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Myth #1 “Our church is too small
to do training.”
If you’ve ever consciously or subconsciously
accepted the idea that your church can’t or shouldn’t
do ministry training for the handful of volunteers in your “small”
church, you have believed a fatal myth for the following reasons:
 Small
Myth Buster #1
God’s Word offers NO exemption clause to small churches.
You will NOT find any of the following in the Bible: “make disciples…
unless you’re a small church—then wait until you grow
larger” (see Matthew
28:19) or “equip God’s people to do his work…
unless you’re a part of a small church” (see Ephesians
4:11-12). Training disciples and equipping volunteers to do the
work of the ministry, according to the Bible, is for EVERY church
regardless of size. God’s Word offers no training exception
clause to small churches—even if the church is so small it can
meet in a house (Romans
16:5).
Small Myth Buster #2
Surprise! Your church might be one of the larger churches
in America!
Want to know what a small church is? I once preached in a church of
three people! And it got even smaller when I stepped up to lead the
first song. Two of the three people in the congregation stepped up
to the piano and the organ respectively—and I was looking at
one person in the congregation! That, my friends, by any definition,
is a small church! According to researcher George Barna, the average
size church in America is 89 adults. Think about this with me for
a moment. If your church has 90 or more adults in attendance on any
given Sunday, statistically speaking, you are in one of the larger
churches in America!
Small Myth Buster #3
Being small in number is a reason to train volunteers
to do ministry—not a reason to ignore, avoid, or disregard the
training of volunteers!
The truth is that authentic ministry training is best accomplished
in a smaller context! Remember, Jesus’ original “church”
was only twelve volunteers in number. But note well what happens when
a small “cadre” of volunteers are trained well to do the
work of God’s kingdom! (See the book of Acts
for more info.) If your church is small, it’s all the more reason
to train volunteers to do the work of the ministry. Training volunteers
is one of the keys to transforming them from pew potatoes to passionate
participators! Small Myth Buster
#4
Smaller churches often do a better job of training volunteers
to do the work of the ministry.
In a larger church, it is much easier for people to hide in the
pew and stay uninvolved. In a smaller church, there is no hiding!
Hence, training volunteers to do ministry can—and is often—being
done better by “smaller” churches! I recently
spoke in a small church of about 75 adults in very rural Illinois.
By the time we got to this church, the cell phone reception was
non-existent—and even the FM radio only had a couple of clear
stations coming through. This is what we in Cadre Ministries affectionately
refer to as “Cadre Country.” Why “affectionately”?
Because throughout history, God has used unlikely people from
ordinary places to make an extraordinary difference for Him! This
is precisely what I found at this church.
Here—in a town of about 1,200—is a young, growing,
healthy church of 75 adults with four pastors. Four pastors?
How can that be? The senior pastor is the only paid pastor, but
because of his commitment to training people to do the work of the
ministry in Ephesians
4:11-12 fashion—three men from his church have been trained
to lead the church’s youth ministry, evangelism ministry,
and discipleship ministry. All of these men—two in their twenties
and one in his thirties—purposely took jobs in the area so
they can fulfill their God-given calling to this church and this
portion of Illinois. The fact that these three pastors are bi-vocational
only accentuates the power and importance of training. And these
men continue to be trained with Jesus-like on-the-job training!
The senior pastor told me there are five more people in his congregation
who are just beginning to pursue ministry training.
This senior pastor gets it! What is the “it” he gets?
The training heart of Jesus! The training heart of Paul! The training
heart of God that permeates the Bible! So this pastor wisely invests
his time training his people and launching them into ministry in
Ephesians
4:11-12 fashion. You don’t hear this pastor in this small
church in a very small town in very rural Illinois saying, “We’re
too small to do ministry training.” They’re too busy
training people to do ministry effectively!
Small Myth Buster #5
“Small” does NOT automatically mean “inferior.”
What do people really mean when they say, “Our church
is too small to do training”? The connotation
of “small,” when applied to conversations about churches,
often erroneously insinuates “inferior.” The implication
is that only “big” churches can engage in the luxury
of training volunteers to do the work of the ministry. This thinking
is rooted in our FALSE belief that successful ministry requires
large numbers of people. It is a very interesting exercise to compare
our unbiblical “numbers = success thinking” with what
Jesus said in Matthew
7:13-14.
