Lay Leadership E-Book

Aaron Perry

• Herausgeber: Lexham Press
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: Lexham Ministry Guides
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 208

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Inviting others into God's good work - Learn how to empower laity in leadership - Understand a theology of leadership - Gain practical wisdom for your own context The church is ordered so that good can run wild. God appoints leaders to commission the laity in the church's ministry and mission. Pastors and ministry leaders serve and organize the church in such a way that people in their care can pursue their unique gifts. In Lay Leadership: For the Care of Souls, Aaron Perry empowers pastors to empower laity in leadership. Perry helps leaders recognize the challenges and pursue the opportunities in sharing vision, inviting participation, delegating roles and responsibilities, and equipping people for sustained ministry. With theological structure and practical wisdom, Perry provides a foundational theology of the laity and specific actions for leaders to apply in their own context.

Leseprobe

LEXHAM MINISTRY GUIDES

Lay Leadership

For the Care of Souls

AARON PERRY

General Editor

Harold L. Senkbeil

Lay Leadership: For the Care of Souls

Lexham Ministry Guides

Copyright 2025 Aaron Perry

Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225 LexhamPress.com

You may use brief quotations from this resource in presentations, articles, and books. For all other uses, please write Lexham Press for permission. Email us at [email protected].

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked (NRSV) are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Print ISBN 9781683597780

Digital ISBN 9781683597797

Library of Congress Control Number 2024934996

Series Editor: Harold L. Senkbeil

Lexham Editorial: Todd Hains, Elliot Ritzema, Abigail Stocker

Cover Design: Lydia Dahl

To the many, many lay leaders I’ve been privileged

to lead, learn from, and serve alongside

at Calvary Community Church

and Centennial Road Church

And to my wife, Heather, whose ministry

and leadership as a lay person inspired,

tested, and refined so much of this book.

Contents

SERIES PREFACE

PRAYER FOR LAY LEADERSHIP

CHAPTER 1

Lead: Ministry that Runs Wild, Wide, and Deep

CHAPTER 2

Cast: Helping Others to See What You See

CHAPTER 3

Ask: Inviting Others into the Work of God

CHAPTER 4

Task: Designing Fitting Roles and Responsibilities

CHAPTER 5

Train: Equipping People for Ministry

CHAPTER 6

Track: Managing the People in Ministry

CHAPTER 7

Thank: Expressing Praise to God and Gratitude to His People

CHAPTER 8

Start: Who’s Ready to Begin?

RESOURCES

WORKS CITED

ACTS 20:28

Pay careful attention to yourselves and

to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit

has made you overseers, to care

for the church of God,

which he obtained

with his own

blood.

Series Preface

What’s old is new again.

The church in ages past has focused her mission through every changing era on one unchanging, Spirit-given task: the care of souls in Jesus’s name. Christian clergy in every generation have devoted themselves to bringing Christ’s gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation to people by first bringing them to faith and then keeping them in the faith all life long.

These people—these blood-bought souls—are cared for just as a doctor cares for bodies. The first step is carefully observing the symptoms of distress, then diagnosing the ailment behind these symptoms. Only after careful observation and informed diagnosis can a physician of souls proceed—treating not the symptoms, but the underlying disease.

Attention and intention are essential for quality pastoral care. Pastors first attentively listen with Christ’s ears and then intentionally speak with Christ’s mouth. Soul care is a ministry of the Word; it is rooted in the conviction that God’s word is efficacious—it does what it says (Isa 55:10–11).

This careful, care-filled pastoral work is more art than science. It’s the practical wisdom of theology, rooted in focused study of God’s word and informed by the example of generations past. It’s an aptitude more than a skillset, developed through years of ministry experience and ongoing conversation with colleagues.

The challenges of our turbulent era are driving conscientious evangelists and pastors to return to the soul care tradition to find effective tools for contemporary ministry. (I describe this in depth in my book The Care of Souls: Cultivating a Pastor’s Heart.) It’s this collegial conversation that each author in this series engages—speaking from their own knowledge and experience. We want to learn from each other’s insights to enrich the soul care tradition. How can we best address contemporary challenges with the timeless treasures of the Word of God?

