Equipping people to serve!

"He...gave gifts...to equip God's people...and build up...the church." Ephesians 4:8-12

As a leader you must keep before you at all times the philosophy, plan and purpose behind what you're called to accomplish, and make it clear to the people who work with you. Three of the most common problems in any organization, including the church, are: (1) putting someone in the wrong slot and leaving them there because there's no one else to do the job; (2) not understanding someone's gifting and not providing adequate training, direction and information to promote teamwork; (3) leaders who don't know how to communicate their vision clearly. When any of of these areas is out of whack, we spend our time and energy troubleshooting, putting out fires and running in 40 directions. As a result, leaders get discouraged and workers quit.
But the church doesn't have to be like that. Paul outlined the Master Plan for church growth by reminding us that God "gave these gifts to the church: apostles, prophets, evangelists and paster and teachers...to eqiup God's people to do his work and build up the church." Why did God assign leaders? To equip people. Why do people need to be equipped? To serve. Why is service so important? To build up the Body of Christ. That's it! And it's essential to developing a strong, healthy church whose mission is to feed God's sheep and reach the lost with the Gospel. That's why as a leader, everything you do should be directly related to equipping people to serve. Do that, and you'll be less frustrated, your people more fulfilled and your church more fruitful!