Attendance ought not to be the only measure of a successful church.
Why? Because large attendance doesn’t automatically translate
into “biblical health,” and small attendance doesn’t
automatically mean “spiritually anemic.” It’s
much more complex than that. There are multiple variables involved
in accurately assessing the biblical success and health of a church.
Suffice it to say for our purposes that it’s possible to have
a large and biblically unhealthy church. And it is possible to have
a small—or average size—biblically effective church.
A mark of a biblically healthy church should not be based
on the number of people it has coming into it alone, but how many
people are being trained and sent out of it to impact the world!
I know this sounds strange to a North American mindset. But I get
these “different” ideas from studying the life of Jesus
who, in order to reach the masses, intentionally and painstakingly
trained a “cadre” of disciples. It was this
very same cadre of disciples who, when sent out as apostles, “turned
the world upside down” (Acts
17:6). Please don’t misunderstand what I am saying. I
have absolutely nothing against larger churches. I like and admire
certain aspects of most of them. I just refuse to bow down to the
false god of “large numbers = success.”
Being a small church does NOT automatically mean the church is
inferior! Barna offers these amazing and insightful words on the
issue of church size and true biblical success: “Jesus did
not die on the cross to fill up church auditoriums. He died so that
people might know God personally and be transformed in all dimensions
of their life through their ongoing relationship with Him. Such
a personal reformation can happen in a church of any size.
After all, the goal of every church should not be numerical growth
but spiritual health and vitality” (italics mine). A critically
important sign of spiritual health and vitality in a church—of
any size—is a heart and strategy for training volunteers to
do the work of the ministry!
To explore further the idea of what ministry success really is
http://www.cadreministries.com/p0800.html
Small Myth Buster #6
Current trends in American church life should encourage
smaller churches to embrace a training-for-ministry strategy!
Over the next ten years, you will notice that younger adults are
NOT jumping in to fill the empty seats in big Baby Boomer churches!
According to Barna, “adults under 35 years of age are more
likely than are older adults to attend small churches.” One
reason Barna cites for this trend is “the Baby Bust generation’s
disinterest in participating in Boomer-led organizations and in
large-scale enterprises. Busters are more interested in being personally
known and connected, which many believe is more difficult to accomplish
in larger churches.”
Barna goes on to accentuate the importance of small and average
size churches: “Small churches play an important and valuable
role in the religious landscape of America. They reach millions
of young adults who have no interest in a larger church setting.
They have tremendous potential for building strong community, as
well as spiritual foundations. Megachurches draw media attention,
but they collectively account for less than one out of every four
adults in church.” Because of different values and goals of
the Buster and Mosaic generation, Barna predicts that the regular
church will become “a more significant force in the future,
with many of those churches spawning new congregations rather than
expanding to become megachurches.” It’s an exciting
day to be a smaller or average size church!
However, one of the distinguishing characteristics of the under
thirty-five crowd is their deep DNA desire to participate—not
just spectate! As this group begins to walk past larger churches
to darken the doors of smaller or average size churches—as
many of them most certainly will—they will not want to sit
in church! This generation wants to roll up their sleeves and get
involved. If volunteer and vocational church leaders in these smaller
to average size churches make the mistake of keeping these young
adults on the bench—rather than putting them into the game—this
upcoming generation of young adults will tend to move on to another
smaller to average size church that will allow them to put their
gifts and talents into play for the kingdom of God! They will not
wait for the benefits of seniority like those in the Boomer generation
did. They want to make a difference for God NOW—and they will
go to churches that give them the opportunities to participate in
ministry that’s making an eternal difference.
Therefore, ministry training in the mode of Jesus and Ephesians
4:11-12 must become a critical component of the strategy of
the small and average size church—if such churches REALLY
want to assimilate the coming generations into the life of the church!
Without an authentic biblical approach to training volunteers, a
church will never really be able to step into this window of opportunity
to reach, train, and deploy the coming generation for Christ! And
who is poised to lean into this window of opportunity? The smaller
and average size churches—IF they will embrace a training-for-ministry
strategy with these young adult volunteers!
Do you still believe the myth that
your church is too small to train volunteers to do ministry?
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Brand
New Training Workshop:
Creating a Culture of Training in Your Church
or Ministry
Do you want to train volunteers in your ministry to serve God effectively—but don't know where to start? If you want God to use YOU to help create a culture of training in your ministry or church, then Creating a Culture of Training is the workshop for you!