In the Lexham Ministry Guides you will meet new colleagues to enlarge and enrich your unique ministry to better serve the Savior’s sheep and lambs with confidence. These men and women are in touch with people in different subcultures and settings, where they are daily engaged in learning the practical wisdom of the care of souls in real-life ministry settings just like yours. They will share their own personal insights and approaches to one of the myriad aspects of contemporary ministry.

Though their methods vary, they flow from one common conviction: all pastoral work is rooted in a pastoral habitus, or disposition. What every pastor does day after day is an expression of who the pastor is as a servant of Christ and a steward of God’s mysteries (1 Cor 4:1).

Although the authors may come from theological traditions different than yours, you will find a wealth of strategies and tactics for practical ministry you can apply, informed by your own confession of the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3).

Our Lord doesn’t call us to success, as if the results were up to us: “Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Cor 3:7). No, our Lord asks us to be faithful laborers in the service of souls he has purchased with his own blood (Acts 20:28).

Nor does our Lord expect us to have all the answers: “I will give you a mouth and wisdom” (Luke 21:15). Jesus, the eternal Word of the Father, is the Answer who gives us words when we need them to give to our neighbors when they need them. After all, Jesus sees deeper into our hearts than we do; he knows what we need. He is the Wisdom of God in every generation (1 Cor 1:24).

But wisdom takes time. The Lord our God creates, redeems, and sanctifies merely by his words. He could give us success and answers now, but he usually doesn’t. We learn over time through challenges and frustrations—even Jesus grew over time (Luke 2:52). The Lexham Ministry Guides offer practical wisdom for the church.

My prayer is that you grow in humble appreciation of the rare honor and responsibility that Christ Jesus bestowed on you in the power and presence of his Spirit: “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21).

Father in heaven, as in every generation you send forth laborers to do your work and equip them by your word, so we pray that in this our time you will continue to send forth your Spirit by that word. Equip your servants with everything good that they may do your will, working in them that which is well pleasing in your sight. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Harold L. Senkbeil, General Editor

September 14, 2020

Holy Cross Day

Prayer for Lay Leadership*

Since the earliest days of the church, Christians have used holy Scripture to shape and inform their life of prayer. The structured prayer below invites pastors and laity to pray for the equipping, leadership, and service of all members of the church. It can be used by either individuals or groups—in which case a designated leader begins and the others speak the words in bold font.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

O Lord, open my lips,

And my mouth will declare your praise.

Ps 51:15

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead

Joseph like a flock.

You who are enthroned upon the cherubim,

shine forth.

Ps 80:1

He led out his people like sheep

and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

Ps 78:52

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the

LORD forever.

Ps 23:6

Let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

That God by his word would create in us clean

hearts and renew a right spirit within us.

That he would give us eyes to see the talents

and gifts of those entrusted to our care.

That we would equip the saints for service

and build up the body of Christ.

Let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

That God would lead us in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

That he would do great acts among us and through us.

That we would give thanks for the saints’ faith in Jesus Christ and their love for his children.

Let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, have mercy.

Our Father who art in heaven

Hallowed be thy name,

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;

Give us this day our daily bread;

And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive

those who trespass against us;

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom and the power,

and the glory forever and ever.

Amen.

Matt 6:9–13

Almighty and everlasting God, by your Spirit the whole body of the church is governed and sanctified. Receive our prayers, which we offer before you for your holy church, that all members—in their vocation and ministry—may serve you in truth and godliness; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Lord almighty direct our days and our deeds in his peace.

Amen.

CHAPTER 1

Lead: Ministry that Runs Wild, Wide, and Deep

And the more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild.

