to prepare God’s people for works of service … — Ephesians 4:12
I don’t often do this, but today I would like to address pastors and leaders.
Imagine this: Somewhere, locked up in your church, is a chest containing diamonds, rubies, gold coins, precious gems – a treasure of incalculable value. Suppose the Lord said to you, “I want you to find this treasure chest, and use its contents for the furtherance of My kingdom.” Imagine how excited you would be to find that chest, to open it, to get the best price for the treasure within, and to use that money to accomplish much good.
Now I would like to suggest to you that the treasure chest does exist. It is hidden. It is locked up. But you have the key.
The treasure chest, of course, is your people. And the jewels inside are their dreams.
God puts within each Christian a unique desire to build His kingdom, to make this world a better place, to create a better tomorrow. Those dreams take many forms, but it is your privilege as a pastor or leader to mine those dreams, to cultivate them, to release them for the advancement of God’s kingdom.
I’m not a pastor, and probably never will be. But, if I were, I think the first thing I would do is sit down with each of my people and ask: What are your dreams? How do you want to make your world a better place? What can I do to help make that happen? I would seek to become a volunteer in their ministry before I asked them to become a volunteer in mine.
For the past several months I’ve been working on a whole process to help pastors and churches do this – and it will be a few months before these tools are ready. But, meanwhile, I do have a list of questions that I think would be helpful in identifying dreams and evaluating how ready someone is to move forward with those dreams. If you’d like, I’d be happy to send it to you. Just ask.
Be encouraged!
Dwight
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