Lay Servant Leadership

We recently sent 8 people to become trained as lay servant ministers. They all had such a transformative experience, and each is excited to take initiative in living out his or her call. It has stirred a spirit of missional evangelism in our congregation. They are already doing research into offering services to the many struggling and homeless people that, thus far, we have had to turn away because we were not prepared or capable of assisting them. Now these lay servants are planning to offer small group settings that build trust and relationship with the people we want to serve in our community. Our lay servants also want to have a food pantry so that when a person attends a class on computer skills, writing a resume, etc. or when a person attends a small group bible study they can earn points to get food, clothing, and the tools they need to begin to make a better life for themselves. The lay-servant ministers also want to use the pantry to offer communion, a means of grace, to all people. Their goal is to build relatoinships by meeting people where they are and respectfully offering them resources and education. Hopefully those who are helped will one day turn around and become servers themselves. We are only in the prayer and learning stage right now, but this vision is exciting our leaders and the congregation. We also have a lay servant who wishes to do men's ministry for the men in the church, and another lay minister who want to get the youth group involved in the food pantry as part of our Youth Sunday Night Missions Ministry. I am so excited to have leaders who want to dream big, and so excited to see these lay servants and our congregation growing in spirit through missional discipleship.