—G. K. Chesterton

This is a book about the pastoral work of leading the laity in ministry so that they become leaders as well. There’s complexity and, at times, confusion to how this is done and what it entails. C. S. Lewis said that everything is complex, and if you’re not content with simple answers you shouldn’t complain when you encounter complex ones.1 We shouldn’t expect anything different from this topic. But when I’m imagining a leadership activity or role, it helps me to keep specific people in mind. When I think of lay leadership, I often think of Ted.

“Guys, I need you to pray for me.” Coming from Ted, we took notice. He never missed our small group meeting, but asking for prayer was more than a bit out of the ordinary. We leaned in. Ted continued: “I think I need to tell my buddies I can’t play basketball on Sunday mornings.”

Where I would be on Sunday mornings wasn’t an open question. As a pastor, my responsibilities were set. My family’s responsibilities—my wife being very active in the church and my children still too young to protest—were clear. I knew where I was going to be. But for Ted, every Sunday was a choice.

For most of the year, I knew where Ted would be—in church. Ted was a committed churchman with a genuine and deep faith. But basketball season was different. The camaraderie, the fellowship, the atmosphere—these enhanced Ted’s already deep love for basketball. And Ted was good at basketball. Really good. His team not only enjoyed having him; they needed him.

And so Ted needed prayer. Telling his team he wouldn’t be playing on Sunday mornings was not a simple conversation. Ted’s teammates would not understand; they would not see him the same way. Things wouldn’t go back to normal quickly. But it was the choice Ted needed to make to display his faith and lead his family.

We reflected theologically on Ted’s act and how it was a kind of leadership. Our group came to see Ted’s action as a reflection of Christ’s ministry in the world through Ted. Christ’s offices not only founded my preaching in the church, but Ted’s witness to the world. Yes, he could have witnessed while being present at basketball, but Ted believed his decision was not only leading as a parent in his family, but also as a part of the church and as part of the people of God. As an act of ordering his family and life, it was a royal act; as an act of leading worship, it was a priestly act; as an act of embodied witness (his teammates knew where Ted would be when he wasn’t with them), it was a prophetic act.

On the first Sunday of basketball season, I saw Ted. So did other people in our church. And while his teammates didn’t see him physically, they sawhim in a fresh light. As his pastor, my calling was to help Ted fulfill his calling in the world.

Who’s your Ted? Who is the person that comes to mind when you think of leading them to ministry done in the name of Jesus Christ? When faced with complexity, orient yourself by bringing this person back to mind. How does what you’ve read apply to them?

THE COMPLEXITY OF MINISTRY

It helps to keep real names and real people in mind because vocation is simple and complex. It is simple in that God has set some people aside for certain work within the church, but it is not always simple how the work, or ministry, of pastors and the work, or ministry, of the people interrelate. No doubt you have encountered the simplicity and complexity of vocation and ministry, too. At some point you have either said or been told (or both!) that ministry really is quite simple. True! Ministry is simple. It is service. But, also, false! Ministry is remarkably complex because ministry always involves people with rich and complicated lives. And, whether you’re a pastor or a layperson who leads and serves in the church and out of faith in Christ—and I hope both pick up this book and read it, especially together!—then you understand just how complex ministry can become in the context of the local church and the pastor-layperson relationship.

Yes, ministry is both simple and complex. In a discussion on the paradox of authority in the church, G. K. Chesterton noted that “while [Christianity] had established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild.”2 Consider the complexity of ministry and the complexity of the pastor-layperson relationship as ultimately a kind of paradox in service to good. Ministry is about good—good things done in Jesus’s name and therefore by Jesus, but especially good news, the word spoken and the word made flesh through the acts of Christ’s body, the church, in the world every day. The chapters that follow present specific actions that spread good in the church, by the laity of the church, and in the laity as they are transformed through service. Recall Ted’s story. Good was running wild in the church because his influence in our group was expanding and others were seeing a man display even greater faithfulness to Christ’s lordship. They were challenged to do the same. And good was running wide in the world because his witness was being seen by his teammates and Ted was intentional in following it up with personal witness and testimony. Finally, good was running deep in the believer because Ted was being formed in Christlikeness. The work of the pastor to serve and order the church is so that good things may run wild in the church, wide in the world, and deep in the believer. And that’s all about lay leadership—equipping and empowering laity for ministry in Jesus’s name. I contend that we—pastors and laity alike—cannot be faithful and ignore the opportunity that lies before us for lay leadership and ministry in the twenty-first century.

