In the last two issues of the newsletter, we have covered what shared ministry is and its Biblical foundations, but you still may be wondering why we should do it. You may be saying “things are good right now, why change things?”
We’ve all heard the saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” So what if it isn’t broken but merely isn’t the best it can be? Shared Ministry is not meant to fix anything, it is not meant to prevent a weak area from getting worse and it is not meant to cover up an area that could turn into a problem. We have all witnessed or heard about a church that suspected problems or wanted to avoid boredom in its ranks so they decided to shake things up with a new program or structure-sometimes it works and many times it fails. Shared Ministry is not a program designed to change things just for the sake of changing or to fix problems that may arise.
In fact, shared ministry isn’t a program at all-it’s a culture. Shared Ministry is about taking what is good at Forest Park and making it better by creating a culture that values every single person that is a part of our church, that encourages everyone to participate in God’s work through the sharing of their gifts and that provides the opportunity for spiritual growth through putting gifts to good use. Each of us has things to offer that will help to grow God’s Kingdom and when we work together to utilize all of those gifts, our impact is immense. Each of us also has ways that we can still grow as Christians and doing that in an environment that supports, encourages and values each of us is crucial.
So to answer your question –Things are good now, but what if they could be even better? That is why we should do Shared Ministry-to be better people, to be better Christians, to better utilize ourselves and our gifts and to do better work for God’s Kingdom.