Grassroots Ministry

As you take a look at most churches, you will discover a number of activities and ministry-opportunities which have emerged from the ideas of church leaders and members. These are opportunities that each body of believers has declared to be important enough to promote and pursue. But is that all there is to ministry in the local church?

If you think about it, proportionately, a very small collection of minds (I did NOT say “a collection of small minds”!) actually generate the ministry ideas for any local church. The assumption is that a select few are the idea people. They are appointed by virtue of their wisdom, savvy and connectedness to the needs of the world around them to develop strategies for ministry and create enough enthusiasm to gain supporters for the implementation of those strategies.

The problem with this approach is that a vast majority of God’s people - let’s say about 90% - follow the lead of others and are not specifically encouraged to be idea people. We don’t ask them to dream and they don’t expect to be dreamers. That’s somebody else’s job. This might provide at least one answer as to why it is so hard to motivate some people to jump on board with our “great” ministry ideas. . . it wasn’t their idea. It isn’t that those ideas generated by the 10% aren’t valuable. It is simply that those dreams have not been dreamed by the potential followers and become, to them, second-hand dreams.

What if the Church became a place where everyone was encouraged to dream for God? And what if the Church became a place where dreamers felt the freedom to launch ministries and call others to join them? The reality is that God has placed within each Christ-follower specific abilities and passions which He intends to use for the expansion of His Kingdom. The reality is that each of us spends our days in spheres of influence which consistently expose us to potential ministry opportunities, and God desires for us to see what could be done for His glory in those places and in the lives of those people. God dreams through us. And if those dreams are never allowed to emerge, and are never nurtured, and are never brought to action, the dreams of God are left dormant until someone else dreams the dream.

What dreams for expanding the glory of God and declaring His Kingdom do you have? If you keep it to yourself, it becomes a stillborn dream. But if you share the dream and seek to have it come to life, you may discover that a significant number of Christ-followers share your dream and are waiting for someone else to voice it and make it a reality.

Whenever someone comes to me with a new ministry idea, it is exciting to simply see them thinking and dreaming. I want to become better at encouraging those dreams and providing a way to see them become flesh and bone. Every dream won't become a hit, but we will never know what could have been done until we take the risk. When we seek God’s wisdom and trust Him to do something bigger than ourselves, we are never disappointed. We might be scared, confused at times, even doubting, but as we let God lead, His way is always strewn with joy and hope.

You have God’s permission to dream.