Let me clarify one of my terms. We often conceive of ministry as being inside the church and mission being outside the church. In this book, however, work in Jesus’s name, whether inside or outside the church, is often lay leadership and lay ministry. Ministry in the church, whether by the pastor or the people of God, is practice for the church’s mission in the world, and her mission in the world must soon offer an invitation into the mutual care of ministry that happens within the church. This isn’t to say that every person in the church has equal ability or responsibility for a ministry that is “wide in the world” and “wild in the church,” but to affirm that the whole church is participating in the whole church’s activity as one body. Many specific actions done in Jesus’s name, including singing on a praise team, holding and praying over babies in the nursery, and organizing a food drive, can serve as examples of ministry—as examples of good running wild, wide, and deep.

CONFLICT, COMPLACENCY, INCAPACITY

This is difficult work. When the pastor-lay leader relationship loses sight of its good purpose, then we create unnecessary and unhelpful tensions. There is misguided conflict. We forget our mission and become dull light and stale salt. This is missional complacency. We become discouraged at serving one another and we let opportunities to serve one another in the church slip by us. There is ministry incapacity.

Have you observed any of these ministry breakdowns?

1.Pastors claim and/or operate with too much authority and pastoral leadership becomes pastoral abuse; pastoral authority turns to pastoral authoritarianism.

2.Pastors act or are encouraged to act as the only ministers, and pastors get worn out from doing all or almost all of the ministry in an underactive, inactive, and underdeveloped church.

3.Pastors and laity are believed to have the very same roles, and so while the pastoral office is occupied there is little pastoral authority and decreased ministry capacity among the people. No one is setting a ministry example or leading in ministry.

Misguided conflict, missional complacency, and ministry incapacity manifest in a number of ways: little volunteering, demoralized lay leaders, a false sense of “everything being under control,” a perception of few opportunities for meaningful, challenging ministry and leadership by the laity. Perhaps most discouraging of all is when this terrible trio appears as boredom with God and heavenly things.3

No doubt you have heard a pastor bemoan being “put on a pedestal.” Perhaps it’s been you. I have felt like that. The pedestal is sometimes the result of a kind of pastor-parishioner pyramid scheme. We imagine different levels of leadership in the church where the pastor has climbed the pyramid and now looks down at the rest occupying the lower levels. In this arrangement, power and authority is about ascending the pyramid. When this gets into the church’s leadership imagination, then the clergy might feel above because the people see them as above. Sometimes this image gets verbalized (internally and externally) by the people like this: “I could never do that! I’m not fit for ministry!”

But it isn’t only the people who believe that ministry is the work of the pastor and so function with an elevated image. Sometimes pastors think they are the only ones fit for ministry, too. Perhaps they wouldn’t say that they are the ones fit for ministry, but their actions reveal it. Belief that pastors alone do ministry is seen in little delegation, few fresh missional endeavors, and a false sense of excellence—even perfectionism. Pastors who act like they are essential for ministry try to be everywhere and are always available.

Sometimes a pastor can feel a sense of power and indispensability by always being needed and in demand. More often, though, I believe that pastors are simply overwhelmed at even the thought of attempting a new way of addressing needs and seizing opportunities. They see a need and rush to fill it; they sense an opportunity and don’t want to miss it. And then it becomes an unsustainable cycle. The need was filled and, strangely, has only gotten bigger. The opportunity was seized and now it can’t be released. You can see how this might result in quite a full workload for the pastor!

