Sharing the Ministry With Everyone

1
Sharing the Ministry With Everyone

• Canadian Unitarian Council
• Annual Conference and Meeting
• May 2005

2
Goals for Participants

• To understand the basic philosophies of shared
  ministry and how they work in our congregations
• To discuss ways in which this model can be used
  to foster intergenerational community
• To learn why involving children and youth in the
  ministries of our congregations would help retain
  them as adult members in the future
• To connect shared ministry with growth efforts in
  our congregations

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What is Ministry?

• Ministry is more than what professional ministers
  do
• Dictionary definitions
• The act of serving
• One that serves as a means
• Ministry includes all that we do to serve one
  another and to build and strengthen relationships

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What is Shared Ministry?

• A philosophy of congregational life that places
  the responsibility for ministry in the hands of
  everyone in the congregation
• Each person is responsible for serving othersfor
  engaging in ministry
• Requires a broad definition of ministry

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Which are Ministries?

• Preaching a sermon on Sunday morning
• Teaching a childrens religious education class
• Welcoming newcomers to the congregation
• Visiting someone in the hospital
• Organizing a social justice campaign
• Tending to the congregations grounds and gardens

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Shared Ministry vs. Volunteering

• Volunteering model
• recruited
• focus on tasks
• the emphasis is getting things done
• Shared ministry model
• matched based on skills and gifts
• focus on where one can best serve others
• the emphasis is building relationships and
  community

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Implementing Shared Ministry

• Can require several years work in your
  congregation
• Should start with existing jobs make them
  ministries!
• Requires changes in
• Language (jobs to ministries committees to
  ministry teams)
• Systems (must keep track)
• Culture

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Changing the Culture

• Members must see themselves as responsible for
  the ministries of the congregation
• Must let people try new things
• New members must be matched to appropriate
  ministries
• Often requires a ministry team to oversee

9
Discovering Skills and Gifts

• How do we help people discover their skills and
  gifts?
• What do we recognize as skills and gifts valuable
  to our ministries?
• This requires building relationships and getting
  to know peoplebeware of gifts inventory
  checklists by themselves

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Keeping Track

• Must keep some database of skills, gifts and
  previous ministry positions
• Database must be flexible enough to accommodate
  changing definitions of skills and gifts
• Should integrate with membership database

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Designing Ministries

• Similar to writing job descriptions
• What skills and gifts are necessary?
• What would this ministry be contributing to the
  life of the congregation?
• How much time will it take?
• Must make ministries reasonable commitments

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Matching People to Ministries

• Some of this can be from the database
• Most of this takes relationshipsgetting to know
  people and talking with them about what would be
  most meaningful for them
• Care must be taken so that the usual suspects
  are not always asked to do things

13
Evaluations

• All ministries must have defined end dates
• At the end date, an evaluation must be done
• If the member is not satisfied, they can leave
  with grace
• If they are not doing well, they can be asked to
  move on with grace
• People must be given the opportunity to move on
  to new things

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Intergenerational Possibilities

• People of all ages can take part in the
  ministries of our congregations
• Connections will be made that make your
  congregation a more meaningful home for everyone

15
Shared Ministry with Children

• What are some ministries that children can
  participate in?
• How can we talk with children about their skills
  and gifts?
• What are the benefits of asking children to
  participate in the ministry of our congregations?

16
Youth Empowerment

• Definition A youth/adult partnership based in
  youth leadership and decision making with adult
  support
• How does this relate to shared ministry?

17
Young Adult Ministry

• Young adults have leadership potential, skills
  and gifts
• A shared ministry model recognizes those things
  and asks young adults to serve the congregation
• This is a powerful invitation

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Ministry Builds Bridges

• Shared ministry is all about relationships
• Building relationships across boundaries
  (generations, race, class, gender, etc) is
  difficult and takes care
• Shared ministry values each persons
  contributions to the whole

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Shared Ministry Growth

• Youth and young adults asked to participate in a
  congregations ministry are more likely to stay
  as adults
• Newcomers are more likely to stay in a
  congregation if they have real connections
• Shared ministry makes membership mean something

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Shutting the Back Door

• Membership retention is a key to growth efforts
• People are more likely to stay if they are
• Valued
• Connected
• Involved in things that they find meaningful
• Spiritually, emotionally and intellectually
  nourished

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Opening the Front Door

• Shared ministry helps us welcome new people
• They are no longer a source of change, but a
  source of skills and gifts and ministry
• The more people, the more ministry (compare this
  to a scarcity model)
• Shared ministry asks us to engage in building
  relationships with newcomers

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Putting it All Together

• The Shared Ministry model is
• A valuable culture change in keeping with a UU
  theology of relationship
• A way to help us build intergenerational
  community
• A tool in efforts to grow our faith
• A culture shift we can benefit from