Is Brighton First Prepared to Be an Equipping Church?

I recently read an article by church leader Bill Easum, "Transition from a Doer to Equipper: Developing a Culture of Equipping". He suggests that church "equippers" have a specific way of thinking. For example, when they see visitors in worship they do not think "possible new member", they think "possible new disciple for Jesus Christ."

Equippers not only have "to do" lists, but also "to be" lists, a list of persons they are currently mentoring.

Easum suggests that pastors need to think of themselves less as preachers and more as equippers. In the early 20th century, a pastor could grow a church with good preaching. That isn't the case anymore. People do not come to church, already primed by being raised in the culture of the church. They need much more than just an inspirational message once per week.

The role of a pastor in equipping, according to Easum is to help people mature as Christians. He believes that it is not the role of the pastor to visit the shut in or hospitalized, unless at the same time the pastor is equipping others to do the same task.

Easum believes that the role of the church staff is to multiply themselves and their ministries. He writes, "The only way to accomplish this is by training the laity to take responsibility for carrying out most of the ministry. . . . A church pays its clergy and staff to reproduce themselves by recruiting, equipping, deploying, and coaching the congregation into mission. The measurement of success is not how big the church becomes or how many staff it has, but how many people a year the staff actually prepares for and involves in mission."

Bill Easum is a consultant in church growth
and a member of 21st Century Strategies, Inc.

The congregation has a role in an equipping church, as well. The congregation cares for one another and engages in ministry that supports one another as well as reaches out into the community and beyond.

These may surprising or challenging ideas to read based on our current way of being the church. Much of the planning and oversight for church programming is either done by the staff or with a staff member working closely with church leaders. For me as pastor, I led many classes conveying knowledge of the Bible and faith practices, but not as much time intentionally working on equipping others for ministry.

What expectations would have to change for clergy, staff and congregation for this to become a congregation of equippers, a congregation that expects that all will be equipped for discipleship in their lives?

(Bill Easum article from Religious Product News: Purchasing Solutions for Growing Churches, June 2015.)