How strange when the one at the top of the pyramid just keeps getting more and more tasks! Perhaps you’ve had a similar experience to this one of mine: I was talking to someone who said, “Pastor, I’ve got a great idea for a new ministry.” I had been engaged in the conversation thus far, but at these words my ears really perked up. I love ministry happening in the church! I love when good things are running wild, wide, and deep! So, I was eager to hear this idea. “Tell me about it!” I replied. What followed was about ten minutes of insightful history and compelling vision. The idea was faithfully rooted in the church’s past accomplishments, but the vision was properly updated to its present culture and community. The details and structure were a bit lacking, but those could be covered in time and with proper pastoral support. I was starting to sense the momentum. Then came the words that no pastor wants to hear: “And I think you’ll do a great job running it, Pastor Aaron.”

Earlier in my pastoral ministry, I would have laid out a theology of ministry until the person’s eyes glazed and their mouth gaped. Underlying the comment was a belief that pastors, and only pastors, do ministry. Sometimes people don’t hold to this belief tightly; sometimes that’s just what they’ve been shown. More recently, I’ve learned that instead of teaching in that conversation, I need to test their commitment. Committed people can always be trained to lead and taught a stronger theology. So, we took some initial steps. We organized an interest meeting. We advertised publicly and invited personally. It was a good idea for ministry, but would it have traction or momentum? It didn’t. Even the person with the idea didn’t come to the meeting! Quietly, the idea died, but I was given fresh life to teach and preach that ministry is the work of all the people of God. If I had simply taken the idea and run with it, it could have continued the idea that only pastors do ministry.

So, how can we correct misguided conflicts, missional complacency, and ministry incapacity? With some theology.

CORRECTIVE CONVICTIONS

While I learned not to bring them up at every opportunity, I increasingly realized that I needed to sprinkle three key convictions throughout my leadership, teaching, and ministry.

Theological conviction #1: God the Father has only one begotten Son, Jesus Christ. A good Christology solves a lot of problems. But there’s even better news: a good Christ saves the world. The devil tempted Jesus with all the kingdoms of this world. All it would cost was Jesus’s worship. Peter reaffirmed this temptation when he tried to steer Jesus away from the cross (Matt 16:22). For Jesus to be King without a cross would have meant many others on their own crosses. After all, Jesus could have been a commander like so many others through human history. But his faithfulness even to the cross set him apart. And upon the faithful completion of his mission, Jesus announced that all authority—not just on earth, but in heaven—had been given to him (Matt 28:18). His authority is not limited to time and space; it is over all time and beyond all space.

What does this matter for ministry? Out of this authority, Jesus authorizes ministry! “Go!” he tells us. “Make disciples by baptizing and teaching,” he commands.

What does this mean for pastoral authority? It means that all authority, including pastoral authority, flows from and is under Christ. To have authority means to be under authority. Christ is under the authority of the Father and, because of Christ’s perfect obedience, the Father holds nothing back from the Son’s authority. And Christ authorizes his church, including its pastors, to act. The pastor is thus not self-appointed; neither is the pastor unaccountable. The pastor is, as is all the church, under the authority of Christ, the only begotten Son. The authority of the pastor is to lead and serve in such a way that good things, like benevolence ministries, Sunday School picnics, small groups, and support systems for abused persons, may run wild under Christ’s authority.

That God has only one begotten Son also means that all distinctions between pastor and laity are time-limited. The destiny of people is not to have division, but fellowship in Christ. Any complexity between pastor and laity will be removed in the fully revealed kingdom of our Lord. We might say that we look forward to a day when there is only one Pastor, the Great Shepherd, the only begotten Son.

Theological conviction #2: Ministry is the work of all the people of God. First, ministry is the work of all the people because it is the overflow of Christ’s own ministry. It’s not a separate ministry but Christ’s continued work. Christ served the world, and the people called out from the world into Christ are to emulate their Lord in the world by, and only by, the power of his very Spirit. Ministry is a witness to the ministry of Christ!4