Don't Squander Your Gift - Part V

In light of what we've been saying about spiritual gifts, the job of the pastor is to teach his congregation how to use their spiritual gifts in ministry. He is charged to equip the saints who are responsible to get the work done. For a pastor to neglect equipping his congregation and try to do all the work himself is to abandon his primary call. It is also a pretty ineffective way to build a church. Larry Gilbert writes:

"A pastor who cannot get his people to do the work and tries to do it all by himself is like a mother who says, 'Well, I can't get the kids to clean their rooms, so I will let them go out and play so they will be out of my way while I do it.' She is wrong. If her job is to train her children so they will one day be responsible adults, then she cannot clean their rooms for them and let them play."

By doing all the work, a pastor is developing an irresponsible congregation.

By doing all the work, a pastor is building a spectator church - one that has to be entertained all the time, and one that has to have all their needs met all the time. He is not building a spiritually mature church that actively ministers. As a result, the work is stymied, and that church won't grow. It puts too much of a burden on one man. There's no greater way of limiting church growth than for only one, or just a few, trying to do all the work of ministry.

Just how much can one man do? Even if you throw a few deacons into the equation, it's still too much work. It could never accomplish what all of us working together could accomplish. So, which makes more sense? Training your kids to clean their own room, or cleaning it for them? Teaching your congregation to use thier gifts in ministery, or doing all the ministry yourself? God's way sounds so much better. If God has given you a calling and a gift to do it, what will God think if you don't do it?

First Peter 4:10 says, "As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." You are a steward of the gifts God has given you. God expects you to use those gifts in ministry. This is the whole purpose for which God saved you. Will you get to work?