Ephesians 4:16 teaches that God fits the whole body of Christ together perfectly as each person is equipped to do a special work. Each part of the body helps the other parts grow so the whole body is healthy and growing in love.
The idea for our church name, Equip Free Will Baptist Church, came from Ephesians 4:12. As church leadership, we are called to equip God’s people to do the good work of ministry. By doing this, we fulfill our God-given assignment for the local church, and we make it possible for our people to fulfill their own callings within the Body of Christ.
In every ministry, lay people are important to the work of the church, but as a church plant, their importance is magnified greatly.
When our family moved to Hickory, North Carolina, to plant a church, we had ten people on our team including associate planters Jonathan and Heather Huff. During itinerate, we made more connections in Hickory, and a couple joined us from another Free Will Baptist church where the pastor encouraged his congregation to pray about taking part in our work. Eventually, we gathered a launch team of 22 people. These adults now serve as leaders in different areas on Sunday and in our small groups.
We are a “portable” church plant that meets for services in a local school. This means it takes a great deal of work to get our space ready for Sunday mornings. Established church pastors who visit are always amazed at what we do to make our meeting space inviting and practical. Pastor Brandon always explains we can do so much each week because of our great team!
Each Sunday, our team arrives at the school by 7:00 a.m. They cover the gym floor, move tables into the cafeteria, and begin wheeling in carts with our equipment. Each case is delivered to its specific area, and those serving that Sunday begin setup. Each team member has taken ownership of his or her area and makes it all come together. We work hard on Sundays to prepare the space for our guests. After we finish setup, we gather for a team meeting, go over the service, share announcements, have a devotion, and spend time praying for the Lord to minister to those who come.
As church planters, we cannot carry out our ministry without partners across the country, and we definitely cannot do it without our local team that serves faithfully week in and week out. It is so rewarding for our team to see new visitors come in or other guests return because of the hard work these dedicated people put in each week. It’s even more rewarding when those guests eventually desire to become part of our serve team. Because of the nature of a portable church, we have many opportunities for service: hospitality, greeting, kids’ check-in, pre-k, nursery, production, worship, Equip Kids worship, security, setup, tear-down, and signage.
We have tried to make it easy for volunteers to get involved. Current volunteer leaders train the new volunteers so they, too, can serve and fulfill their calling. Spiritual gifts and personality assessments have proven helpful in guiding volunteers to ministry areas that fit their gifts and talents.
One area of huge growth has been among nursery volunteers. These workers are vital to a church plant. Many visitors who have never been in church before, or who have been out for a long time, won’t even consider a church without a nursery. It is also important for a mother to have a place to take her little ones so she can be spiritually fed during the service. When we launched six months ago, only two team members were available to work in the nursery. Now we have five! This growth has allowed us to avoid exhausting our current nursery volunteers and allow them to be in worship services more often.
Because our serve team is so valuable to our ministry, we need them to have time to rest and just worship, so we’ve made it a point to give volunteers one Sunday off each month. We don’t want anyone to experience burnout. We know we cannot fulfill the calling God has placed on our lives without the team He has sent us.
Whether a church plant or established church, a ministry can’t survive on the work of the pastor and hired staff alone. Lay people are vital to ministry. Teamwork is crucial in ministry, and different callings and giftings are valuable to ministry. God didn’t mean for us to do life alone, and He certainly didn’t mean for us to do ministry alone.
Whether you are simply putting out chairs or being the smiling face visitors see when they walk through the door, everyone is important. Working as a team, we can fulfil God’s calling on our lives and see each of our churches grow for His glory.
About the Writer: Brandon and Shelly Smith are the lead church planters at Equip FWB Church in Hickory, North Carolina. They serve with associates Jonathan and Heather Huff and Equip’s amazing team of volunteers. Each week, they seek to equip families with biblical truth to face everyday life. The Smiths have three sons: Landon, Jordan, and Joshua.
