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Risking Lay Ministry
An essential step in preparing people to minister is to encourage them to be willing to take big risks.
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By Wednesday, the night we were beginning a class on lay ministry, it wasn't any better, so I said, "This is our first session on 'becoming a minister,' and I'm in need of pastoral care right now. At the end of class, some elders are going to come and pray for me and anoint me with oil. You can all see how that healing ministry is done." At 9 o'clock when I finished teaching, the elders still hadn't shown up. One of the class members said, "Well, why can't we pray for you?" "Why not?" I said. One woman found some suntan oil in her purse, and the whole class gathered around me, anointed me with the oil, and prayed. Just as they finished, the elders arrived, and we prayed all over again. Two days later, I was well. In the next Sunday's sermon, I mentioned having shingles, how two groups of people had prayed, and how God had taken the pain away. The next week a man wrote me, "I want to thank you for being in the pulpit last Sunday just a week after you got shingles. I know that nobody gets rid of shingles in a week. I know God healed you. I've never seen a miracle before. Now, with my own eyes, I believe I've seen one." I would never choose to have shingles, but God used it to demonstrate his healing power and to bless people. Part of the blessing, in this case, was that people in the class saw they could minister with confidence. Yet another way to encourage lay ministry is by having lay people tell publicly what God was doing in their lives. For instance, once I led a retreat at which three elders launched the first night by telling their remarkable stories. One man told about having two of his daughters killed in separate car accidents, one involving a drunken driver. He and his wife have survived, and the miracle is, they're not bitter. By the end of his story, many were tearful. A second man had been through a divorce. He is now happily remarried with wonderful kids and a powerful ministry, but he talked about the pain of divorce. "You never get over the pain. The pain is always there." Next a schoolteacher, a woman in her thirties, told her story: "I never thought I'd be this old and still be unmarried." She shared her disappointment and her reliance on God. It was a holy moment. All the next morning and into the afternoon, the storytelling continued, this time in groups of seven. Everyone got to share his or her story—"This is where I'm coming from … where God found me … where I am now … where my pain is … where God is leading me." |             | |||||||||||||||||||
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