October-November 2015
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
It seems as if one is never too old to have one’s world rocked by God.
This particular seismic event came in May at a breakout session during our Southeastern Minnesota Synod assembly. The workshop, led by stewardship consultant Mike Ward, focused on the synod’s visioning process for the coming years. During the presentation a question arose about volunteerism in the church. Pr. Ward’s response was the one that smacked me upside the head. “In the parish I never worried about matching peoples’ gifts with tasks because Jesus never did. He simply said to people, 'Follow me.'”
Now, my first reaction was to dismiss these comments out of hand. Fortunately, I stuck it out because I respected Pr. Ward and the contributions he has made to helping churches grow in their ability to help their people grow in faith. Since then I have turned his words over and over again in my mind. Here’s what I’m thinking.
It’s important to match people’s gifts with the mission and ministry that God is calling us to do. We have been using the Clifton Strengths Finder with our staff for the last year and it has been very helpful. The Strengths Finder identifies a person’s top five strengths (out of 34) and helps one understand how those strengths can be used effectively, both in our professional and personal lives. I often use the example that you can’t make a plow horse into a race horse and vice versa. The Strengths Finder has been useful for us to function better as a team.
However, I also think that Pr. Ward is right, too. (In good Lutheran fashion I can do paradox, holding two seeming opposite things as both being true.) There are times when God calls us out of our comfort zones and pushes us to do things we didn’t think we were capable. Each of us at one time or another has had to step up because somebody needed to do so and we were the only somebody available. Most of the time, we are surprised that we really can do what we didn’t think we could do.
Like many organizations, Grace has to figure out a way to match God’s call to mission and ministry with people willing to answer that call. Times are different than the last generation or two; I don’t need to recite them here. Even so, the ministry remains: helping our young people grow in faith and love, serving the needy and marginalized, providing engaging worship to sustain our lives and supporting the work of the church in our community and in the world.
This is so important that the church council has set “Encouraging Volunteerism” as one of its three main goals this year. To do so, it has established a task force led by Randy Long to examine ways we can match ministry with people. I hope you’ll be open to their work and their recommendations. Meanwhile, God’s ministry through us awaits our response. Please say, “Yes” when asked to serve. Not only will you be answering God’s call on your life, you’ll be making a difference in the lives of others.
In Christ,
Pr. Scott Olson
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