My husband and I were speaking with a group of church planters and their wives recently when one pastor shared his struggle. Life in church planting is all-consuming at times, leaving no breathing room for a life outside of ministry. The man\u2019s wife agreed that even their days off are filled with a ministry to-do list. For them, and so many others in church planting, being the leader means bearing the workload.<\/p>\n
Maybe we all suffer from CPS, Church Planter\u2019s Syndrome, the delusion that if something must be done right, it must be done by us. (Of course, there are other symptoms of CPS, like the fear that no one will show up for church services, but I digress.<\/em>) As a survivor of CPS, I, too, once believed that being the leader meant bearing the workload. After all, who knew the vision and mission of our church better than my husband and me? Obviously, my husband and I could create environments, market to the community, and teach better than others, right?<\/p>\n Quite possibly.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, my husband\u2019s role as pastor (and mine as his partner) isn\u2019t to perform every administrative task, fill every volunteer opening, and lead every small group. Our job is to train and equip other believers to do the work of the ministry.<\/p>\n Ephesians 4:12<\/strong> offers the cure to our delusional CPS: \u201cTheir responsibility<\/strong> (pastors and teachers<\/em>) is to equip God\u2019s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n As wives, partners with our husbands, we are often tasked with duties like leading the childrens\u2019 ministry, coordinating worship teams, or creating a small group ministry. In the early days of starting a church, we do it all. That\u2019s necessary. It\u2019s vital to our success. Yet, we must remember that our goal is to raise up new leaders, not to continue to do the work ourselves.<\/p>\n Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n Check out Ephesians 4:13<\/strong>. It says we must equip God\u2019s people to do His work \u201cuntil we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God\u2019s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.<\/strong>\u201d Verse 16 continues, \u201cHe makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.<\/strong>\u201d Doesn\u2019t that sound attractive? Who wouldn\u2019t want to serve and lead a church like that?<\/p>\n We must give our jobs away! We must raise up leaders behind us and grow God\u2019s church. Let\u2019s not get so bogged down in the details of our particular ministry area that we fail to value the overall health and growth of the church. Instead, let\u2019s train others to do what we do, freeing ourselves to launch new ministry areas or breath life into failing ones. If we will, we\u2019ll create churches that are \u201chealthy, growing, and full of love.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My husband and I were speaking with a group of church planters and their wives recently …<\/p>\nTalk to us: Which of your responsibilities could you train someone else to do? How do you feel about giving your job away?<\/h5>\n<\/p>\n