church leaders make intentional efforts to find, create, or advocate community-based service opportunities as part of being missional. They also strive NOT to slot ill-suited volunteers into a ministry role just because someone is needed; instead, the goal is to help God’s people find meaningful ministry that is appropriate to whom God made them to be and what they are passionate about doing.
• Strategic Stewardship Promoted. Leaders encourage people to consider doing 80% of their service in passion-driven ministry (i.e., strength-based/using specific spiritual giftedness) and 20% in need-based ministry (i.e., program-based/using general spiritual disciplines). Ministry opportunities inside the church and in the community are promoted through a variety of means and at various times. Training opportunities for both general and specific equipping are made available regularly and promoted extensively. Staff and volunteers are evaluated annually to ensure people are not overcommitted to their ministries and thus burning out. Recognition of service occurs through a variety of means and at various times.
• Real and Realistic Job Descriptions. Each job description gives clear and sufficient detail about responsibilities, boundaries, and accountability procedures. It does not involve a range of tasks that would likely be impossible for any one person to do. Each job description suggests the gifts, abilities, and spiritual interest/maturity level needed for a good fit with the position. It also lists the name of the person or title of the position responsible to oversee those serving in this role.
• Background Checks. Given the realities of today’s society, it is essential to have written policies and procedures in place regarding background checks, and to follow them completely and consistently. All required background checks and reference checks will be conducted according to procedures and in a timely way, in order to maintain integrity and avoid liability. This applies to all potential ministry staff and volunteers, most especially to anyone working with anyone under the age of 18.
• Orientation Before Serving. All new ministry volunteers receive a general orientation before they can begin serving in a ministry sponsored by the church or any of its partnerships. Each ministry volunteer receive a customized orientation to their new team before they can begin serving with the team. This may or may not be a lengthy process, but it includes necessary equipping in skills, as well as an orientation to the job description for the position or tasks, and any related boundaries, procedures, and systems for supervision. Orientations and trainings are evaluated by presenters, participants, and outside observers in order to improve their clarity, quality, and relevance.
• Supervision and Evaluation. Supervision is valued as an integral part of spiritual formation/discipleship. All volunteers and ministry leaders are supervised individually. They are also given constructive feedback regularly and a formal review periodically. All ministry leaders receive formal training in skills of supervision, regardless of whether they are paid staff or volunteers. They also receive continuing education in leadership skills (e.g., team building, mentoring, conflict resolution) so the church can avoid the twin problems of micro-management and hands-off non-supervision.
• Multiplication of Ministry. The church is committed to discipling people who will disciple others. This includes supporting, equipping, and resourcing volunteer leaders who will be training other volunteers.

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Customizing Ministry Placement, Training, and Communications

 

Before potential volunteers are allowed into any ministry position, they go through a personalized placement process that includes taking assessments and then interpreting/matching, and equipping.

• Assessments. The PLACE Assessment helps individuals identify their spiritual gifts, personality, competencies, and passions for ministry.
• Interpretation. A PLACE Consultant or other trained leader conducts a personal consultation session to help participants understand and interpret their findings. This includes consideration of “best fit” matches for meaningful ministry in church and/or community, given the participant’s giftedness, current level of spiritual interest/maturity, and time availability.
• Equipping. Church or ministry leaders provide general orientations to service, team-specific orientations, and job-specific trainings and resources.

Leaders in a Model mobilyzr Church care about customizing opportunities for training, according to providential differences and needs among God’s people.

• Customized Learning Opportunities. Training is intentionally customized and creative, in order to accommodate differences in learning styles and preferred methods of equipping. (These relate to the list of learning media and methods used in the mobilyzr Equipping Preferences Survey.)
• Continual Development. The church or ministry provides “upgrade trainings” on a regular basis, with alternative times and options available for volunteers with non-standard work schedules or accessibility issues.
• Varied Combination of Presenters and Venues. Training sessions alternate among in-house presenters and outside expert trainers, and among ministry staff/leaders and volunteers. Venues may vary among inside the church, in the community, at-a-distance, and virtual/online.

Leaders in a Model mobilyzr Church maintain a confidential system – accessible only to appropriate leaders – for collecting and storing contact information from each ministry volunteer and details on how best to customize communications, motivations, and trainings for him/her. This database system includes:

• Contact information.
• Spiritual gifts, areas of passion-driven ministry, personality, and abilities.
• Overall spiritual interest and maturity level (needed to match with appropriate opportunities).
• Current and past ministry activities (Ministry Involvement Survey).
• Personal preferences for how they best engage with and learn new content and skills (Equipping Preferences Survey).
• Personal preferences for how they best receive encouragement and are typically motivated (Appreciation Preferences Survey).

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Tracking Quantitative and Qualitative Changes

 

Leaders in a Model mobilyzr Church are Spirit-led AND they also intentionally use tools and trends to help assess the effectiveness of individual ministries and the church as a whole. At least annually, they update their “mobilyzr Online” Survey System databases (Ministry Involvement, and Equipping and Appreciation Preferences). They also review periodically statistics from the PLACE Volunteer Database and results from “mobilyzr Online” Evaluations that indicate the church’s “spiritual pulse.”

• The number of new ministry staff and/or volunteers added.
• The number of ministry staff and/or volunteers lost.
• The hours of service done by staff and by volunteers, categorized by service in the church and in the community.
• Improvements and/or declines in each of six elements in the mobilization process to connect God’s people into meaningful ministry.

There is regular evaluation of the “environment of empowerment” – responsibilities, risk-taking, and unconditional support – in the church overall and in its individual ministry teams.

• Regular Reviews. All staff and leadership jobs are regularly reviewed to see what responsibilities can be turned over to other people. There is follow-through to ensure job tasks are transferred to people with the appropriate combination of passion-driven giftedness, spiritual interest/maturity level, and time availability to take them on.
• Ongoing Support. The church or ministry team provides support, even when mistakes are made in ministry direction or activities. In such cases, there is support to discern correctives and implement them, without condemnation.
• Boundaries and Opportunities. Church and ministry leaders provide a proper balance between expectations and freedom for carrying out ministry.

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Budgeting Reflects Priorities from Core Values and Sustainable Systems

 

In a Model mobilyzr Church, a significant portion of the church budget is dedicated to catalyzing multiplied ministry through equipping, mobilizing, and encouraging. This includes:

• Continual Equipping. The budget covers systems related to periodic training, sabbatic leaves, and apprenticeships. This includes both general training, and continuing education in areas of specialization. Rest and refreshment are critical to long-term sustainability of all who serve in ministry. So, a clear and comprehensive system is in place for providing sabbatic leaves/opportunities, especially for paid staff, and the schedule for these is posted on an accessible calendar. A clear and comprehensive system is in place for internships/externships, including resources for spiritual directors, field mentors, partnership liaisons, and any other people involved in implementing the system.
• Customizable Resource System. The budget covers review and purchase of training resources, with consideration to develop a resource system geared for a diverse range of learning/equipping styles as outlined in the mobilyzr Equipping Preferences Survey.
• Consistent Appreciation. The budget covers an annual event and/or thank-you gifts to recognize those who serve, customized using methods that match their mobilyzr Appreciation Preferences Survey.

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