By Michelle Doerr
Cultivation
I was reading a story out of the classic devotional Streams in the Desert, and the author made a valuable point regarding struggle, failure, and ultimately, growth. The premise of the story had to do with a scientist who was performing an experiment and using a moth as his subject. As the moth began to burrow its way out of its cocoon, the scientist could see that it was obviously painful for the moth as it struggled to escape, failing over and over again. Each attempt, however, brought the moth closer to its goal of finally being outside of the cocoon.
Despite watching these tiny, gradual successes, the scientist could not bear to watch while the moth was forced to endure such severe stress on its body. So the scientist, out of pity for his subject, helped the moth along by gently guiding it out of its cocoon. Sadly, the assistance of the scientist actually did more harm than good as the moth was not able to build its strength through the challenge of making its own way out of the cocoon; it was feeble and undeveloped, dying sooner than it would have had it been able to mature through the painful but natural growth process.
Similar to the scientist, church leaders can have a tendency to want to make things as smooth and pain free for their church members who are attempting to do something new and experimental while beginning a new ministry. When approached by a member who has a desire to begin something that has not been put into place or even thought of before, the question of whether you foster growth or control in your church will inevitably present itself. If you react with fear, panic, or doubt, lacking confidence in God or the member, this is an indication that you are still accustomed to controlling more than you need to within your church because it may be that you fear the possibility of a failed ministry. As Pastor Rick Warren points out, we are allowed to make one failure a day. In fact, we should go ahead and just make that one failure a day! The only catch is, we are encouraged that it not be the same failure each time!
In order to develop your members’ S.H.A.P.E., the possibility of failed attempts to begin new ministries must be accepted. At Saddleback, we believe that the members are the ministers, so as we go through the new ministry process with them, we have a three-phase plan of new ministry development:
- Qualification – Does the new ministry idea meet the church’s qualifications?
- Information – Develop a new ministry idea plan.
- Assimilation – Launch the new ministry.
Examples of what we at Saddleback require for our new ministries are a biblically sound ministry, the ministry must not raise funds, it must fulfill one of our five purposes, the ministry must be transferable to other churches. A few examples of questions to ask yourself when presented with a new ministry are: What’s your vision? What’s the purpose? Who is your target? What are the ministry opportunities? What type of training is required? And don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions, if necessary!
As a church leader, one of your most significant roles is cultivating the development of your church members, and at times that development includes risk. But that’s part of the process of building up the strength of your church family, and it is so worth it.