Ownership in the ministry is important
Most churches think of ministry or program first.
Then they recruit people to slot in.
In this case it mostly failed, because that was not our choice but someone else’s choice.
So they do some but mostly become passive.
If they chose it themselves, they will put all of their energy there,
but in case of someone’s choice,
they don’t think they have ownership.
That’s why the ownership in any ministry is very important.
Let’s look at ownership briefly here.
Today, we call it “autonomy.”
For instance, Daniel H. Pink wrote about this in his book, Drive(2009) in detail.
He mentioned there three type of motivations;
1) Carrot & Stick
2) Empowerment, and
3) Autonomy
You know all about what that means!
He referred to the early years, people need Carrot & Stick for doing something.
And before of postmodern-era, people needed Empowerment,
But now in the 21st centry, people need autonomy.
These approaches make sense.
Actually,
today’s Christians are totally different from yesterday.
It is not their fault. Whole of society, even the church itself, changed a lot.
Ordinary Christians are not any more ordinary.
They want to be a person as they are,
which means they want to grow up enough.
Let‘s think of it more.
Today’s congregations do not stay at one church all of their life.
They are looking for a church where they may grow.
Some churches train them for three years (for instance, “discipleship-making”),
but when they complete the three years course
they leave the church where
they are trained even though the church was their mother church.
They were there for about 20-30 years as a committed believer.
But they left today without any hesitation.
Why?
Because they want to grow,
they want to use their talents, the gifts given them by God.
So Interestingly,
other churches are growing and seem to take advantage of it,
because those people who left their previous church
came and joined their church.
So, almost every week many matured people who are trained very well,
and almost ready to do any ministry enroll to the other churches.
That is today’s church especially in Korea.
We pastors have to know the reality.
We intend to stay in the fantasy world too long.
They miss many people to the other churches,
even their church to close down soon.
Thank you for listening!