Session #1 The First Person You Train Is… YOU!
Session #2 The Ephesians 4:11-12 Approach to Training Volunteers
Session #3 The People, Power, and Practice of Ministry Training
Session #4 A Personalized Action Plan for Training Volunteers in Your Ministry
Each person gets TWO copies of Cadre's Volunteer Training Dialogue #1: Training Makes All the Difference!
One copy is used as the training manual for this workshop. The second copy is to be used to begin a training dialogue in your ministry!
When you leave this training, you will have a plan—and a very practical resource—for Creating a Culture of Training in your church or ministry!
To bring this training workshop to your church, ministry, or area,
contact Bill at:
info@cadreministries.com
Is
a Certified Cadre Trainer Doing Training Near You?
* Northern Illinois Area, Saturday, 10/15/05
Kidz to Jesus AWANA Conference
http://www.niawana.org
This super conference includes keynote sessions by James McDonald
and AWANA president Jack Eggar. Contact Rick Darling at awanaillinois@charter.net
* Central Illinois Area, Saturday, 10/22/05
Ministry Is Relationships!
http://www.cadreinternational.com/training/relationships.php
8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
This workshop takes you back to the heart of authentic ministry
and life change—
relationships! The $15 registration includes a training manual and
snacks! Hosted by Pontiac First United Methodist Church. Contact
Lon Alderman at 815.844.4646 or lon@acornministries.com
* Chicago Illinois Area, Saturday, 11/5/05
Time Management for Painfully Pooped-Out People workshop
http://www.cadreinternational.com/training/pooped.php
8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Come all ye who are pooped out and learn to apply ten biblical principles
for taking control or your life and time! For more info or to register,
visit http://www.fbcg.com/inside/f_home.ml.htm
or contact Michele at mschuman@ameritech.net
* East/Central Wisconsin Area, Friday and Saturday, 11/11-12/05
Kid U for Children's Ministry Workers
http://www.kidology.org/training/kidu/2005/columbus/workshops.asp
Appleton, WI
Cadre workshops at this conference are:
1. Your First and Most Important Job as a Volunteer in Children's
Ministry!
2. Training Really Does Make All the Difference!
3. Why Volunteers Hate Meetings and What You Can Do About It!
4. You Can Recruit Excellent Volunteers Into Your Children's Ministry!
* Minnesota/Wisconsin Area, Saturday, 11/19/05
Evangelism Is Relationships!
http://www.cadreinternational.com/training/evangelism.php
For more information, contact bill@cadreministries.com
* Central Minnesota Area, Saturday, 12/9-11/05
The Leadership Genius of Hezekiah
http://www.cadreinternational.com/training/hezekiah.php
For more information, contact bill@cadreministries.com
Brand
New:
The Cadre Training Festival in Michigan, March 18, 2006!
View Training Festival 05 Photo Gallery (External Site)!
Mark your calendars now and stay tuned to Cadre Connection for
more details...
Celebrate
Pastor Appreciation Month with FREE Resources from Cadre...
http://www.cadreinternational.com/training/1004.php
Cadre: We're guilty of inciting a volunteer
TRAINING revolution in the church!
Cadre is a not-for-profit ministry [501(c)(3)] that exists
to assist local churches in becoming the greatest volunteer training
organizations in the world. We're asking God to give us 5,000 non-staff
trainers who are obsessed with Ephesians 4:11-12! To pursue certification
to take Cadre training to your church, contact info@cadreministries.com.
Cadre staff serve as support-based, God-dependent missionaries
to come alongside volunteers and those who care for volunteers in
the church to help accomplish their God-given mission.
We provide FREE monthly online training for volunteers in the
church (Cadre Connection), for volunteer Jr. High Youthworkers (Batteries
Included), and for Student Leaders (Spiritual Caffeine). Visit www.cadreministries.com
to preview our recent free training or to sign up to receive training
in your email-box monthly.
For more information about bringing a certified Cadre trainer
to coach and train the volunteer teachers, leaders, and youth workers
in your church, contact info@cadreministries.com
For Cadre training resources visit http://www.cadreministries.com/store
All other tax deductible donations can be sent to:
Cadre Ministries
PO Box 278
Sycamore, IL 60178
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