The Path to Church Growth: Empower the Laity

For centuries the Church has allowed the clergy to direct mission. It worked for a while, especially when church professionals were willing to labor in the field for little compensation and the people they served were uneducated. The rewards in those days were in the commitment to the Lord and His service. Tax law even recognized the sacrifices of clergy and created special rules to lessen their tax burden.

That level of commitment is rare today. Church professionals have negotiated salaries that might still be low compared to the corporate world but which are far better. They still have tax advantages.

The current state of decline in the Church has been influenced by this shift. Congregations must work harder and members must sacrifice more for less leadership. The laity have become valued for what they can contribute.

There are solutions but they require de-emphasizing the reliance on professional leadership. Empower the laity. They, for the most part, are still willing to labor without monetary rewards. They may even be eager to make a difference. In this day and age, they are educated and have leadership skills which they use in the secular world.

There is one hitch that will keep this from happening. Empowering the laity means less power for clergy.

Ministry was never supposed to be about power. It was supposed to be about service.

The biggest advantage to empowering the laity may force a return to that thinking.