It can be a hard thing to equip people in our congregations to do the work of the church. It can be harder to engage them, raise them up and give away ownership than going to the same few people to get things done. But we want to empower the congregation so that there is collective ownership of the church, in fact we as pastors and other church staff members are called to do so. Ephesians 4:11-13 says:
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Our staff desires to be aimed and focused on reaching out to others so they can own and take part in the ministry, so that collectively we are the body of Christ. We’ve said that everyone in the church should have a ministry in the church and a mission in the world. This only succeeds to the degree we’re interconnected and interdependent as a community.
In light of that, I’m excited that this fall we’re going to be open-sourcing our staff meetings! The Antioch Leadership Training (A.L.T.) is a new weekly meeting, starting September 18th, designed to provide spiritual and leadership enrichment opportunities for leaders, volunteers, and engaged men and women in the Antioch community. ALT meetings will be over lunch from 12:10-12:50 every Wednesday at the church office. Each meeting will include a 20-25 minute practical talk from a professional, an update on happenings at Antioch, and church prayer requests. In addition to meeting in person, there will be an option to view the meetings live on the web.
I’m really looking forward to the start of these meetings, engaging deeper with our congregation and ultimately encouraging each other to take ownership of the church, find fulfillment in service, and be equipped as leaders!