Influencing your volunteers’ spiritual growth

Focusing on the growth of our volunteers in their areas of ministry is a vital part of our responsibility as ministry leaders. One area however, that has the potential to be looked over is the spiritual growth of those we lead. It is not that we don’t understand the significance of our volunteers’ spiritual growth, or that we aren’t desiring spiritual maturity for them. It could simply be that our eyes are not on one area in which we have the capability to influence spiritual growth: fellowship.

In God’s amazing plan for His children, He made it impossible for us to fulfill all of His purposes completely on our own. And spiritual maturity is one of those purposes. God clearly tells us throughout His word that our development as followers of Christ is contingent upon the quality of our relationship with other believers. Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another.” In God’s eyes, fellowship is not optional.

As church and ministry leaders, God places us in the humble role of godly influencers, affecting the growth of those we lead, and that includes their spiritual growth. If it helps, think of yourself as fertilizer – spiritual fertilizer – that has the sole purpose of fostering healthy and lasting growth for the harvest. In our case, the harvest is the fruit that will be produced through our church members ministering and serving.

I believe that one of the ways in which God expects us to inspire spiritual growth among the people we are leading is to provide the means for our volunteers and members to experience true and authentic fellowship with one another and with you as their leader. The encouragement by you to create a sense of unity among the team, as well as relationships founded on the Lord, is essential to spiritual growth. And in turn, the spiritual growth of those you lead will bring about the kind of spiritual health in your ministries that God desires.

Rick Warren says that “unless you are helping your members develop relationships with one another, you’re not helping them grow.” As we strive to grow our members into ministers, I hope we will remember the vital place that fellowship and relationships have in leading to spiritual maturity.