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Organizing A Christian Education Ministry by Robert Edmiston, Training Consultant, Christian Education & Publications
I’m writing this from a desk piled high with “stuff.” So it might puzzle you that I’m discussing organization. But I know where I want to go and have a fairly good idea of what I want to do to get there. That is true personally and it’s true in ministry.
The most fundamental ingredient is vision. A vision might grow out of that which is thrust upon us.
We have adopted our grandson. That wasn’t part of any long range plan but because of the circumstances it was obvious what we ought to do.
I am presently serving a church that is in a changing area. The big question is how we will respond to this.
A vision might also be part of a dream that we want to see become a reality.
Not every vision will come to fruition. Our presbytery has a Church Based Ordination Program. I have a picture in my mind of what that could be. I also want to make than happen. A lot of time has been invested but our vision is far from reality. And should it increasingly become a reality that will instruct my vision – shaping it to fit the way God seems to be working.
The second step is to set out what we will do. We could call this a purpose statement. In the church I attend, the Christian Education Committee spent a year reflecting on our ministries and rethinking what we want to accomplish. Our statement of purpose came down to this: “to reach and teach; to love and serve.”
We want to reach out – something our church has not been noted for. We want to disciple those who are with us – something we’ve done reasonably well.
Jesus said we are to teach everything that he has commanded. But it’s not just understanding; it’s understanding coupled with obedience. The summary word for obedience is love – to love God and to love others. It’s on this that all the law hangs. Our love in turn is demonstrated in service to God and others.
It sounds simple enough but to capsule it took many hours of reflection.
Once a purpose is established the next step is to set goals. That’s what we want to do and the time frame in which we want to see it accomplished. This is a place where many begin to falter.
A huge pitfall is to front load everything desired putting them in a three-six month time frame. If that happens it is almost certain the result will be frustration and failure. Goals should be both realistic and challenging – established after prayerful consideration.
Some have said that we ought to dream so big that if God is not in it then it is doomed to failure. I don’t know that I have the faith to say that but I do know that asking God for a relatively small thing like increasing attendance at Pioneer Clubs from 30 to 40 can seem like a real challenge. Or to get small group members to invite someone who doesn’t know Christ and then see someone invited actually attend is cause for great rejoicing.
We can’t control who will respond positively to what we do – we can only be responsible for what we do. Every one of our small groups took on the challenge to invite others. In some cases every group member invited someone. I rejoice in that even though most of those invited never came.
Two things about goals:
1. There needs to be a specific time period allotted. At the end of that period stop and count.
2. They need to be measurable. Otherwise, it is impossible to tell what has been done.
That brings us to strategy. What will we do to accomplish our goals? If we don’t stumble, our goals will likely falter when we get to strategy. When goals are set there is a tending to sit back and wait to see what will happen. We can be sure not much will happen.
What will we do to get 40 children in Pioneer Clubs? The simple answer is to invite others. How do we get those who come to do that? As we wrestle with this we must be committed to pray.
When we get to the end of the allotted time, if not before, we must evaluate. If a lot of effort has been expended to accomplish the goal there is a temptation to go easy on ourselves. We say, “we didn’t accomplish “this”, but we did see “that.” The big question is, did that justify the effort?
Another problem with evaluations is to experience some success with a given effort then get married to that program. How many churches have Sunday school just because they have always had it? The program should never be the end – Sunday school to have Sunday school. It should simply be a means to an end – Sunday school is make disciples. Then the question is – are we?
Following evaluation, we reset our goals and start over. If the evaluation calls into question something deeper we may have to rethink our purpose or recast our vision.
Often, we expend great effort to accomplish something without any real success. But in the midst of our efforts we might see the Holy Spirit working in an area where we are doing little or nothing. When that happens we need to step back and get in touch with the Spirit.
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Articles from the Go Teach online newsletter may be copied (unless specified otherwise) for use in a non-commercial printed or electronic form under the auspices of a local church. Reprinted articles may not be altered in any way. Please include the byline, other source information if provided and the following credit line: Published by Great Commission Publications, Inc., 3640 Windsor Park Drive, Suwanee, GA 30024. Used by permission.
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Great Commission Publications • 3640 Windsor Park Drive • Suwanee, GA 30024-3897 • (800) 695-3387 • (770) 271-5776
The publishing ministry of the Committee on Christian Education of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the Committee for Christian Education & Publications of the Presbyterian Church in America. Copyright © 2004.
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