Eldership and Member Development

Obviously the congregation is made up of different members with differing abilities. The church is described in 1 Corinthians 12 as a human body. The body needs all of its parts to function properly.

If parts are absent or weakened then the church is “handicapped” and cannot function properly as God designed it. So then it is on the Elders to identify and develop talent in the congregation so that the church body can function properly.

Here’s the thing… talent can never be developed unless it is discovered and used.

Several things factor into the wasting of talent by not using it. In a lot of congregations the Preacher is the main guy. He typically does all the preaching and teaches all of the classes. After-all that’s his job we pay him for that right?. So you have a body part that is over developed while the other parts are wasting away. I’m not a fan of the one Preacher system (for several reasons) where the Preacher is used to the exclusion of the other members.

Another factor is micro-management by Elders. Some Elders feel like they have to do and control everything. I know, of some congregations where the Elders do all of the announcements for fear that someone might “announce” the wrong thing.

At Parkway we discovered a young man who in his early 20s had an incredible “presence” for making announcements. He was comfortable, spoke clearly and had good extemporaneous thoughts to share with the congregation. We have used him and I’m convinced still have not discovered his “ceiling”.

We’ve had young Song-leaders who showed ability and with use have really developed into excellent Song-leaders.

Talent and ability can never grow unless you use them. You can’t be afraid of talent making mistakes. In fact you want the talented people to make mistakes so they can grow and learn from it. As Elders, let’s not handicap the congregation. Let’s discover talent and use that talent so the congregation can be all that it can be.